Laboratory Test of a Cylindrical Heat Storage Module with Water and Sodium Acetate Trihydrate

Cylindrical heat storage modules with internal heat exchangers have been tested in a laboratory. The modules were filled with water and sodium acetate trihydrate with additives. The testing focused on the heat content of the storage material and the heat exchange capacity rate during charge of the module. For the tests with the phase change materials, the focus was furthermore on the stability of supercooling and cycling stability. Testing the module with sodium acetate trihydrate and 6.4% extra water showed that phase separation increased and the heat released after solidification of supercooled phase change material was reduced over 17 test cycles. The heat released after solidification of the supercooled sodium acetate trihydrate with thickening agent and graphite was stable over the test cycles. Stable supercooling was obtained in 7 out of 17 test cycles with the module with sodium acetate trihydrate with extra water and in 6 out of 35 test cycles for the module with thickening agent.