Perspectives for short-term thermal energy storage using salt hydrates for building heating

Abstract

In this forward-looking perspective, the current research status of latent heat storage using salt hydrates for building heating are firstly analyzed from aspects of material development, performance evaluation, heat transfer enhancement and application feasibility. Based on the analysis, barriers for the further promotion of this technology, including narrow application range, imperfect performance evaluation, inefficient heat transfer enhancement and vague market prospect are outlined. To address these issues, perspectives on four aspects are provided. First, further explorations on salt hydrates with high melting points meeting the heat dispatching demand of centralized building heating are strongly recommended. Second, effects of supercooling and phase separation of salt hydrates in practical applications should be considered differently from lab-scale experiments. Third, the combination of multiple heat transfer enhancement approaches can further improve the overall performance of heat storage. Fourth, this technology has a certain prospect in high-temperature heat dispatching in densely populated areas and short-distance mobile heat supply for emergency. The above perspectives provide guidelines for the future material development, device design, system optimization, and application scenario selection of latent heat storage using salt hydrates for building heating.