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
• Croda, the global specialty chemicals company, will showcase its automotive product portfolio in June at Automechanika 2016 in Birmingham, U.K. Among the sustainable products on display: bio-based phase change material designed for in-cabin temperature control and cold storage evaporators.
• The latest innovations featuring Outlast phase change technology were on display last week at the OT World trade show in Leipzig. Outlast’s PCM-enhanced foam is used to cushion the inside of ankle orthoses made by the French company Thuasne. Compression bandages made by a German company, Bort, include Outlast PCM to improve thermal comfort. And Hydas Fabrik für Medizinalbedarf, another German company, uses Outlast fibers in bandages, supporting belts and wrist braces (shown here) for extended heat management.
• BASF, maker of Micronal phase change material and other sustainable building materials and products, is taking a leadership role in the World Green Building Council’s Europe Regional Network. As an official partner, BASF will play a key part in supporting growth of the sustainable building movement in Europe.
• Ben VanderPlas, Sonoco ThermoSafe’s global product manager, is featured in a video produced by Healthcare Packaging magazine. VanderPlas explains how ThermoSafe’s LD7 Quarter PMC reflects a new approach to passive pallet shipper design for the distribution of bulk temperature-sensitive products.
• Roccor LLC of Longmont, Colo., has posted an opening for a thermal test engineer to help develop two-phase cooling devices for high-power military and commercial electronic systems.
• Planning to attend the 2017 Temperature Controlled Logistics conference in London? Take a 10-minute industry survey and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a complimentary pass.
• Marija Jović, project manager and lead scientist at PreScouter Inc., will lead a webinar titled “From AI to Drug Delivery: How Phase Change Materials Are Disrupting Your Industry.” The free event, set for 1-2 p.m. CDT on June 9, is aimed at leaders in a range of industries, from textiles and apparel to medicine and robotics. Illinois-based PreScouter provides corporate leaders with data and insights on which to base product development decisions.
• Pharmaceutical Commerce‘s annual Cold Chain Sourcebook projects 52 percent growth in global cold chain market between 2014 and 2020.
• Ben Singleton, business development manager at Pelican BioThermal, will be among the speakers at next week’s Cold Chain & Product Handling: Temperature Controlled Logistics conference in Amsterdam.
• Ice Energy is a founding member of the recently launched Community Storage Initiative, an industry group that includes utility trade associations, environmental groups, manufacturers and more than a dozen utilities. The Glendale, Calif., company makes the Ice Bear thermal energy storage system. “Community storage” refers to utility-sponsored programs that aggregate distributed energy storage resources such as water heaters, electric vehicles and interconnected storage batteries to deliver electricity to consumers more efficiently.
• The global market for green chemistry, estimated at $11 billion in 2015, will explode to about $100 billion by 2020, the American Sustainable Business Council and the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council report. “In a nutshell,” writes Libby Bernick of Trucost, “the green chemistry market is poised for takeoff.”
• The U.S. Green Building Council has launched “Ask Brendan,” an offbeat yet informative video series featuring Senior Vice President of Knowledge Rachel Gutter and Chief of Engineering Brendan Owens. The pilot episode is free but requires site registration. Subsequent episodes will be available only to Education @USGBC subscribers.
• Since the late 1980s, a company called Snowmax has supplied ski resorts with a bacteria-derived additive that makes snow production possible at higher temperatures. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany, now say they’ve figured out how the ice-making bacteria works.
RESEARCH ROUNDUP
For our full list of recent academic research, see puretemp.com/academic. Here are highlights from the past week:
From Materials:• Macro-Encapsulated PCM Cylinder Module Based on Paraffin and Float Stones
From International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer:
• Two-phase heat and mass transfer of phase change materials in thermal management systems
From Energy and Buildings:
• Modified lime-cement plasters with enhanced thermal and hygric storage capacity for moderation of interior climate
• Numerical analysis on thermal performance of a PCM-filled double glazing roof
From Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells:
• Preparation of stearic acid/modified expanded vermiculite composite phase change material with simultaneously enhanced thermal conductivity and latent heat
From Building and Environment:
• Investigation on the properties of a new type of concrete blocks incorporated with PEG/SiO2 composite phase change material
From Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews:
• Thermal conductivity enhancement of phase change materials for thermal energy storage: A review
From Applied Energy:
• Cold storage condensation heat recovery system with a novel composite phase change material
• Energy and economic analysis of building integrated with PCM in different cities of China
From Applied Thermal Engineering:
• Numerical analysis for the optimal location of a thin PCM layer in frame walls
NETWORKING
Connect with PCM experts and industry leaders on LinkedIn
More than 730 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 Peter Therrien, design engineer at NUK USA; Hans-Peter Hentze, senior scientist at Nexus A/S, Denmark; Kunal Bhagat, applications engineer at Pluss Advanced Technologies, India; and Mohamed Bashir, who is pursuing a doctorate in mechanical engineering at the University of Malaya.