The thermal performance of a solar chimney without and with phase change material (PCM) has been experimentally studied in this paper. For the case of solar chimney with PCM, three different modes (closed-fully charging mode, open-partly charging mode and open-fully charging mode) were developed. The closed mode was designed to maximize the use of the solar energy when the heating is not required. Whilst the open mode was designed for delivering the heated air to the living space during charging period. The results showed that the inclusion of PCM to a solar chimney would reduce the air flow during charging period but increase it during discharging period compared with the solar chimney without PCM. For the open-partly mode, the mean air flow rate during phase change period was only 0.036 kg/s, which was lower than that for closed-fully charging mode (0.041 kg/s). Regarding the open-fully charging mode, the melting time of the PCM was almost 11 h, which was 57% longer than that for closed mode. The mean air flow rate during phase change period was 0.04 kg/s, which was higher than that for open-partly mode but lower than that for closed mode. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.