Research progress and performance improvement of phase change heat accumulators

The heat accumulator can overcome the intermittent and fluctuating problems of the new energy structure and provide a guarantee for the efficiency of the thermal system. It is the most potential energy hub in the energy transition period. Although a lot of research on phase change materials and thermal storage systems has been carried out over the years, there is a lack of systematic and comprehensive research on the classification and evaluation of phase change thermal storage systems. This paper reviewed the recent kinds of literature on the research of phase change heat accumulators, aiming to summarize the research work of phase change heat accumulators. The thermophysical properties of various phase change materials and the selection principles for applying PCM in heat accumulators were analyzed, and the applicability of the method for improving the performance of phase change heat accumulators was introduced. The classification and typical advantages and disadvantages of heat accumulators were summarized and discussed, and the potential methods and research deficiencies of optimizing heat accumulators were found to provide a useful reference for the development of heat accumulators in the future.