A Computer Aided Cooling Curve Analysis method to study phase change materials for thermal energy storage applications

Abstract

The suitability of a simple Computer Aided Cooling Curve Analysis (CACCA) technique for characterizing thermal energy storage phase change materials (PCM) was proposed in the present work. Two modes of CACCA, namely, Newtonian and Fourier techniques were used to predict the phase transition temperatures, the latent heat of fusion and thermal diffusivities of PCMs. Solidification of potassium nitrate and zinc–8% aluminium alloy (ZA8) was studied using CACCA method. These PCMs were chosen to demonstrate the ability of the proposed technique to characterize PCMs freezing at a single temperature as well as over a range of temperatures. CACCA method showed that potassium nitrate and ZA8 are suitable candidate materials for TES applications operating at 300–350°C and 350–450°C respectively.