Technical Performance Assessment of Phase Change Material Components
Abstract
Thermal energy storage systems using phase change materials (PCM) should meet the application requirements in terms of technical and economical parameters. Among the technical parameters, high thermal power is one of the most challenging characteristics for a PCM thermal storage. Most of the materials currently used as PCM have intrinsically low thermal conductivity; therefore, the component design has to compensate this. In the framework of the joint Task55-Annex38 of SHC and ECES CTP of International Energy Agency, a working group was launched aiming to compare and to assess the improvements of technical performance of different PCM components. Up to now, the group has established an inventory of concepts and reviewed the existing standards for performance comparison in latent heat storage systems. This work presents the assessment of PCM components having different geometries and heat transfer fluids.