Abstract:
Low Temperature Energy Storage System (LTESS) store the thermal energy from the sun,
exhaust gases and waste heat from industries and other Sources. Phase Changing materials are
used as the energy storage medium for this system. The advantage of PCM is that, it has higher
energy storage density, with low volume. The disadvantage of PCM for using as LTESS
is that, the thermal conductivity of PCM is less and this requires more time
period and surface area of contact, for loading and unloading of thermal energy.
An solution to this problem can be incorporating Graphite Micro particles in the paraffin
PCM to improve its thermal conductivity. The heat transfer of LTESS is determined
experimentally. Incorporating micro-particle in the PCM has improved the heat
transfer of the LTESS. Maxwell-Garnett Equation is used to determine the heat
transfer of PCM and J-Type Temperature measuring Probe and Sensor Apparatus is used to
determine the heat transfer experimentally. The encapsulation has increased the heat retaining
ability and storage time by about 40% on average for the flow rates tested.
