Phase change dispersions: A literature review on their thermo-rheological performance for cooling applications

Abstract

Phase change dispersions are two-phase fluids that consist of a phase change material dispersed in a continuous phase and stabilised with the aid of surfactants. Due to the high thermal storage capacity, on accounts of the latent heat of phase change of the dispersed phase change material, phase change dispersions present as prospective heat transfer fluids in cooling applications. However, to implement phase change dispersions into cooling systems, for the design of heat exchanger and pipe geometries, detailed fundamental knowledge of the heat transfer and rheological behaviour needs to be understood. Alongside this, limitations encountered such as stability and supercooling need to be addressed. Within this work, a detailed review of the types of dispersion found in literature, their thermophysical, heat transfer and rheological properties are discussed. Current and past methods of improving formulations and overcoming the aforementioned problems are presented. Furthermore, potential figures of merit to evaluate the efficiency of phase change dispersion utilisation are presented and discussed. An outlook to the existing research gap is given.