The project aims to develop novel high thermal mass structural thermal flooring components
with increased ability to store and transfer energy.
Low energy buildings frequently feature highly insulated facades, carefully designed day
lighting & airtight building forms. 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, but 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 extreme temperatures.
This lack of conditioning power is solved by positioning a distribution fluid pipe between 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, by introducing materials with phase change properties (pcm), the
response can be enhanced with minimal energy input by using the latent phase of the pcm.
The system offers benefits over traditional systems including i) significant reduction in
operating CO2 emissions, ii) More powerful thermal mass based systems able to compete
with refrigerant air conditioning systems & iii) A more responsive delivery system able to
provide closer indoor temperature control as desired by occupants.