Recent progress, limitations, and future directions of macro-encapsulated phase change materials for building applications

This review discusses macro-encapsulated phase change materials (PCMs) as a major contributing factor in the development of future sustainable and energy-efficient heating and cooling systems. This work emphasizes the investigation of various phase change materials, which are essential to unlocking macro-encapsulated PCM’s full potential while taking into consideration its thermal characteristics, economic viability, and environmental sustainability. Moreover, this work promotes novel heat exchanger designs for phase change materials, such as the use of macro-encapsulation in bricks, wallboards, plates and storage tanks for active and passive implementations in order to improve PCM performance and effectiveness in building applications. Besides, the utilization of topology optimization techniques is a promising direction due to capacity to produce complex, bio-inspired structures and significantly speed up heat transfer rates. Topology optimization can be used to create effective PCM containers and innovative heat exchangers for passive and active systems that serve to heat and cool both space and water. Nevertheless, building thermal management is required to further improve the effectiveness of this solution, by integrating renewable energy sources and sophisticated control techniques, leading to sustainable and adaptable solutions.