INTRODUCTION
- Phase change materials (PCMs) stores energy through phase transition.
- PCMs can reduce electrical energy consumption of buildings
- Buildings are responsible up to 40 % of the global electrical demand.
METHODOLOGY
- The T-history methodology: simple, cost-effective, allows study heat-transfer effects in larger samples
- Thermophysical properties estimated by comparision with a standard material
- Materials as subjected to controlled temperature bath
RESULTS
- N-eicosane was used to validate the setup
- To take into account only the phase, it was calculated the difference between sample and water temperatures and heats
- ΔT starts negative because of the difference of cp. The difference increases due to subcooling and later due to of start of solidification
- In the conditions studied, the degree of subcooling decreased when slower cooling rates were applied
- Lowering the degree of subcooling is important because the energy used to reach the solidification from a subcooled state is not stored
- For application in the building sector, the temperature fluctuations may be even lower than the ones studied in this work. In this way, subcooling might not be a limiting factor for this kind of application
CONCLUSION
- The temperature conditions to which vegetable oils are subjected influence their capability to store energy
- Future works might investigate the use of addictive to mitigate supercooling and also oils fractionation to obtain PCMs with tailor-made properties