A simulation study on the response of charged and discharged thermal energy in building thermal mass storage systems

This study discusses charging and discharging performance in building thermal mass storage systems. Building thermal mass storage systems utilize the thermal masses of the beams and the concrete floor slab to absorb cool energy that is produced using less expensive night electric power. The ratios of charged energy, discharged energy, and retrieved energy to the injected energy were obtained through numerical simulations. These ratios were used to evaluate the effects of various system and building design factors on the cooling system. A simplified charged energy and retrieved energy estimation method was proposed for the design of thermal mass storage systems.