Phase Change Materials: A Novel

Application For Energy Conservation

M.B.M Engineering College

Faculty of Engineering & Architecture
Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur (Raj)

By: Rahul Submitted to :

(Thermal Engineering) Dr. Kailash Chaudhary
Roll no. 19MME10009 Assistant Professor
Introduction to Energy Storage System
Sensible heat storage (SHS)
• The SHS stores thermal energy by virtue of temperature
difference (addition or removal of heat energy) in a heat
storage medium.
• Addition of heat or increase in temperature of the
material is known as ‘charging’ and heat removal process
is called ‘discharging’.
• Qs = m*Cp*dt
• m= ρV
• ρCp= Qs/Vdt
• Higher value of (ρCp) is desirable in order to minimise
the volume of the heat storage medium.
Latent heat storage (LHS)
• Latent heat storage is based on the phase transformation of
the material, for instance, from solid to liquid or liquid to gas
or vice- versa that uses latent heat to store energy.
• The materials which can absorb release energy during phase
transformation process, are known as ‘Phase Change Materials
(PCMs)’.
• PCMs have higher energy storage density, which results in
lower volume of the material.
• During phase transformation process the energy is stored at
almost constant temperature.
• When the surrounding temperature around the PCM material
drops, it solidifies and releases high amount of latent heat.
QL = m*Cps*dt + m (LH) + m*Cpl*dt
Comparison of SHS and LHS
Cont.
Properties of PCMs
Cont.
Classification of PCMs
• Acc to types of material
• Acc to melting temperature of the material
Organic PCMs
• Organic PCMs are widely available materials and
further classified into paraffins (also known as
alkanes, saturated hydrocarbons), and non-
paraffins such as fatty acids, esters and glycols.
Merits of organic PCMs
• Safe & reliable,
• Non- corrosive,
• low or no sub-cooling,
• Chemically and thermally stable and
• Available in wide range of temperature (5- 80•C)
Demerits of organic PCMs
• Low thermal conductivity,
• Low phase change enthalpy,
• Low flash point and
• Unstable at higher temperatures
Inorganic PCMs
• classified into two groups: hydrated salts and
metals and their alloys.
• Desirable characteristics of inorganic PCMs
1. High latent heat storage per unit volume
2. High thermal conductivity
3. Non- flammable
4. Economical
5. Compatible with plastics
6. Readily available
Disadvantages of inorganic PCMs
• Corrosion,
• Phase segregation,
• Lack of thermal stability and
• Improper re-solidification.
Metallic inorganic PCMs
• Metallic inorganic PCMs provide rapid transportation
of heat from critical devices and absorb that heat using
the latent heat of fusion.
• Metallic PCMs have higher volumetric latent heat
storage, higher thermal conductivity and low vapour
pressure which make them suitable for high
temperature energy storage.
• However, their use is limited due to weight- related
issues. Gallium, bismuth, cadmium, lead, indium,
aluminium, copper etc. are commonly used metallic
PCMs.
Eutectics
• Eutectic system is a homogeneous mixture of
two or more components that melts or solidifies
at a single temperature which is lower than the
melting temperature of any of the constituents.
• The point, at which this mixture melts, is known
as eutectic point.
• Eutectics are divided into three categories;
organic-organic, inorganic-organic and
inorganic-inorganic types.
Polymeric PCMs
• They exhibit a wide range of melting
temperature ranges from 50 to 340•C, which can
be used as both low-temperature and high-
temperature PCM.
• Polyethylene glycol, polyethylene linear low
density, polypropylene, polyamide, polyesters,
polybutylene terephthalate etc are some of the
examples of polymeric PCMs.
Micro-encapsulated polymeric solid- solid
phase PCM
Problems associated with PCMs
Phase Segregation:
• This kind of problem is mainly observed in
hydrated salts, due to incongruent melting and
density variation of inorganic salt and water
molecules.
• It keeps on increasing as the material under goes
thermal cycling i.e. charging and discharging
process, which effectively decreases the heat
storage capacity.
Cont.
Methods to prevent phase separation:

• Mechanical mixing
• Encapsulation of PCMs
• Change in chemical composition of inorganic
PCMs
• Thickening of PCM using gelling agent
• Increasing the PCM temperature
Sub-Cooling or Super- Cooling:
• Sub-cooling occurs during phase transition,
when there is a difference between melting and
solidification temperature of PCM.
• During sub-cooling, latent heat is trapped into
the material and it is not released even when the
phase transformation temperature is reached.
• Because of sub-cooling, heat dissipates at lower
temperature than melting point, this reduces the
heat transfer rate and amount of heat released.
Cont.

Sub-cooling without nucleation Sub-cooling with nucleation

Methods to minimise super-cooling or sub-
cooling:
• Cold finger technique, in which, a nucleating
device is maintained cooler than the sub-cooling
temperature, hence promotes nucleation.
• Use of bulk PCM instead of micro encapsulated
PCM in large storage system.
• Application of surface roughness (porous surface).
• Addition of nucleating agent (seed crystals) such
as Borax, Carbon, Copper, Aluminium, TiO2,
Na2SO4.
Low Thermal Conductivity:
• The main drawback of PCMs, is their low thermal
conductivity, which results in slow heat transfer rate
in applications.
• Addition of high conductivity nano-particles
• Addition of extended surfaces or fins
• Using metallic foams ( Nickel foam, Copper foam,
Graphite foam)
• Encapsulation (Micro-encapsulation)
• Use of multiple PCMs to form composite material
• Using heat pipes heat exchangers
Corrosion:
• Mechanical damage to system components
• Surface properties loss
• Reduction in mechanical strength or breakdown
due to reduction in material thickness
• Contamination of fluid
• Perforation on pipes and storage tank
• Loss of thermal performance of the system
• Reduced value of goods due to deterioration of
appearance
Corrosion protection methods:
Applications of PCMs:
• Solar cooking
• Waste heat recovery
• Thermal protection of food / poultry / meat at specific temperature
• Thermal wear for adverse climatic conditions
• Reduce air-conditioning cost in building industry
• Incorporation of PCM into building materials to reduce heat transfer loss
• Use of PCM in highly energy efficient buildings
• Solar power generation
• Reduction in global energy consumption
• Spacecraft thermal systems
• Thermal comfort in vehicles
• Thermal protection of electronic devices
• Cooling of engines
• Temperature peak stabilisation
• Textile materials for temperature adaptation
• Chemical industries
Thermo-chemical energy storage (TCES):
• PQ + heat  P + Q
• With the application of heat, the storage material PQ
is broken into two separate components P and Q
(endothermic reaction), which stores energy
separately; combining P and Q together, PQ is formed
and heat energy is released (exothermic reaction).
• Hence, energy storage is based on certain chemical
reactions. It is an emerging method with the potential
for high energy storage capacity using small amounts
of storage volume.
Basic principle of TCES:

Higher heat storage density, minor heat losses, highly compact

energy storage method, long distance transportation possibility etc.
are some of the advantages of TCES.
Silica gel+ water, lithium chloride + water, lithium bromide +
water, sodium hydroxide + water etc. Some of the examples of
TCES.
Case study:(by Malik, M.S. Iftikar et al.(2018) Design of solar TES system using potash
alum:

• Selection of Potash Alum as PCM

• Selection criteria for heat transfer fluid (70%
water and 30% ethylene glycol )
• Designing of storage tank and PCM tube
• Design of solar concentrator (parabolic shape,
made up of fibre glass and covered with small
pieces of mirrors)
• Storage tank and the receiver tank are connected
by means of flexible pipes
Assembled Design of solar TES:

Temperature v/s
latent heat storage
time
Ca se stud y: ( by Ro drig ue z-Ub ina s,Neil a e t al . (20 12 ) PC M for ene rgy eff icie nt bu ildi ng a pp lica tio ns)

• PCMs are used to store heat energy in the

daytime and release it in the night, during phase
transformation process.
PCMs, in combination with concrete, mortar
matrix or wallboards, can be used in building
walls, windows, floors, and ceilings.

Using the principle of phase transformation,

construction materials can be combined
with suitable PCMs to reduce energy
consumption as well as temperature
variations in buildings
PCM incorporation methods:
Factors affecting thermal comfort in
buildings incorporated with PCM:
• Design and orientation of the rooms
• Velocity of air
• Relative humidity of air
• Surrounding temperature
• Properties of PCM used with construction
material
• Number of occupancy at a time
• Air conditioning system of the building
• Energy performance of the building or heat loss
Designing steps for LHS system:
• Selection of suitable PCM
• Various properties of PCM ( Thermal cycles, latent heat
storage, melting and solidification temperature,
environmental impact)
• Heat transfer mechanism with construction material
• Development of new PCMs according to the application
• System design and optimisation studies
• Calculation of energy consumption, storage and
thermal comfort level in building
• Economic and environment impact analysis
• Comparison between simulation model and the actual
design
Different positions of PCMs in buildings:
THERMAL CHARACTERISATION TECHNIQUES
FOR PCMs:
LITERATURE REVIEW :

• S. Mettawee and Assassa et al. (2007) conducted an

experiment to increase the thermal conductivity of
paraffins by using aluminium powder of size 80 microns.
Results showed that with addition of aluminium powder,
the thermal conductivity of composite PCMs increases
from 0.2 to 4 W/mK, which results in 60% decrement in
the charging time and better heat transfer rate at the time
of discharge.
• An experimental study done by Saeed et al. (2018)
suggested that a binary mixture of 60% Methyl Palmitate
(MP) and 40% Lauric Acid (LA) is optimum for TES at
room temperature and provides comfort conditions (20•C
to 26•C) in residential buildings.
Cont.
• B. Salunkhe and J. Krishna et al. (2017)
investigated different PCMs such as paraffins,
palmitic acid, Lauric acid, hydrated salts of
lithium, potassium, sodium and calcium etc. for
designing a low temperature (22•C to 78•C) LHS
system for space and solar water heating
applications. Different eutectic mixtures can be
thermally characterise and analyse for future
performance enhancement of heating
applications.
Cont.
• S. M. Tehrani and A. Taylor et al. (2016) designed a shell and tube type
LHS system for solar thermal power plants using commercially
available organic paraffins and inorganic salts having melting
temperature between 280•C to 560•C.
• Geometric parameters involve length of storage tank (L), outer
diameter of storage tube (D), inner diameter of tube (d), and number of
tubes. Length of tube ranges from (0.5 m to 2 m), outer diameter varies
from (0.018 m to 0.05 m), whereas inner diameter varies from (0.0126
m to 0.02 m), these parameters are mainly dependent on PCMs
properties and thermal cycling of the system.
• Water, air, liquid ammonia, inter gases like He and Xe etc. are used as
HTF. Results shows that the peak performance of the system occurs
when non-dimensional ratio (D/d) is about 1.3 and (L/d) ratio ranges
from (40-60) with maximum heat storage value is about 110 GJ, while
the maximum liberation of heat can be achieved up to 95 GJ. Charging
efficiency is found to be around 95%, while discharging efficiency is
about 80-85%, which can be further improved in future works.
Cont.
• Y. Wang, K. Yu and X. Ling et al. (2019) conducted
a series of experiments to determine the thermal
performance of low temperature hydrated salt i.e.
sodium acetate trihydrate (CH3COONa.3H2O) with
addition of 1.5 weight% of tetra-sodium
pyrophosphate deca-hydrate and 1.5 weight% of
polyacrylamide to minimise sub-cooling and phase
segregation during phase change.
• Z. Li, R. Huang, J. Chang et al. (2021) presented
current technological challenges in the area of heat
recovery, storage and utilisation with LHS system
using different PCMs.
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE POTENTIAL OF PCMs:

• Thermal performance of LHS system can be improved

using suitable combination of PCMs and design of
storage system. Inorganic PCMs have certain
advantages (like high storage capacity, high specific
heat) over organic PCMs, but it has some serious issues
such as phase segregation and corrosion, therefore
emphasis is given to minimise these shortcomings,
however these can-not be eliminated completely.
• High temperature PCMs, (metals, eutectic mixtures,
salts) having melting point above 350•C can be used in
concentrated solar thermal power plants for power
generation.
Cont.
• It is observed that suitable PCMs and their optimum
positions in buildings, are dependent on various
parameters such as material of construction, indoor
and outdoor environment conditions,
thermodynamic properties, compatibility with
building materials etc., however most of time, they
are either sandwiched in between outer and inner
layers or internally – externally bonded with
building materials. This technique is very promising
to minimise energy consumption and to achieve
comfort conditions in residential buildings.
Cont.
• In recent years, a lot of research and
development work has been employed on a wide
range of PCMs to utilise its maximum capacity in
various fields (solar cooling, vehicles,
electronics, transportation, buildings, air
conditioning etc). The potential of PCMs is
hardly utilised to its maximum ability, therefore
the applications and benefits of PCMs should be
applied in different areas.