A Model of Heat and Moisture Transfer in Porous Textiles with Phase Change Materials

Abstract

This paper reports the development of a mathematical model of moisture and heat transfer coupled with phase change materials (PCM) in porous textiles. On the basis of a finite volume difference scheme, the thermal buffering effect of PCM is simulated. The distributions of temperature and moisture concentration in porous textiles with PCM are numerically computed by this technique. For comparison, the distributions of temperature and moisture concentration in porous textiles without PCM are also numerically computed. A series of experiments measuring a fabric's surface temperature with PCM is conducted to validate the model, and there is reasonable agreement between the predictions and the measurements. The results indicate that this model is satisfactory.