Fabrication, property characterization and thermal performance of composite phase change material plates based on tetradecanol-myristic acid binary eutectic mixture/expanded perlite and expanded vermiculite for building application

A binary eutectic mixture composed of tetradecanol(TD)and myristic acid(MA)was maximally absorbed into the microstructures of expanded perlite(EP)and expanded vermiculite(EVMT),respectively,through a self-made vacuum adsorption roller to prepare phase change material(PCM)particle(PCP).Then EP and EVMT-based composite PCM plates were respectively fabricated through a mold pressing method.The thermal property,chemical stability,microstructure and durability were characterized by differential scanning calorimeter(DSC),Fourier transform infrared spectroscope(FT-IR),scanning electron microscope(SEM)and thermal cycling tests,respectively.The results show that both PCPs have high latent heats with 110 J/g for EP-based PCP and more than 130 J/g for EVMT-based PCP,compact microstructure without PCM leakage,stable chemical property and good durability.The research results have proved the feasibility for the vacuum adsorption roller used in the composite PCM fabrication.Results of thermal storage performance experiment indicate that the fabricated PCM plates have better thermal inertia than common building materials,and the thermal storage performance of PCM plates has nonlinearly changed with outside air velocity and temperature increase.Therefore,PCM plates show a significant potential for the practical application of building thermal storage.

Thermal Energy Storage Characteristics of Myristic and Stearic Acids Eutectic Mixture for Low Temperature Heating Applications

Stearic acid (67.83℃) and myristic acid (52.32℃) have high melting temperatures that can limit their use as phase change material (PCM) in low temperature solar heating applications such as solar space and greenhouse heating in regard to climatic requirements. However, their melting temperatures can be adjusted to a suitable value by preparing a eutectic mixture of the myristic acid (MA) and the stearic acid (SA). In the present study, the thermal analysis based on differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique shows that the mixture of myristic acid (MA) and stearic acid (SA) in the respective composition (by mass) of 64% and 36% forms a eutectic mixture having melting temperature of 44.13℃ and the latent heat of fusion of 182.4J·g-1. The thermal energy storage characteristics of the MA-SA eutectic mixture filled in the annulus of two concentric pipes were also experimentally established. The heat recovery rate and heat charging/discharging fractions were determined with respect to the change in the mass flow rate and the inlet temperature of heat transfer fluid. Based on the results obtained by DSC analysis and by the heat charg- ing/discharging processes of the PCM, it can be concluded that the MA-SA eutectic mixture is a potential material for low temperature thermal energy storage applications in terms of its thermo-physical and thermal characteristics.

Thermal Characterization of Lauric Acid and Stearic Acid Binary Eutectic Mixture in Latent Heat Thermal Storage Systems with Tube and Fins

In order to obtain the suitable phase change material（PCM） with low phase change temperature and improve its heat transfer rate, experimental investigation was conducted. Firstly, different mass ratios of lauric acid（LA） and stearic acid（SA） eutectic mixtures were prepared and characterized by differential scanning calorimetry（DSC）. Then, the performance of eutectic mixture during charging process under different fin widths in vertical condition, and performance during charging and discharging processes under different inlet temperature heat transfer fluid（HTF） in horizontal condition were investigated, respectively. The results revealed that the LA-SA eutectic mixture had the suitable phase change temperature and desired latent heat for low-temperature water floor heating system. Wide fins and high inlet temperature HTF significantly enhanced the transfer rate and decreased the melting time.

Temperature-Dependent Rheological Behaviors of Binary Eutectic Mixtures of Sugar Alcohols for Latent Heat Storage:A Comparative Study with Pure Sugar Alcohols

The temperature-dependent rheological behaviors of five selected binary eutectic mixture sugar alcohols,with great potential for latent heat storage in the range of 353.15 K to 523.15 K,were investigated.It was found that the rheological behaviors of the mixture sugar alcohols depend on those of the pure compounds as well as their molar ratios.The two mixtures of xylitol(75 mol%)+erythritol and erythritol(84 mol%)+d-mannitol behave like pseudoplastic fluids with typical non-Newtonian shear-thinning behaviors,as indicated by the power law index of 0.99(<1).The mixture of d-mannitol(70 mol%)+d-dulcitol is a nonlinear Bingham fluid,exhibiting a slight yield stress(0.001 Pa to 0.01 Pa)at low shear rates.The rest two mixtures containing the cyclic-structured inositol behave like Herschel-Bulkley fluids.The infinite shear viscosities of the eutectic mixtures over the entire temperature range appear to be higher than those of their respective pure compounds,except for inositol.The mixture of xylitol(75 mol%)+erythritol at its melting point shows higher dynamic viscosity of about 0.546 Pa·s than the values of about 0.396 Pa·s and 0.035 Pa·s for xylitol and erythritol,respectively.In addition,the activation energies of viscous flow of the mixtures,as determined by fitting the dynamic viscosity-temperature curves using the Arrhenius model,also exhibit higher values than those of their pure compounds.The activation energy of viscous flow of the mixture xylitol(75 mol%)+erythritol was determined to be about 92400 J/mol in the supercooled liquid state,while the supercooled liquid xylitol and erythritol have much lower values of 83500 J/mol and 51900 J/mol,respectively.Both the increased dynamic viscosities and activation energies of viscous flow can result in deteriorated crystallization performance during latent heat retrieval.

Fatty Acid/Expanded Graphite Encapsulating Form-Stable Phase Change Materials for Energy Storage

The lauric-myristic-palmitic acid( LA-MA-PA) ternary eutectic mixtures/expanded graphite( EG) composite phase change materials( PCMs) were prepared by absorbing LA-MA-PA into the porous network of EG. The optimum ratio of ternary eutectic mixtures to EG was determined to be 93∶7 without liquid LA-MA-PA leakage from the composite PCMs. In order to make the structure more stable, the composite PCMs were encapsulated by surface treatment agent to prepare LA-MA-PA/EG encapsulating form-stable PCMs which were characterized by scanning electron microscope( SEM),Fourier transformation infrared spectroscope( FT-IR),differential scanning calorimetry( DSC) and thermal treatment. The results showed there was no chemical reaction between surface treatment agent and LA-MA-PA,and the samples were compactly encapsulated which left almost no imprint on the filter paper after thermal treatment. The phase change temperature and latent heat of LA-MA-PA/EG encapsulating form-stable PCMs were tested to be29. 32 ℃ and 96. 20 J/g,respectively. Additionally,the heat transfer efficiency of heat storage was improved by the addition of EG.

Ionothermal Synthesis and Structural Characterization of a Novel Open Framework Zinc Diphosphonate with Carboxylate-like Linker

A novel crystalline zinc diphosphonate, （CH3NH3）4Zn2（xbp）2·H2O, denoted as compound 1, was ionothermally synthesized from tetraethyl-p-xylylenebisphosphonate （Yexbp） and Zn（OAc）2 in a protic eutectic mixture with urea/methylamine hydrochloride. Its structure was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction data and had a special three-dimensional open framework with rhombic channels. Compound 1 belongs to the monoclinic system （space group C2/c）, with lattice parameters a=22.6876（19）A, b=8.7376（7）A, c=8.1673（9）A, β= 108.146（2）°, V= 1538.5（2） A^3, Z=2. Its structure is totally different from the typical organic pillared structure, only two oxygens of the phosphonate group are coordinated with zinc atoms, and the third oxygen exists in the terminal form, which is similar to the popular dicarboxylate linkers in MOFs. The organic cations [CH3NH3]^＋ of the eutectic mixture played a structure-directing role for constructing this framework and were confined in the pore channels to balance the negative charges resulting from the zinc phosphonate inorganic chains.