Abstract
A phase change material (PCM) based portable box for cold chain transportation applications was studied. A composite containing paraffin-based PCM (RT 5), fumed silica and graphene was used. The chemical compatibility of ingredients, and the thermal properties and cyclability of the composite PCMs were investigated. An in-situ X-ray Diffractometer (XRD) was used to study the solidification behaviour of the PCM composites. An experimental rig was built to compare the charging time, cooling duration and energy efficiency of the portable box containing the composite PCMs. The results showed that the composite PCMs had good cyclability and chemical stability. An addition of 4 wt.% fumed silica was able to eliminate the PCM leakage. By adding 1 wt.% of graphene, the thermal conductivity of composite increased by 55.4%. When using composite PCMs, the charging time of the box was reduced by 6.25%. Besides, the portable box could provided a temperature environment of 2~8 °C for up to 11.5 hours. The charging and overall energy efficiency increased by 6.09% and 12.58%, respectively. The results also show substantial evidence that the use of silica and graphene enhances the nucleation process of phase change kinetics and reduces the PCM supercooling.
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