Assessing the thermal performance of three cold energy storage materials with low eutectic temperature for food cold chain

Development a novel inorganic salt eutectic solution for cold energy storage material (ESM) have succeeded conducted in this study. The eutectic solutions shows a low melting temperature and high latent heat of fusion value as effect of addition nano copper powder into the eutectic solution. We report a new simulation technique of thermal property as well as test results of three inorganic salts. The thermal property of three inorganic salts were simulated using the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) method with the help of three binary phase diagrams. The simulation shows the liquidus temperature of each binary phase diagram conforming nicely to the theoretical prediction of the Gibbs-Duhem equation. In order to predict cold storage keeping time, we derived a heat transfer model based on energy conservation law. Three ESMs were tested for their cold energy storage performance and thermal properties aging for durability. The empirical results indicate that, for food cold chain, the melting point rule is superior with less deviation. With this information, one can pre-estimate the basic design parameters with great accuracy; the cost of design and development for a new cold storage logistics system can be dramatically reduced. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.