While working with the bio_logic design group our team developed and patented a thermally responsive architectural system. Our goal was to enable cooling and heating systems in buildings to run less frequently while maintaining thermal comfort and visually communicating the function of our system to occupants in real time. To do this we introduced a phase change material capable of storing and releasing thermal energy to offset the mechanical heating and cooling requirements in a building. We designed a series of transparent vessels to contain a specially formulated organic oil that store 5 to 14 times more heat per unit volume than conventional storage materials such as water, masonry or stone.

The focus of our work with phase change materials was to develop passive heat exchangers to help gobble up extra heat or cold in buildings and release the stored energy when needed – like a passive thermal battery. These hollow louver prototypes are filled with a specially formulated phase change oil (PCM) that changes phase at room temperature (freezing at 71ºF). The PCM inside each louver begins to freeze or melt as air temperature inside of a building becomes uncomfortably cold or hot. This freezing and melting helps to stabilize air temperature without the use of mechanical heating or cooling systems. 

See more at: http://www.douenias.design/pcm