Performance of underfloor heating system with phase change covering materials.

The structure and materials of the floor with joists plays important factors for the thermal performance. How to optimise the heat pump intermittent operation and reasonable thermal response times in the underfloor heating system efficiently with cost effective manner are the issues facing the underfloor heating applications. This paper presents details a study on the heat transfer process in the PCM integrated underfloor heating system with floor structure and materials selections. A validated numerical simulation model has been used to analysis the thermal performance of PCM layered underfloor heating. Different layout of the under-floor heating pipes with PCMs as floor mass covering material were analysed for realistic diurnal temperature boundary conditions and temperature distribution through the floor structure were predicted. The studying results provide an insight into the understanding of the structure and thermal performance of the system with optimised design and operations.