Review on applications of microencapsulated phase change material in buildings for thermal storage system

A major reason for climate change is buildings that consume a huge quantity of energy to keep the inside temperature comfortable. The current energy generation from renewable resources does not match the energy demand. Hence, there is a need to come up with an alternative source to bridge the gap between supply and demand. Energy Storage System (ESS) is a useful factor for enhancing flexibility and controllability due to its flexible charging-discharging properties. Phase change materials (PCMs) are being considered a promising option for lowering energy usage. Past research has looked into a variety of methods for incorporating PCMs into different structures of buildings and has observed that due to the use of PCMs, interior temperature fluctuations may remarkably decrease while keeping optimum thermal comfort. This paper aims to summarize latent heat thermal energy storage (TES) in various applications but mainly focuses on building application along with the phase change material and their classification, techniques of encapsulation and, the method used to characterize the encapsulated PCM.