THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM USING PHASE CHANGE MATERIAL (PCM)

Solar energy is one of the most wasted renewable energy in the world. This heat energy can be recovered and stored which can be useful in conservation of energy. In the present study a regenerative heat exchanger is designed and the phase change materials are arranged in the form of Paraffin bags for faster and congruent charging due to its porosity. Aluminium baffles are placed to improve the flow of water and it is fabricated. For waste heat recovery in manufacturing sectors it has been designed and fabricated for storing thermal energy. In this study an electric heater is used for generating heat energy which is later used to analyse the storage capacity of the heat exchanger using phase change material (PCM) paraffin wax. Experiments were performed for two different mass flow rates and inlet temperature of the passing fluid is maintained constant in charging process which is the hot period. In order to preserve heat during discharging process temperature of passing fluid is maintained at atmospheric temperature which is cold period. The charging speed and the efficiency of the heat transfer is determined for two different mass flow rates. Calculations for amount of heat stored and released during charging (hot period) and discharging (cold period) and heat discharging efficiency is also noted. The results show the feasibility of paraffin wax as phase change material.