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CONFERENCES
Abstracts for EnerSTOCK 2018 papers are due April 30
EnerSTOCK 2018, the 14th International Conference on Energy Storage, is more than a year away. But the deadline for submitting abstracts is coming up fast.
The conference will be held April 25-28, 2018, at Cukurova University in Adana, Turkey. Conference topics include phase change materials, thermochemical materials, hybrid applications, performance standards, government regulations and country-by-country updates.
Abstracts, which are due by April 30, should include “the topic and the problem, significance of the study, the objective and the methods used in the research, results and a short discussion/conclusion.”
An early list of conference speakers includes Dr. Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency; Dr. Ibrahim Dincer, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Ontario; Dr. Signhild Gehlin of the Swedish Geoenergy Center in Lund, Sweden; and Dr. Mohammed Farid, professor of chemical and materials engineering at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Questions about the event should be directed to the conference chair, Dr. Halime Paksoy, professor of chemistry at Cukurova University.
PATENTS
Composite foam and methods of preparation and use
U.S. patent application 20170072604 (applicant Empire Technology Development LLC, Wilmington, Del.):
“Composite foams having cells containing shape-stabilized phase change material (ss-PCM) particles are described. Composite foams may be made by contacting a plurality of ss-PCM particles and one or more pre-polymer reactants, wherein each ss-PCM particle can form a nucleation site for foam cell generation. The composite foams may be used in regulating the temperature of an article wherein the foam undergoes a phase transition as the surrounding temperature of the article approaches the foam’s phase transition temperature. The thermostatic material may exchange heat with the article during the phase transition, resulting in regulation of the temperature of the article. The composite foams may be used as a thermostatic packaging material having a cavity for storing goods.”
Three-layer vessel with phase change material
U.S. patent application 20170071381 (inventors Weng Hua Ze and Ke Wang, Quanxi Town, China):
“A three layer vessel has: a vessel body; a first liner connected to the vessel body and configured within the vessel body; an outside gap formed between the first liner in the vessel body, the outside gap is at least partially evacuated to a lower pressure than atmospheric air pressure; a second liner connected to the vessel body and configured within the first liner; an inside gap formed between the first liner in the second liner; a thermal conductive fluid held within the inside gap; a vessel body rim is formed on the vessel body with the vessel body connects to the first liner. … An inner space [19] is formed between the vacuum space between the internal spacing, which is filled with thermal conductive fluid. … The thermal conductive fluid is a phase change material that changes phase between liquid and solid phases.”
Integrated multi-chamber heat exchanger
U.S. patent application 20170082371 (applicant Lockheed Martin Corp., Owego, N.Y.):
“A one-piece heat exchanger manufactured using an additive manufacturing process is described. The heat exchanger includes a plurality of channels formed therein. At least some of the plurality of channels may be configured to provide structural support to the heat exchanger to reduce its weight. Different coolant media may be used in a first set and a second set of the plurality of channels to provide different types of cooling in an integrated one-piece heat exchanger structure. … [A] phase change material coolant (e.g., paraffin that changes state between a solid and a liquid) may provide both steady state cooling using the fluid coolant channels and transient cooling using the phase change material coolant channels to effectively provide cooling for a component or components that generate both steady state heat and occasional, transient, spikes in heat.”
IN BRIEF
• Thermal Energy Service Solutions, maker of a PCM-based “plug-and-chill” refrigeration system, was one of six startup companies honored at Tech Festival 2017 in Berlin this week. The Indian company’s cooling technology is designed to reduce the use of fossil fuels in storing and transporting food. The Startup Energy Transition Awards competition, sponsored by the German Energy Agency, drew more than 500 applications from 66 countries.
• New from MarketsandMarkets: “Thermal Energy Storage Market by Technology (Sensible, Latent, and TCS), Storage Material (Water, Molten Salt, and PCM), Application (Power Generation, District Heating & Cooling, and Process Heating & Cooling), End-User, and Region – Global Forecast to 2022.” The report projects that the global thermal energy storage market should grow from an estimated $3.67 billion this year to $6.2 billion by 2022.
• Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, have shown that it is possible to convert solar energy directly into energy stored in the bonds of a chemical fluid. The system is based on the organic compound norbornadiene, which upon exposure to light converts into quadricyclane.
• Ankit Jhanwar, right, vice president for corporate planning and strategy at Pluss Advanced Technologies, was honored as one of 10 “Innovators under 35” at EmTech India 2017.
• Sunamp Ltd., maker of PCM-based heat batteries, is one of eight finalists for an Ashden UK Award. Winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on June 15. The competition recognizes excellence in the field of green energy.
• McKinsey & Co. analysts say a slowdown in the chemical industry’s financial performance over the past five years reflects important changes in the industry’s fundamentals. One of their recommendations: “Incumbent specialty-chemical players must prepare for further encroachment of commoditization and erosion of their historical advantages when attackers from developing markets gain more experience and become increasingly technologically savvy.”
• California lawmakers have introduced legislation to encourage more clean energy resources to address peak load. The bills would require utilities to deploy clean energy during peak demand in order to meet the state’s aggressive greenhouse gas and renewable energy goals.
• Machine learning tools can help researchers analyze sustainable products and chemicals more easily, but as with all computing, data quality is important, writes Christina Valimaki, senior director of chemicals at Elsevier‘s R&D Solutions.
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise will work with BASF to develop a supercomputer that will sharply reduce the time it takes to run simulations and modeling in chemical research. “The new supercomputer will promote the application and development of complex modeling and simulation approaches, opening up completely new avenues for our research at BASF,” said Dr. Martin Brudermueller, chief technology officer at BASF.
RESEARCH ROUNDUP
For our full list of recent academic research, see puretemp.com/academic. Here are highlights from the past week:
From Renewable Energy:• Investigation of the corrosive properties of phase change materials in contact with metals and plastic
From Applied Thermal Engineering:
• Preparation and thermal properties of SAT-CMC-DSP/EG composite as phase change material
From Energy Conversion and Management:
• A numerical study on the usage of phase change material (PCM) to prolong compressor off period in a beverage cooler
• Thermal performance of solar air collection-storage system with phase change material based on flat micro-heat pipe arrays
From Building and Environment:
• Abilities and limitations of thermal mass activation for thermal comfort, peak shifting and shaving: A review
From Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews:
• Corrosion effect of phase change materials in solar thermal energy storage application
• A review for phase change materials (PCMs) in solar absorption refrigeration systems
From Solar Energy:
• Sodium nitrate – Diatomite composite materials for thermal energy storage
• Yearly energy performance of a photovoltaic-phase change material (PV-PCM) system in hot climate
From Energy Conversion and Management:
• Innovative PCM-desiccant packet to provide dry microclimate and improve performance of cooling vest in hot environment
From Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry:
• Energy performance evaluation of heat-storage gypsum board with hybrid SSPCM composite
From Journal of Energy Storage:
• Empirical equation to estimate viscosity of paraffin
From Energy and Buildings:
• Simple thermal evaluation of building envelopes containing microencapsulated phase change materials using a modified admittance method
NETWORKING
Connect with PCM experts and industry leaders on LinkedIn
More than a thousand of your peers 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. New members this week include Grethe Hansen, ceilings product manager at Hunter Douglas Norway; Urs Lipp, project leader at Nolax, Switzerland; Christopher Mortensen, technical director at Hydrock, England; Deepali Kandekar, market research analyst at MarketsandMarkets, India; Altug Altay, application specialist at Croda, Netherlands; and Linda Page, vice president for marketing at Warm and Tote LLC, Philadelphia.