An approach for fast and accurate simulation of phase change material based thermal energy storage in buildings

Journal Article · Thu Jan 29 00:00:00 UTC 2026 · Journal of Energy Storage

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2026.120384 · OSTI ID:3016165

Menezes, Mylena V. P. ^[1]; Othman, Al-Hussain ^[1]; Tancabel, James ^[1]; Aute, Vikrant C. ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)

Latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) has significant potential for mitigating peak electricity demand and enabling load shifting in buildings. Phase Change Material embedded heat exchangers (PCM-HX) can significantly improve energy demand management due to high storage capacity. However, PCM-HX evaluation typically depends on computationally expensive fully transient simulations, posing significant challenges for scalable system- and building-level energy assessments across different climates and system architectures. This paper presents a generalized, accurate, and computationally efficient methodology for simulating building energy systems integrated with LHTES. The PCM-HX transient performance is represented by performance maps generated using a Generalized Resistance-Capacitance Model (GRCM) that enables accurate predictions of arbitrary PCM-HXs at low computational cost. The feasibility of the proposed approach was verified using a case study considering a dual-mode heat pump-thermal energy storage (HP-TES) system simulated in Modelica with Spawn of EnergyPlus™ for a DOE prototype small office building in two locations: Tampa, FL, and International Falls, MN. The PCM-HX performance maps provided accurate predictions of PCM-HX transient behavior, with mean absolute percentage deviations within 2–4% compared to GRCM while also achieving at least 1800× reduction in computational time. Moreover, the HP-TES system achieved energy savings of up to 17.4% in Tampa, FL, and 62.2% in International Falls, MN, demonstrating the broader applicability of the proposed methodology across different climate zones. This work highlights the importance of robust PCM-HX models in enabling accurate and computationally efficient building-level simulations and enabling future research opportunities for investigating optimized HP-TES designs and advanced control strategies for grid-interactive buildings.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Building Technologies Office
• Grant/Contract Number: EE0009158
• OSTI ID: 3016165
• Journal Information: Journal of Energy Storage, Journal Name: Journal of Energy Storage Vol. 152; ISSN 2352-152X
• Publisher: ElsevierCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English