Heat transfer characteristics of thermal energy storage of a composite phase change materials: Numerical and experimental investigations

In the present study, phase change materials based on epoxy resin paraffin wax with the melting point 27 °C were used as a new energy storage system. Thermophysical properties and the process of melting of a PCM (phase change material) composite were investigated numerically and experimentally. DSC (differential scanning calorimetry) has been used for measurement of melting enthalpy and determination of PCM heat capacity. The thermophysical properties of the prepared composite have been characterized by using a new transient hot plate apparatus. The results have shown that the most important thermal properties of these composites at the solid and liquid states are like the “apparent” thermal conductivity, the heat storage capacity and the latent heat of fusion. These experimental results have been simulated by using numerical Comsol® Multiphysiques 4.3 based models with success. The results of the experimental investigation compare favorably with the numerical results and thus serve to validate the numerical approach.