Investigation on phase change material-based flat plate heat exchanger modules for free cooling applications in energy-efficient buildings

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Rajagopal ◽  
R. Dinesh Babu ◽  
V. Antony Aroul Raj ◽  
R. Velraj
Author(s):  
Sunil Kumar ◽  
Ashok Thyagarajan ◽  
Debjyoti Banerjee

Abstract Thermal management is one of the challenging areas in the view of shrinking devices size requiring efficient cooling to take care of the thermal load. The shrinking size of devices require efficient cooling for thermal load balance capabilities. This complicated requirement can be fulfilled with the help of Thermal Energy Storage (TES) systems. Phase Change Material (PCM) is one of the best examples of TES system. This paper deals with experimental investigation on Chevron Plate Heat Exchanger (CPHE) filled with an organic PCM PureTemp 29. PCM offers efficient performance in storing and releasing large quantities of thermal energy at any given temperature. Water is used as a Heat Transfer Fluid. The melting of PCM also known as discharging is studied at 5, 8 and 10 GPH. The flow of hot water at 38 °C and 32 °C through CPHE leads to melting of PCM known as discharging process. While, the flow of cold water at 20 °C and 26°C respectively through CPHE leads to solidification of PCM known as charging process. Load capacity and thermal efficiency of the PCM has been discussed in order to provide and estimation for future design modifications and efficiency enhancement of heat exchangers.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thambidurai Muthuvelan ◽  
Karthik Panchabikesan ◽  
Rajagopal Munisamy ◽  
Krishna Mohan Nibhanupudi ◽  
Velraj Ramalingam

2018 ◽  
Vol 203 ◽  
pp. 06021
Author(s):  
Chun On Chin ◽  
Ying Kong Sih

There has been an ever-increasing interest in concrete incorporated with shape-stable phase change material (SSPCM) in recent years for its outstanding thermal performance. In this research, PCM was incorporated into porous lightweight aggregate, namely exfoliated vermiculite to form SSPCM. SSPCMS were integrated with concrete to study their effects on thermal behaviour. Thermal testing was performed using both hot plate and KD2Pro. From the obtained results, it was observed that thermal conductivity and diffusivity reduced by 29% and 63% respectively whereas specific heat capacity increased by 40% with inclusion of SSPCMs. It was concluded that the implementation of SSPCM technology can be seen as a feasible and economical solution for energy efficient buildings.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 712-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhangyuan Wang ◽  
Zicong Huang ◽  
Fucheng Chen ◽  
Xudong Zhao ◽  
Peng Guo

In this paper, the influence of the solid-solid phase change material on the novel micro-channel flat-plate heat-pipe–based building integrated photovoltaic/thermal system has been investigated, which has been expected to store the excess heat, enhance the overall efficiency of the system and maintain the stable photovoltaic temperatures. The proposed system was divided into two parts, i.e. the outdoor part formed by flat-plate glass, photovoltaic panel, micro-channel flat-plate heat pipes, solid-solid phase change material layer and insulated material, and indoor part including the storage tank, water pump and storage batter. The experiments were conducted at the Guangdong University of Technology, China, to investigate the thermal and electrical performance of the proposed system. When the simulated radiation was at 300 W/m2 and water flow rate was at 600 L/h, the maximum average thermal, electrical and overall efficiency were found at 52.9%, 7.9% and 60.8%, respectively, when the xenon lamps were turned on, and the maximum average efficiency of 86.6% were found when the xenon lamps were turned off, indicating the most appropriate working condition of the proposed system due to the thermal storage and release of the solid-solid phase change material during the system operation. Compared with the previous studies of the conventional building integrated photovoltaic/thermal systems, it was found that the overall efficiency of the system averagely increased 5–30% and the daily water temperature difference of the system averagely increased 1.8–10.5℃, indicating that the solid-solid phase change material can significantly increase the thermal efficiency of the system. Practical application The proposed micro-channel-flat-plate-heat pipe based BIPV/T (MCFPHP-BIPV/T) system with SS-PCM will be potentially used in buildings to provide amount of electricity and thermal energy. The generated electricity will be used by the residential electrical devices or connected to the grid, and the thermal energy can be used for hot water, even for space heating and cooling. The proposed building-integrated system can be assisted in realising the targets of energy saving and carbon-emission-reduction in buildings.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document