Shape-remodeled macrocapsule of phase change materials for thermal energy storage and thermal management

De-Hai Yu and Zhi-Zhu He

Applied Energy, 2019, vol. 247, issue C, 503-516

Abstract: This paper reports on a novel phase change material macrocapsule for thermal energy storage, which can be dynamically and repeatably remodeled as needed to a complicated shape with large-scale deformation. In addition, it effectively eliminates the stress mismatch, induced by the volumetric expansion (or shrink) of the phase change material during melting (or solidification), through the self-adaptative deformation of the coated flexible shell. The shape-remodeled macrocapsule, consisting of octadecanol as the core and the silicone elastomer for encapsulation, was prepared through a cast molding method. The high-concentration microparticles of low-melting Bi-In-Sn eutectic alloys were embedded into elastic shell for significantly enhancing its latent heat storage and heat conductivity. The prepared macrocapsule has a high latent heat density of 210.1 MJ/m3, which of the contribution from the shell is about 20%. The thermal conductivity of the macrocapsule core reaches to 1.53 W/m·K with a 428% increase compared with pure octadecanol. The flexible shell attains a high thermal conductivity of 1.98 W/m·K with an 890% increase compared with pure silicone, which also remains a high stretchability with 432% strain. The performance of shape remodeling, energy storage capacity, and heat charging and discharging rates of the macrocapsule were demonstrated in detail. The applications of the prepared macrocapsule as thermal management for the flexible electronic devices and the thermal storage for thermoelectric energy harvesting were also investigated. The present study opens the way for further development of elastic phase change material capsule applications in energy storage systems and thermal control engineering.

Keywords: PCM macrocapsule; Octadecanol; Bi-In-Sn eutectic alloy; Thermal energy storage; Thermal management; Thermoelectric power generation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261919307342
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:appene:v:247:y:2019:i:c:p:503-516

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.04.072

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

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