720589Development of prototype using phase change materials to enhance active thermal mass energy storage in buildings to achieve low energy and comfortable indoor climates.ClosedGRD Development of PrototypeInnovate UKThe project aims to develop a prototype phase change cooling product with increased ability to store and transfer energy. Low energy buildings frequently feature highly insulated facades, carefully designed day lighting & airtight building construction. However, as these initiatives drive down energy usage, the conditioning of the incoming ventilation air becomes a significantly larger proportion of the energy usage. This presents an opportunity to further reduce the energy consumption by actively using thermal mass, although achieving low energy comfort with the controllability users require has proved difficult. The limitations of storage capacity & thermal conductivity of the mass, have restricted the ability of such systems to deal with higher loads or more extreme temperatures. This lack of conditioning power can be improved by positioning air and fluid distribution channels close to the exposed ceiling surface and the incoming air path. This maximises the ability of the system to quickly influence the temperature of the occupied space. As a further improvement, phase change material (pcm) properties, are added to (1) create a more responsive delivery system able to provide closer indoor temperature control as desired by occupants. (2) Reduce operating CO² emissions, 3) Provide more powerful thermal mass based systems able to compete with refrigerant air conditioning systems.