phase change material

phase change materials

heat storage

effective thermal

melting

silica aerogel

melting time

Journal of energy storage

In this research, heat transfer in a construction material integrating microencapsulated phase change material (PCM) has been studied and analyzed using a physical model based on the apparent heat capacity approach. The PCM considered includes impurities and behaves like a binary solution. The physical model was validated with the experimental and numerical data from literature. The numerical and experimental results revealed that the fusion and freezing operations were asymmetrical. The impact of the scan rate, the melting temperature, the volume fraction of the PCM and the thickness of the composite material on the phase transition process has been examined and outlined.

Apparent heat capacity method to investigate heat transfer in a composite phase change material