Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Solar Energy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/solener Experimental analysis of a PCM integrated solar chimney under laboratory conditions José Carlos Frutos Dordelly a, ⁎ , Mohamed El Mankibi a , Letizia Roccamena a , Gabriel Remion a , Jesus Arce Landa b a ENTPE, Laboratoire Génie-Civil et Bâtiment (LGCB), 3 rue Maurice Audin, 69518 Vaulx-en-Velin, France b CENIDET - Interior Internado Palmira S/N, Palmira, 62490 Cuernavaca, Mor., Mexico ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Solar chimney Passive ventilation Energy storage PCM ABSTRACT The objective of this work is to experimentally investigate the impact of integrating a Phase Change Material (PCM) on the performance of two different laboratory solar chimney prototypes, rendering it a viable option for yearlong use. It has been stated that solar chimneys can provide constant ventilation and increase air quality in a building. This study aims to provide a different approach in means of improving the current performance of solar chimneys as, nowadays, it is mostly pursued through the modification of the inclination, the air gap size or the inlet/outlet dimensions. The solar chimney prototype mainly analysed in this work is built with 2 cm plywood plates with a thermal conductivity of 0.15 W/mK with a volume of × × 3.50 1.00 0.30 m. After a 6 h charge period, a mean ventilation rate above 70 m 3 /h can be achieved with a relative low gain of 550 W/m 2 provided by a series of 7 halogen lamps directed towards an effective collector area of 3.00 m 2 . The results obtained in this work show that PCM integration provides a higher ventilation rate and a slower decrease during ventilation only phases (6 h discharge), where the halogen lamps do not provide any energy to the solar chimney. Overall, the implementation of paraffinic PCMs in solar chimneys could be an economically viable option for hybrid design solutions to create a healthy indoor environment within residential buildings through renewable solar energy. 1. Introduction Passive ventilation relates to natural ventilation systems which ex- ploit natural resources such as wind or thermal buoyancy to set off an air current to and from an indoor space (can be induced between other things through solar energy). The goal of these type of systems is to control the temperature and enhance the refreshment rate of the air of such spaces. In general, a building experiences passive ventilation through the opening and closing of windows, but other alternatives, such as solar chimneys, can achieve this same effect with a higher performance. Solar Chimneys consist of a channel used to evacuate hot air from a building through a closed conduct at a higher elevation. By means of the greenhouse effect, temperature rises across the channel and induces a thermal up-draft. Most current designs (Arce et al., 2009), have made modifications to the basic design to add elements such as a glazing or an opposite collector wall (Fig. 1), both of which capitalize on the in- coming solar energy to improve the performance of a simple-build solar chimney. Solar chimneys were conceived for the main purpose of improving the thermal comfort conditions. Nowadays, construction elements such as the solar chimney, must attain to a number of health, safety and comfort regulations (Duffie et al., 2003; UNEP, 2017; ASHRAE, 2010a; ASHRAE, 2010b) and must be affordable both energetically or eco- nomically. Additionally, in the interest of reducing global warming from an estimated 4.5 °C (by 2100) to less than 2.7 °C and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions per capita by 9% by 2030 (COP 21, 2015), solar chimneys can represent a viable alternative to mechanical systems or even other better known passive systems such as trombe walls or wind towers. The reliability of solar chimney lies in its capacity to provide a constant ventilation rate in a househould. In order to maximize said ventilation rate of solar chimneys, some authors such as Khanal and Lei (2014) analysed the effects of tilt on the mass flow rate of a solar chimney. The experimental results stated that the temperature dis- tribution across the air gap is not dependent on the inclination angle of the chimney, however, the airflow velocity is greatly influenced by this factor. They stated that for a solar chimney with a 0.70 m absorber https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2019.06.065 Received 7 February 2019; Received in revised form 8 May 2019; Accepted 26 June 2019 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: carlos.frutosdordelly@entpe.fr (J.C. Frutos Dordelly), mohamed.elmankibi@entpe.fr (M. El Mankibi), letizia.roccamena@entpe.fr (L. Roccamena), gabriel.remion@entpe.fr (G. Remion), jesuso@cenidet.edu.mx (J. Arce Landa). Solar Energy 188 (2019) 1332–1348 0038-092X/ © 2019 International Solar Energy Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T