Thermal energy storage performance of fatty acids as a phase change material

Thermal energy storage performance of fatty acids and a eutectic mixture as phase change materials (PCMs) has been investigated experimentally. The selected PCMs for this study were palmitic acid, myristic acid, stearic acid, and a mixture of stearic and myristic acids in eutectic combination ratio of 65.7 wt% myristic acid and 34.3 wt% stearic acid. The PCMs have a melting temperature range of 50.0°C to 61.20°C and a latent heat range of 162.0 J/g to 204.5 J/g. The inlet temperature and the mass flow rate of heat transfer fluid (HTF) were selected as experimental parameters to test the thermal energy storage performance of the PCMs. The transition times, temperature range, propagation of the solid-liquid interface, as well as heat flow rate characteristics of the employed cylindrical tube storage system were studied at varied experimental parameters. The experimental results show that the melting front moves to inward in the radial directions as well as in the axial directions from the top toward to the bottom of the PCM tube. It was observed that the convection heat transfer in the liquid phase plays an important role in the melting process. The changes in the studied HTF parameters have more effect on the melting processes than the solidification processes of the PCMs. The average heat storage efficiency calculated from data for all the PCMs is 51.5%, meaning that 48.5% of the heat actually was lost somewhere.