A NEW SOLAR RECEIVER THERMAL STORE FOR SPACE-BASED ACTIVITIES USING MULTIPLE COMPOSITE PHASE-CHANGE MATERIALS

A new solar receiver latent thermal energy storage module for space-based activities is proposed. It is different from a conventional module (which uses a single phase-change material (PCM)); this module uses a composite configuration of multiple PCMs. A finite element model is presented which simulates the transient cyclic thermal process involved. Computations have been carried out to investigate the potential advantages of a composite multi-PCM store over a single PCM store. Numerical results indicate that variation of the fluid outlet temperature can be significantly reduced by appropriate selection of multiple composite PCMs.