PCM selection using AHP method to maintain thermal comfort of the vehicle occupants

Thermal energy storage with phase change materials (PCMs) offers a high thermal storage density with a moderate temperature variation. PCMs have attracted growing attention due to its important role in achieving energy conservation in buildings and vehicles increasing thermal comfort. Nowadays, in order to maintain the thermal comfort of vehicle occupant's, air conditioning is used, but the problem behind the usage of air conditioning is the increasing of fuel consumption and environmental problem caused by it. PCMs can be integrated easily in the car components with low-cost in order to maintain thermal comfort of the vehicle occupants. These materials are used to store the thermal energy during the time which the car is parked or during driving in sunlight. Material selection for a given application can be a challenging task because there are lots of condition and consideration that must be taking into account. Most of researchers use PCM in particular application depending on their experience or availability of the material. Material selection is a continuous process, aiming to choose the best material for a given application and to satisfy the set of requirements imposed. To improve the quality of decision, an effective evaluation approach is essential. The problem of selecting a material for an engineering application can be treated as a multi-criteria decision-making problem. In this research paper the AHP method was used for the ranking of ten commercial PCM taking into consideration the technical specification of the materials. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.