Experimental investigation of a cold storage box with Aceh locally produced hydrated salt as phase change materials: effect of salt treatment

Abstract

This investigation aims to study heat transfer rates and temperature changes within a 5 litter cold box enveloped with water-salt solution as phase change material (PCM). The study begins with design and fabrication of a cold box followed by performance tests. Salt sample was collected from a traditional producer in Aceh Besar District, Indonesia. In order to understand the effect of pre-treatment, some of samples were heated at 400 and 600°C for 30 min and compare it with those untreated. Salt solution of each samples was prepared by adding 10 wt.% of salt into water and filled into eight PCM bottles. PCM charging procedure was performed in a refrigerator for 12 h. By placing eight bottle of PCM into the cold-box, thermal energy discharging process was monitored by using four thermocouples. The changes in temperature were recorded for eight hours. In general, result shows that pre-treatment of salt results in a positive effect on thermal energy storage capacity. The best performance of cold storage system was exhibited by PCM made of salt treated at 600 °C where the rate of temperature change within eight hours experiment is 0.055 °C/min.