Definition
Thermal mass is a concept in building design which describes how the mass of the building provides "inertia" against temperature fluctuations, sometimes known as the thermal flywheel effect.
Introduction
For example, when outside temperatures are fluctuating throughout the day, a large thermal mass within the insulated portion of a house can serve to "flatten out" the daily temperature fluctuations, since the thermal mass will absorb thermal energy when the surroundings are higher in temperature than the mass, and give thermal energy back when the surroundings are cooler, without reaching thermal equilibrium. This is distinct from a material's insulative value, which reduces a building's thermal conductivity, allowing it to be heated or cooled relatively separate from the outside, or even just retain the occupants' thermal energy longer.
Scientifically, thermal mass is equivalent to thermal capacitance or heat capacity, the ability of a body to store thermal energy. It is typically referred to by the symbol Cth and measured in units of J/°C or J/K (which are equivalent). Thermal mass may also be used for bodies of water, machines or machine parts, living things, or any other structure or body in engineering or biology. In those contexts, the term "heat capacity" is typically used instead.
Heat capacity (usually denoted by a capital C, often with subscripts) is the measurable physical quantity that characterizes the amount of heat required to change a body's temperature by a given amount. In the International System of Units, heat capacity is expressed in units of joules per kelvin.
The equation relating thermal energy to thermal mass is:
Where Q is the thermal energy transferred, Cth is the thermal mass of the body, and ΔT is the change in temperature.
For example, if 250 J of heat energy is added to a copper gear with a thermal mass of 38.46 J/°C, its temperature will rise by 6.50 °C. If the body consists of a homogeneous material with sufficiently known physical properties, the thermal mass is simply the mass of material present times the specific heat capacity of that material. For bodies made of many materials, the sum of heat capacities for their pure components may be used in the calculation, or in some cases (as for a whole animal, for example) the number may simply be measured for the entire body in question, directly.
Any solid, liquid, or gas that has mass will have some thermal mass. A common misconception is that only concrete or earth soil has thermal mass; even air has thermal mass (although very little.)
Thermal Mass in Buildings
Thermal mass is effective in improving building comfort in any place that experiences these types of daily temperature fluctuations—both in winter as well as in summer. When used well and combined with passive solar design, thermal mass can play an important role in major reductions to energy use in active heating and cooling systems.
Ideal materials for thermal mass are those materials that have:
- high specific heat capacity,
- high density
The correct use and application of thermal mass is dependent on the prevailing climate in a district.
For temperate and cold temperate climates, thermal mass is ideally placed within the building and situated where it still can be exposed to winter sunlight (via windows) but insulated from heat loss.
For hot, arid and desert climates examples include adobe or rammed earth houses. Its function is highly dependent on marked diurnal temperature variations. The wall predominantly acts to retard heat transfer from the exterior to the interior during the day. The high volumetric heat capacity and thickness prevents thermal energy from reaching the inner surface. When temperatures fall at night, the walls re-radiate the thermal energy back into the night sky. In this application it is important for such walls to be massive to prevent heat transfer into the interior.
For hot humid climates the use of thermal mass is the most challenging in this environment where night temperatures remain elevated. Its use is primarily as a temporary heat sink. However, it needs to be strategically located to prevent overheating. It should be placed in an area that is not directly exposed to solar gain and also allow adequate ventilation at night to carry away stored energy without increasing internal temperatures any further. If to be used at all it should be used in judicious amounts and again not in large thicknesses.
Materials commonly used for thermal mass
- Water has the highest volumetric heat capacity of all commonly used material. Typically, it is placed in large container(s), acrylic tubes for example, in an area with direct sunlight. It may also be used to saturate other types material such as soil to increase heat capacity.
- Clay Brick, Adobe brick or mudbrick
- Earth, mud, and sod. Dirt's heat capacity depends on its density, moisture content, particle shape, temperature, and composition. Early settlers to Nebraska built houses with thick walls made of dirt and sod because wood, stone, and other building materials were scarce. The extreme thickness of the walls provided some insulation, but mainly served as thermal mass, absorbing thermal energy during the day and releasing it during the night. Nowadays, people sometimes use earth sheltering around their homes for the same effect. In earth sheltering, the thermal mass comes not only from the walls of the building, but from the surrounding earth that is in physical contact with the building. This provides a fairly constant, moderating temperature that reduces heat flow through the adjacent wall.
- Rammed earth provides excellent thermal mass because of its high density, and the high specific heat capacity of the soil used in its construction.
- Natural rocks and stones
- Concrete, clay bricks and other forms of masonry. The thermal conductivity of concrete depends on its composition and curing technique. Concretes with stones are more thermally conductive than concretes with ash, perlite, fibers, and other insulating aggregates.
- Insulating concrete forms are commonly used to provide thermal mass to building structures. Insulating Concrete Forms or ICF provide the specific heat capacity and mass of concrete. Thermal Inertia of the structure is very high because the mass is insulated on both sides.
- Log is used as a building material to create the exterior, and perhaps also the interior, walls of homes. Log homes differ from some other construction materials listed above because solid wood has both moderate R-value (insulation) and also significant thermal mass. In contrast, water, earth, rocks, and concrete all have low R-values.
If enough mass is used it can create a seasonal advantage. That is, it can heat in the winter and cool in the summer. This is sometimes called "Passive annual heat storage or PAHS". The PAHS system has been successfully used at 7000 ft. in Colorado and in a number of homes in Montana.
Topics of Interest
Thermal energy storage comprises a number of technologies that store thermal energy in energy storage reservoirs for later use. They can be employed to balance energy demand between day time and night time. The thermal reservoir may be maintained at a temperature above (hotter) or below (colder) that of the ambient environment. The principal application today is the production of ice, chilled water, or eutectic solution at night, which is then used to cool environments during the day.
A Trombe wall is a sun-facing wall patented in 1881 by its inventor, Edward Morse, and popularized in 1964 by French engineer Félix Trombe and architect Jacques Michel. It is a massive wall separated from the outdoors by glazing and an air space, which absorbs solar energy and releases it selectively towards the interior at night.
For more information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_mass
Source: Wikipedia (All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License and Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.)
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