Latent heat storage materials have been tested by several researchers for decades to be used as passive heating and cooling systems in buildings but their implementation into building components is still stacked as is facing specific technical limitations related to difficulties to be charged both in heating and cooling periods. This paper presents a numerical analysis to evaluate the potential of a disruptive system, which is designed to solve the main drawbacks and to convert phase change materials (PCM) passive heating technology into a competitive solution for the building sector. The novel technology moves PCM layer with respect to the insulation layer inside the building component to maximize solar benefits in winter and be able to actively provide space heating. Design variables such as PCM melting point and control schemes were optimized. The results demonstrated that this technology is not only able to limit heat losses towards outdoors but it can provide space heating from stored solar energy when required. The promising numerical results endorse the possibility to build a future experimental prototype to quantify more in detail the benefits of this system.This work was partially funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades de España
(RTI2018-093849-B-C31). The authors at the University of Lleida would like to thank the Catalan Government
for the quality accreditation given to their research group (2017 SGR 1537). GREA is certified agent TECNIO in
the category of technology developers from the Government of Catalonia. A.D.G. has received funding from
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9, 3688 11 of 12
the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie
grant agreement No 712949 (TECNIOspring PLUS) and from the Agency for Business Competitiveness of the
Government of Catalonia
