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Phase Change Material Research 

A Warm Welcome to my web site. 

Here you will find useful links to sites concerning Phase Change Materials (PCM'S) and  probably the largest  and most comprehensive reading list in relation to PCM's ever compiled.  

Thank you for your interest in phase change material.  Please take the time to look at the other pages on my site. 

Research Team

My name is Jonathan Gates and I am a research student in The School of The Environment  at the University of Brighton in the United Kingdom.  I undertook my first degree at Brighton in Building Surveying and graduated in June 1999 with  First Class Honours.  On  1^st December 1999 I started an MPhil/PhD at Brighton with the research topic being phase change materials for solar thermal energy storage.  The research team consists of Dr K. Ip PhD MSc MCIBSE CEng Senior lecturer, Dr A. Miller BSc PhD CEng MCIBSE Principal lecturer and myself. 

Background

At the 1992 conference on climate change, the United Nations Inter-governmental panel concluded that a 60% reduction in the use of fossil fuel would have to be made in order to freeze the level of CO₂ emissions by the year 2005 [1] .  This will have a major affect on the way in which fuel is currently being used, forcing a higher reliance and use of alternative and renewable energy sources.  This has tremendous implications in the residential building sector as currently they account for over half of  the fuel consumed, with 60%  [2] of emissions being attributed to lighting and heating these buildings.      

The amount of  energy in terms of sunlight reaching  the earth's surface in a year is approximately 1000 times that obtained from burning all the fossil fuels extracted during the same period [3].  Consequently the use of solar power in residential buildings has enormous potential  for reducing CO₂ emissions.  

Interest in renewables has increased rapidly throughout the world, an example of this is  the U.S. Government's Million Solar Roof Initiative whose objective is to install a million solar roofs by 2010.  However  there are several major problems with harvesting solar energy; it’s availability is unpredictable, intermittent and is often subject to interruptions due to changes in weather.  Due to this  a form of thermal storage is required to match supply with demand.  

Thermal storage can be accomplished either by using sensible heat storage or latent heat storage. Sensible heat storage has been used for centuries by builders to store thermal energy, but a much larger volume of material is required to store the same amount of energy in comparison to latent heat storage.  This fact is illustrated in the graph below.  Calcium chloride hexahydrate is a PCM and at its melting point it can store/release 190 kJ of energy.  To store the same amount of energy water would have to be heated to 45°C and concrete would have to be heated to 190°C.

Phase change materials are compounds which melt and solidify at certain temperatures and in doing so are capable of storing or releasing large amounts of energy.  Phase change materials can be incorporated into a thermal storage system in order to store daytime solar energy to provide space heating.  

1.  Association of Conservation of Energy.  (1994).  Association of Conservation of Energy Briefing Notes.  Association of Conservation of Energy. 

2.   Weider, S.  (1982).  An Introduction To Solar Energy For Scientists and Engineers.  New York: John Wiley & Sons.

3.  SEIA.  Solar: Clean and Healthy Energy [online].   Solar Energy Industries  Association.  Available from:  www.seia.org [Accessed on 25/2/00].   

Outline Of Research  

Aim Of The Investigation :

To evaluate the potential of a phase change energy storage system for the storage of solar energy in buildings

Objectives

1. To review the state of the art on the use of phase change materials (PCM) for energy storage
2. To establish requirements and criteria for system configurations
3. To identify suitable phase change materials
4. To develop a PCM storage system using the criteria established in (b)
5. To evaluate the theoretical performance
6. To construct a model of the PCM storage system
7. To measure and evaluate the performance of the PCM storage system

Current status

Dr K. IP has already carried out a dynamic modular simulation program, which has been used to study the performance of a proposed space heating system incorporating phase change materials and using solar panels.  Seven different system configurations were analyzed  and their performances and potential energy savings evaluated. (click here to view this paper)  an Acrobat reader is required to view this document.  If you have not got this installed then this can be downloaded by clicking here

There has been some research conducted into phase change materials by two final year Building Surveying students at the University of Brighton for their final year dissertation projects.  These are:

Vener, C.  (1997).  Phase Change Thermal Energy Storage.   The Department of The Built Environment,  University of Brighton. (click here to view)      

Flashman, MR.  (1999).  Energy Storage Using A Phase Change Material In A Domestic Dwelling.   The School of The Environment, University of Brighton.  

Carl Vener's  research included an appraisal of developments within the field of PCM from past to present.  Commercially available latent heat storage systems were detailed and illustrated.   Calculations were made as to the cost of incorporating latent heat thermal technology into a residential building.   Potential fuel and cost savings were calculated.  

In Richard Flashman's research a simple space heating system for a residential building incorporating phase change material was proposed.  The performance of this system was calculated and a small scale model of this system constructed and its performance monitored.  

Two French exchange students from the University of Rouen have been working on proposed system configurations and developing a method to measure system performance accurately.  A full report  was submitted on 31/3/00.  (click here to view)

Progress report meetings have been held approximately every three months.  Please click on any of the following meeting dates to view a PowerPoint presentation detailing progress at that time: 24/7/00, 25/9/00, 13/12/00.

Links With Industry 

Links have been formed with Alan Field Managing Director of RUBITHERM GmbH based in Hamburg.  RUBITHERM is a subsidiary of SCHÜMANN SASOL, which has recently been established with the intention of making the company the world's leading supplier of PCM's based on paraffins and waxes.  It also intends to be a world leader in the development and innovations of applications related to thermal energy storage.  RUBITHERM has generously agreed to supply samples of its products notably GRAN RT40 a contained PCM which will be used in this research.  The research team would like to express its gratitude to both Alan Field and RUBITHERM for their time and kind assistance.       

Links With Other Institutes

Dr J.K. Kissock from the University of Dayton in the United States, is involved in research on experimental and simulation studies of phase change wallboard.  The University of Dayton has an excellent record of achievement in PCM research. It holds a number of National and International Patents for PCM technology as a direct result of its research activities.  

Dr H. Leonard  from the University of Salford has worked on research in the use of  phase change materials for latent heat storage. 

 Dr Graeme Maidment from South Bank University is actively involved in research into the use of phase change materials for cooling and heating. 

 Associate Professor Wasim Saman and research fellow Frank Bruno from the Sustainable Energy Centre at the University of South Australia,  are currently developing a air/multi-PCM storage system for space heating and cooling applications.  They plan to use this system in conjunction with a reverse cycle air conditioner with a solar air collector.  

Klaas Visscher from the Netherlands Energy Research Foundation ECN (Energy efficiency) is a member of a team which has started a program to investigate the use of phase change materials for storage of heat for water and space heating.  The aim of the program is to maximize the amount of sustainable energy used in residential buildings.  

Dr David Etheridge at The University of Nottingham is the Principle Investigator on a project that is researching the use of phase change materials for the cooling of buildings. 

All of the aforementioned Institutes have kindly agreed to form  links with and/or to enter into a discussion group with the University of Brighton in this research area . 

Publications

Ip, K.C.W.  (1998).  Solar thermal storage with phase change materials in domestic buildings.  CIB World Congress, Gavle, Sweden, 7-12 June: 1265-1272 (click here to view this paper) an Acrobat reader is required to view this document.  If you have not got this installed then this can be downloaded by clicking here

Ip, K.C.W, and Gates, J.R.  (2000).  Potential of solar thermal storage using phase change materials in the UK.   WREC, Brighton, 1-7 July (click here to view this paper) an Acrobat reader is required to view this document.  If you have not got this installed then this can be downloaded by clicking here