Thermal performance of a novel traditional Chinese personal heating device (Huotong) combined with PCMs

Chinese traditional individual heating equipment with a history of hundreds of years "Huotong" was widely used in rural areas. The Huotong consisted of a closed wooden barrel-shaped outer wall and an iron basin with combustion layer. However, the traditional Huotong had problems of low energy utilization efficiency and poor thermal comfort. Thus, a novel Huotong combined with phase change materials (PCMs) was proposed. The basic model of novel Huotong was designed and manufactured. The thermal performances of the novel Huotong under two kinds of heat sources of charcoal heating and electric heating were investigated. The results showed that: (1) Under the method of charcoal heating, the heat storage and thermal comfort performance of the novel Huotong were higher than that of the traditional Huotong. Under the three-charcoal mass of 0.15, 0.25 and 0.5 kg, the heat storage performance of the novel Huotong was 1.36, 1.43 and 1.52 times of the traditional Huotong, respectively. The average PMV values of the novel Huotong was 0.92, 1.17 and 1.31, while for the traditional Huotong was 0.87, 1.32 and 1.58, respectively. (2) Under the four electric heating methods, the thermal efficiency of the novel Huotong was 1.63, 1.61, 1.47 and 1.39 times of the traditional Huotong, respectively. The heat storage performance was 1.72, 1.67, 1.47 and 1.28 times than that of the traditional Huotong. The average PMV values of the novel Huotong was 1.25, 1.22, 0.69 and 1.68, while for the traditional Huotong was 1.64, 1.53, 0.87 and 2.03, respectively.