The Phase Change Matters e-mail newsletter is a weekly summary of the latest news and research on phase change materials and thermal energy storage. To subscribe, visit www.puretemp.com/subscribe. For more frequent updates, follow @puretemp on Twitter or visit the Phase Change Matters blog, www.puretemp.com/pcmatters.
IN BRIEF
• The new version of the European Union‘s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive has been published and will take effect July 9. The directive is the EU’s main legislative instrument designed to promote improved energy performance of buildings. Member states will have 20 months to transpose the new elements into national law.
• A proposal to use microencapsulated phase change material to help motor vehicles run smoothly in extreme cold has won the ClimateLaunchpad competition in Azerbaijan. A team of chemical engineering students from Baku Higher Oil School developed the concept. The team will represent Azerbaijan at the ClimateLaunchpad finals in Scotland Nov. 1-2, 2018.
• New from Research Reports: “2018 Global Inorganic PCMs Industry Report – History, Present and Future“
PATENTS
Use of a composite material for heat management
U.S. patent application 20180187977 (applicant SGL Carbon SE, Wiesbaden, Germany):
“The use of a composite material for heat management in the electrical and/or electronic area, in particular in a car. A grid-like structure filled with a phase change material (PCM), and to a composite material that includes a grid-like structure filled with PCM. The filled grid-like structure being present on a cover layer or between two cover layers.”
Treatment systems with fluid mixing systems and fluid-cooled applicators
U.S. patent application 20180185189 (applicant Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc., Pleasanton, Calif.):
“A treatment system for cooling subcutaneous lipid-rich cells [200] in a human subject includes an applicator [410] and a control unit. The treatment system has a cooling mode for cooling tissue and a heating mode for warming tissue. The control unit includes a circulation circuit in fluid communication with the applicator, a chiller apparatus configured to chill fluid from the applicator circulation circuit, and a heater apparatus to warmed fluid from the applicator circulation circuit. … The chilled reservoir can hold coolant (referred to as ‘chilled coolant’) at a relatively low temperature and the chiller fluidic circuit can include, without limitation, a refrigeration unit, a cooling tower, a thermoelectric chiller, a cartridge of phase change material, or any other device capable of removing heat from coolant.”
Maintaining a solar power module
U.S. patent application 20180191295 (applicant Saudi Arabian Oil Co., Dhahran, Saudi Arabia):
“A solar power system includes a plurality of solar power cells mounted on an outer surface of a spherical frame, the spherical frame including an inner surface that defines an interior volume; a heat sink that includes a hollow housing mounted within the interior volume of the spherical frame; and a phase change material positioned in the hollow housing of the heat sink, the phase change material thermally coupled to the inner surface of the spherical frame to receive heat from the outer surface of the spherical frame.”
Extinguisher for a smoking article
U.S. patent application 20180184707 (applicant Philip Morris Products SA, Neuchâtel, Switzerland):
“A portable extinguisher for extinguishing a single smoking article [S] at a time, the extinguisher comprising: a reservoir; a chamber sized to receive at least part of a single smoking article; and an opening to receive at least part of the smoking article into the chamber; wherein the reservoir and the chamber are thermally coupled and wherein the chamber is isolated from the reservoir such that there is no fluid communication between the chamber and the reservoir, and wherein the reservoir contains a phase change material arranged such that, in use, heat energy from a smoking article received in the chamber is absorbed by a phase transition of the phase change material.”
RESEARCH ROUNDUP
For our full list of recent academic research, see puretemp.com/academic. Here are highlights from the past week:
From Energy:• Design and fabrication of reversible thermochromic microencapsulated phase change materials for thermal energy storage and its antibacterial activity
From Energy and Buildings:
• A Review on Enhancement of Phase Change Materials – A Nanomaterials Perspective
• Phase change humidity control material and its impact on building energy consumption
From Solar Energy:
• Optimization of melting and solidification processes of PCM: Application to integrated collector storage solar water heaters
From Applied Thermal Engineering:
• Experimental Investigation on the Heat Transfer Enhancement in a Novel Latent Heat Thermal Storage Equipment
• Recent advancements on thermal management and evaluation for data centers
• Heat Transfer Characteristics of an Expanded Graphite/Paraffin PCM-Heat Exchanger used in an Instantaneous Heat Pump Water Heater
From Thermal Science and Engineering Progress:
• Numerical simulation of the melting of a NePCM due to a heated thin plate with different positions in a square enclosure
From Journal of Building Engineering:
• Numerical study of flow-through wall elements with phase–change materials
From Journal of Energy Storage:
• Exploratory investigation of a new thermal energy storage system with different phase change materials having distinct melting temperatures
From Renewable Energy:
• Optimization assessment of the energy performance of a BIPV/T-PCM system using Genetic Algorithms
From Sustainable Cities and Society:
• Coupled cooling method and application of latent heat thermal energy storage combined with pre-cooling of envelope: Temperature control using phase-change chair
NETWORKING
Connect with PCM experts and industry leaders on LinkedIn
More than 1,300 people have joined a LinkedIn group devoted to the discussion of phase change material and thermal energy storage. The Phase Change Matters group is an interactive complement to the award-winning blog and newsletter of the same name.
You are invited to join the group and connect with PCM and TES experts from around the world. This week we welcome Christoph Gawalleck, technical director at Dethleffs GmbH & Co., Isny im Allgäu, Germany; Frank Butch, director of engineering at Sonoco, Philadelphia, Penn.; Daniele Di Giannatale, mechanical engineer at Cordivari SRL, Varano, Italy; and Jei McKinney, senior business development manager at Encapsys LLC, Appleton, Wis.