Design & Development of Lab Scale Latent Heat Energy Storage Equipment using Paraffin Wax

Latent heat storage is a new and developing technology, which has found considerable
interest in recent times due to its operational advantages of smaller temperature
fluctuation, smaller size and lower weight per unit of storage capacity. For the
development of a latent heat thermal energy storage system, the choice of the phase
change material (PCM) plays an important role in addition to heat transfer mechanisms
in the PCM. In the application of solar thermal energy storage, it is very important to
provide the storage of solar energy during the day and then to use this stored energy for
water-heating during the evening and night after the sunset. By choosing a suitable
phase change material for the latent heat absorbed during the phase change of the
material from solid to liquid, large part of solar thermal energy can be stored during
daytime and this energy can be used for water-heating at a later time. PCMs can be used
to provide this advantage in various heat energy applications.
Heat energy storage systems by phase changing materials (PCM) need to identifY the
performance limits and optimize processes and cycles with heat energy analysis. A
literature review is presented to explain more deeply on latent heat energy storage, types
of PCM and the application of PCM as space heating. The latent heat thermal energy
storage system is analyzed experimentally. A design for the storage unit whose
geometry is consistent with the melting/solidification characteristics of PCMs is
introduced. Four kinds of paraffm waxes with different melting temperatures are used
as PCMs. At first, the thermophysical properties of the paraffin waxes used are
determined through the differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) analysis. Water is used
as the heat transfer fluid (HTF). An experimental set-up is also presented to show the
basic concepts on the experiments to be done. The next chapter on results and
discussion is completed to show the thermal analysis of paraffin waxes, the thermal
storage experimental results and heat energy analysis. A conclusion is done to wrap all
the information stated in this report.