An experimental and numerical analysis of an improved thermal storage tank with encapsulated PCM for use in retrofitted buildings for heatingKoželj, Rok (Avtor) Mlakar, Urška (Avtor) Zavrl, Eva (Avtor) Stritih, Uroš (Avtor) Stropnik, Rok (Avtor) PCM in water tankPCM in water systemsactive PCM storageencapsulated PCMslatent heat storageenhanced heat storageimproved water tankIn the building sector, 40% of final energy is used for heating and cooling. Up to 75% of this is used in residential buildings. It is necessary to take a step forward and reduce this share of energy consumption, inparticular through the use of efficient technologies and their integration into the system of renovation ofresidential buildings, which is a major challenge for future research in this field. An important technologyfor achieving this goal is heat storage, where the use of phase change materials as heat storage materialallows for a higher energy density. The main advantage of using heat storage technologies is the solutionof the problem of the temporal divergence of energy demand and the possibility to use a higher share ofenergy from renewable sources, e.g. such as solar energy. Solar energy as a resource can be used duringthe day, when production is higher than demand, which allows storing energy for a later period ofdemand. This also improves the efficiency of the heat generators in the system in which the thermal storage is integrated. The focus of the present study is on the investigation of phase change materials (PCM) as thermal storage in the conventional water tank storage. A comparison was made between a conventional sensible thermal energy storage tank and a hybrid latent heat storage tank, where the PCM wasencapsulated in cylindrical nodules and integrated into the water tank to improve the energy densityof the conventional water heat storage tank. The results of the experiment showed that 15% of the PCM inside the water storage tank increases heat storage for 70% over conventional heat storage tankwith water only inside. The measured experimental data were compared with the simulation results from TRNSYS model to enable further analysis and improvement of the heat storage tank with PCM integration.20212021-07-05 12:26:55Članek v reviji128175sl