The ability of the walls to adapt to climate change is the key to developing nearly-zero energy buildings. The concept of thermally adaptive walls is that the thermal performance of walls can be dynamically changed based on cooling/heating demands to adapt to the climate better and achieve a higher level of energy saving. However, the concept of thermally adaptive walls has been rarely mentioned. Research on thermal adaptive walls technology is in its infancy, mostly scattered and unsystematic. This article briefly classifies and organizes the existing technologies for thermally adaptive walls. The working principles and thermal performance of thermally adaptive walls are discussed. Specifically, phase change material (PCM) integrated walls can effectively transfer the peak load in time and reduce the heat gain/loss of buildings. The thermal resistance (R-value) of dynamic insulation walls can be adjusted based on the cooling/heating demand to achieve the purpose of adapting to the climate. PCM integrated dynamic insulation walls combine the advantages of the above two and better reflect thermal adaptability. Moreover, the critical challenges in the application of thermally adaptive wall technologies are discussed, which highlight future research priorities for their application in buildings. (C) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Zhang, YM; Ma, GY; Wu, GQ; Liu, SL; Gao, L
Thermally adaptive walls for buildings applications: A state of the art review
Energy And Buildings