New potential applications of phase change materials: A review

Latent heat materials are widely investigated and successfully used in a variety of important applications as in the building industry and thermal engineering systems. In this paper a comprehensive review on phase change material (PCM) in relatively recent potential application such as photovoltaic (PV) panel cooling, applications in food, automotive; asphalt, and textile industries. The review is divided into seven sections. The first two sections give a general overview of PCMs, their potential in integrating intermittent systems, PCM characterization and enhancement techniques. In the third and subsequent sections applications in the PV panels cooling, food, textile, automotive and asphalt applications are presented. The results showed that application of PCM RT42 in a BiCPV system reduced the temperature by about 3.8 ? and increased the electrical efficiency by 7.7 %. The use of finned enclosures enhanced the performance of PV panels. A finned enclosure decreased the operating temperature by 6.1 ? and increased the efficiency by 5.3 %.The use of nanoparticles (SiC) dispersed into paraffin based PCM showed good thermal performance and increased the electrical efficiency by 13.7 %. Similar benefits are found in the food industry. The use of PCM in food containers reduced the energy consumption, the operational cost, and the emission by 86.7, 91.6, and 78.5 %, respectively. Penetration of PCM in the textile industry is relatively small. Applications in the textile industry showed that for a temperature rise from 20 to 28 & DEG;C, common silk took 13 s, the Outlast/silk took 20 s, and the treated fabric took 37 s. Application of PCM in the car industry for cooling batteries, and thermal insulation is continuously growing. It is shown that using PCM decreased the maximum and minimum battery temperature from 56.8 and 48.3 & DEG;C to 38.9 and 36.0 & DEG;C, respectively. Other application showed that the use of coconut oil as PCM for the thermal control of a vehicle decreased the passenger's cabin temperature by an average of 13 ?, while application on the roof of a parked car during 1 h in a sunny day can reduce the temperature by about 33 ?. The inclusion of PCM in the asphalt mixture can eliminate the destructive bonds that cause aging of the asphalt mixture, contribute to the prevention of low-temperature cracking and decrease the temperature fluctuations in the asphalt binder. This review can be of great help for system designers, practice engineers and researchers in the area of thermal energy storage and PCM based systems. Trends for future research are highlighted.

Automated summary

This paper provides a comprehensive review on the potential applications of phase change materials (PCM) in fields such as PV panel cooling, food, automotive, asphalt, and textile industries. The review presents research results and enhancement techniques, highlighting the energy-saving and efficiency-improving benefits of PCM in various applications.