Abstract
A platinum-coated singlemode-multimode structure is investigated in this paper as an optical fibre sensor (OFS) to monitor the phase transition of a phase change material (PCM). Paraffin wax has been used as an example to demonstrate the sensor’s performance and operation. Most materials have the same temperature but different thermal energy levels during the phase change process, therefore, sole dependency on temperature measurement may lead to an incorrect estimation of the stored energy in PCM. The output spectrum of the reflected light from the OFS is very sensitive to the bend introduced by the PCM where both liquid and solid states exist during the phase transition. The measurement of strain experienced by the OFS during the phase change of the PCM is utilized for identifying the phase transition of paraffin wax between the solid and liquid states. The experimental results presented in this paper show that the OFS can measure the phase change point of paraffin wax and the sensor with a multimode fibre length of 10 mm measured the phase transition temperature range from 37.8 °C to 57.7 °C.
Highlights
Solid-liquid phase change materials (PCMs) have been widely used in latent heat thermal storage systems for heat pumps [1,2], solar engineering [3], and spacecraft thermal control [4]
In a PCM at the solid-liquid phase (SLP) change point, small local variations in the state of material surrounding the fibre result in slightly different forces being applied to different locations on the SMS fibre sensor, since these local variations occur on a spatial scale similar in size to the dimensions of the SMS sensor
In this paper we experimentally investigate an SMS fibre based sensor structure as a better and more accurate means to monitor the phase change of a PCM
Summary
Solid-liquid phase change materials (PCMs) have been widely used in latent heat thermal storage systems for heat pumps [1,2], solar engineering [3], and spacecraft thermal control [4]. Temperature measurements are widely used to measure the amount of stored thermal energy in PCMs. in many cases at the solid-liquid phase (SLP) change state, most materials have the same temperature but different energy levels. At 0 oC, 1 gram of liquid water has 333.55 Joules more energy than that of the solid ice. sole dependency on temperature measurement alone may lead to an incorrect estimation of the stored energy in the PCM, in a large PCM-based energy storage system. In a PCM at the SLP change point, small local variations in the state of material surrounding the fibre result in slightly different forces being applied to different locations on the SMS fibre sensor, since these local variations occur on a spatial scale similar in size to the dimensions of the SMS sensor. The well-known PCM paraffin wax is used as the host material
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