A review on thermal energy storage with phase change materials enhanced by metal foams

Abstract

Due to the mismatch between energy demand and energy production, in the last years the study of latent thermal energy storage systems has been significantly growing. This work aims to provide an overview of the studies and the experiments carried out on thermal energy storage systems, that use phase change materials combined with metal foams. A histogram that shows how the number of works on these subjects has been increasing over the years is reported; consequently, a general survey on phase change materials is conducted, identifying the temperature ranges and the latent heat which are most used in thermal energy storage systems and defining the strengths and weaknesses of the various types of phase change materials. Furthermore, the paper illustrates the models and methods currently used to describe the phase transition of phase change materials in metal foams. Subsequently, how metal foams improve the desirable characteristics of phase change materials is described, and then it is represented in what percentage the different pore sizes (PPI) are used and what the most functional porosity is for individual works. Lastly, through the summary of the analyzed papers some specific articles are considered, in order to explain the state-of-the-art and to clarify some fundamental concepts.