EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF HEAT TRANSFER IN PCM THERMAL STORAGE WITH AIR AS A HEAT CARRIER

The phase change materials are becoming a more and more popular heat storage medium in many applications. The main advantage of phase change materials in thermal storage is the possibility to store a huge amount of heat in a rather narrow temperature interval. However, the high thermal storage capacity may not be fully utilized in many cases due to the limited heat transfer rates. This is especially of concern when air or some other gas serves as a heat carrier. Experimental investigation of heat transfer between PCM thermal storage and ambient air was conducted. The heat flux rates were acquired by means of a heat flux sensor while the air temperatures and velocities were obtained by CTA probes. The experiments were performed for various air velocities and air temperatures.