TERRACE HOUSES MALAYSIA

The modern-day terrace house of Malaysia have a high thermal mass with brick walls of 150mm,
a permanent window with no opening hole on the top, and built on the ground. Houses have
many internal wall partitions that block the air circulation and further increases the temperature.
Even though the walls are thick, they are not sufficient to block incoming solar radiation.
This case study suggests the use of copper foam integrated PCM panel to the building wall which
provides the chance to increase thermal capacity of thin building envelope without having
thicker building walls like the average 250 mm wall thickness in a typical British Colonial house
in Malaysia.
Copper foam integrated panel
The panel is produced by mixing metal particles with non-metal particles such as salt crystals
and potassium carbonate. This mixture will be packed and sintered by heating it so that the metal
particles in the mix are soft enough to adhere. The casted metal foam is then dissolved in water
to remove all the non-metal particles and leaving a metal foam panel with a controlled porosity.
Size of the panel- 0.25mx0.25m
Porosity- 80%
The panels will be installed on the two facades of the houses (front and rear). This system will
also integrate low energy ventilation fans to circulate internal air for cooling so that a
comfortable internal temperature ranging between 23 °C and 28 °C will be achieved throughout
the day and night.

Figure 1 Wall materials of the new system that is installed with copper foam integrated PCM panels.
Model
For this study, a building model measuring 3.0 m in depth, width, and height will be built.
Moreover all the materials used are the exact same materials of a typical terrace house. However,
for this building model, only one side of the wall will be installed with copper foam integrated
panels whereas the other three walls will be installed with insulation material.

Figure 2Building model to be built and tested in the climate chamber. Wallboards cover the copper foam integrated PCM
panels as well as the insulation materials

Ventilation
First strategy- in this method hot air accumulated in the room will be forced to pass through the
top holes of copper panel with help of low energy ventilation fan. The heat will be stored in the
panel and cool air will be given out from bottom ventilation opening.
Second strategy- Air will be circulated into the ventilation openings located on the bottom part of
the external wall into the ventilation holes of the copper foam integrated PCM panel and out
through the ventilation holes and openings located in the top part of the external wall.

Figure 3Low energy fan on the top part of the internal wall to exhaust heat that has been trapped in the
copper foam integrated PCM panels.
Analysis-
Without the installation of the copper foam integrated microencapsulated PCM panels, heat gain
of the building model was 1.638 kWh and heat loss was 0.180 kWh. The cooling load for this
building model was 1.458 kWh. It means that 1.458 kWh of heat energy need to be removed
from this building model.
If one of the wall façades is installed with the proposed PCM panels with a total area of 8.56 m²,
the cooling load will drop significantly to –5.277 kWh. In this case, no mechanical means such
as air conditioning unit, portable chiller or fan are needed in order to provide thermal comfort to
the building occupants. This calculation has proven to this study that the installation of copper
foam integrated PCM panels could provide more comfortable indoor environment to the building
occupants thus saving energy for cooling purposes that will reduce the CO2 emissions to the
environment.

Figure 4Cooling load for walls with or without the installation of copper foam
Conclusion
Thermal mass is the capacity of the body to store heat energy. In building terms, it reduces
temperature fluctuations by absorbing heat when the ambient temperature is hotter than the mass,
and then releasing the heat when the ambient temperature falls below the temperature of the
mass. When used effectively, this results in improving indoor air temperatures.
Thermal mass can work both for passive heating and cooling. In passive heating, the heat given
out by the sun is absorbed by the slab and dissipated during the night providing warmth. In
passive cooling, thermal mass is combined with ventilation – so heat is absorbed during the day,
then ventilation is used to dissipate the heat when it is released at night. Thermal mass can be
achieved by an exposed concrete floor; or a wall made of heavy material such as concrete,
concrete masonry, stone or earth; phase change materials (PCM).
For good performance, thermal mass must be considered in conjunction with other passive
design features such as insulation, location, orientation and layout, window sizing, and shading.