Phase change materials (PCMs) are becoming increasingly important in the field of thermal energy storage. In this study, conductive fillers were added to wax- and polyethylene-based PCMs to improve their thermal conductivity. A Thermal Constants Analyser measured the thermal conductivity of the PCMs using the transient plane source (TPS) method. Results indicated that both nanoparticles improved thermal conductivity, but a lower concentration of expanded graphite improved conductivity more than normal ...
Phase change materials (PCMs) can be used as heat sinks to manage high temperature fluctuations in electronics. In this paper, a heat sink was generated from a paraffin/expanded graphite composite PCM, and the thermal conductivities of the materials were measured using the transient plane source (TPS) method of the Thermal Analyzer. Results showed that the composite PCM had a significantly higher thermal conductivity than the pure paraffin....
Phase change materials (PCMs) store large amounts of latent heat over small temperature ranges, so their application in the thermal regulation of buildings is becoming more popular. However, PCMs have low thermal conductivities, so micro-encapsulated PCMs (micro-PCMs) are being incorporated into PCMs to enhance their performance and improve thermal conductivity. In this study, micro-PCMs were mixed with thermally conductive, inorganic gypsum powder and glass fiber to produce gypsum boards. The ...
The fatty acid stearic acid has been widely studied for its use in thermal energy storage applications as a phase change material (PCM). Stearic acid shows promise for this application because of its high volumetric storage density and its favorable thermal properties; however, two properties of stearic acid limit its use as a PCM: its low thermal conductivity and its propensity to leak liquid during the phase change process. This ...
Through the addition of expanded graphite (EG) to polyethylene glycol, the authors were able to enhance the thermal conductivity of the phase change material (PCM). The transient plane source (TPS) technique was used to measure the thermal conductivity of the PCM. The amount of EG affected thermal conductivity, while amount of polyethylene glycol affected latent heat. Through the use of EG, the thermal conductivity was raised fourfold.....
