Study on properties of phase change foam concrete block mixed with paraffin / fumed silica composite phase change material

Yue Qu, Jiayu Chen, Lifang Liu, Tao Xu, Huijun Wu and Xiaoqing Zhou

Renewable Energy, 2020, vol. 150, issue C, 1127-1135

Abstract: On-site renewable energy generation systems are installed for buildings to compensate for their energy consumptions due to cooling and heating loads. Fluctuated energy load can significantly affect the decision on the selection of renewable energy systems. This study developed a new phase change foam concrete with low thermal conductivity and suitable phase change temperature to shave the temperature peak in summer and improve the economic feasibility of renewable energy systems. With the adsorption method, this study utilized the fumed silica to absorb paraffin for the composite phase change materials (PCM) formation. Through morphology and liquid leakage tests, this study found that the composite PCM with paraffin content of 45% (wt) had the best adsorption capacity and setting performance. According to the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), metallographic microscopy and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) tests, the proposed composite PCM and phase change foam concrete blocks have stable morphological structures and physical properties. Also, the differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) showed the proposed composite PCM within the concrete have suitable phase change temperature (about 41 °C) and phase change latent heat (the endothermic process is 113.3 J/g and the exothermic process is −112 J/g) to avoid building overheating in summer. Finally, the thermal conductivity and heating experiments suggested the proposed phase change foam concrete blocks have low thermal conductivity and strong heat storage capacity.

Keywords: Fumed silica; Composite PCM; Phase change foam concrete; Heat storage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148119315642
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:150:y:2020:i:c:p:1127-1135

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2019.10.073

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().