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.
MARKET RESEARCH
PCM market is projected to reach $339 million in the Americas by 2019
The market for advanced phase change materials in the Americas will reach $339.56 million by 2019, according to the latest report from MicroMarket Monitor. That’s a compound annual growth rate of 19.9% from 2014 to 2019. The report, set for release May 2, identifies the shipping, packaging and refrigeration segment as a key driver and attributes much of the growth to initiatives by the Emerging Technologies Coordinating Council, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and other bodies.
MicroMarket Monitor will release similar reports next month on three other PCM markets. The European market for organic PCMs is projected to see a compound annual growth rate of 20.4 percent from 2013 to 2018. The Asia-Pacific PCM market is expected to see a CAGR of 19.2 percent from 2013 to 2018. The Middle East-Africa PCM market is expected see a CAGR of 11.9 percent in the same period.
PATENT APPLICATION
Utilizing waste heat in hybrid vehicle via PCM
Patent application 20150089922 (Assignee: Ford Global Technologies LLC): “The system may reduce engine warm-up time and increase an amount of time an engine of a hybrid vehicle is deactivated while the hybrid vehicle is powered by a motor. In one example, a phase change material selectively stores and releases exhaust gas energy from and engine to improve vehicle operation.”
CONTINUING EDUCATION
Free online course on thermal energy storage
Looking for a good primer on thermal energy storage? GreenCE offers a free online course on the topic, “Thermal Energy Storage: A Vital Ingredient to a Low Carbon Future.” AIA members and LEED professionals can earn continuing education credits by completing the hourlong course and passing a quiz.
Other free courses include “Energy Efficiency and HVAC System Design” and “Off the Grid Part 1 – A Case Study.”
SUSTAINABILITY
Take a virtual tour of NYC’s passive house movement
Curbed New York has compiled a list of 21 buildings in New York City designed to meet energy-use standards outlined by Germany’s Passive House Institute.
Most of New York’s passive houses are in Brooklyn. The list includes 23 Park Place, NYC’s first certified passive house; 951 Pacific, a three-unit row house that is aiming for “net zero” status, allowing each homeowner “the possibility of living without eternal power costs”; and 45-12 11th Street, which has been called the ugliest house in Queens.
THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE
Trane/CALMAC system is finalist in 2015 chiller competition
An ice-enhanced, air-cooled chiller plant is among the finalists in Consulting-Specifying Engineer‘s 2015 Product of the Year competition. The system, which combines Trane’s EarthWise plants with CALMAC’s IceBank tanks, shifts energy demand to off-peak hours, when electricity is cheaper.
RESEARCH ROUNDUP
From Applied Energy:
• Thermal battery for portable climate controlFrom Energy Conservation and Management:
• Diatomite: A promising natural candidate as carrier material for low, middle and high temperature phase change material
From Solar Energy:
• Full scale experimentation on a new translucent passive solar wall combining silica aerogels and phase change materials
From Materials for Renewable and Sustainable Energy:
• Phase change materials (PCMs) integrated into transparent building elements: a review
From Energy Conversion and Management:
• A hybrid optimization model of biomass trigeneration system combined with pit thermal energy storage
From Applied Energy:
• A hybrid thermal management system for lithium ion batteries combining phase change materials with forced-air cooling
From International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer:
• Melting processes of phase change materials in an enclosure with a free-moving ceiling: An experimental and numerical study
From Journal of Computational Physics:
• Phase interface effects in the total enthalpy-based lattice Boltzmann model for solid–liquid phase change
From Particuology:
• Electroless plating of copper layer on surfaces of urea–formaldehyde microcapsule particles containing paraffin for low infrared emissivity
From Applied Thermal Engineering:
• Constructal design of phase change material enclosures used for cooling electronic devices
• Numerical study of PCM solidification in a finned tube thermal storage including natural convection
• Effect of water based AL2O3 Nanoparticle PCM on cool storage performance
• Performance of a window shutter with phase change material under summer Mediterranean climate conditions
From Procedia Technology:
• Optimization of Heat Exchange in a Heat Accumulator with Latent Heat Storage
From Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews:
• Review on shell materials used in the encapsulation of phase change materials for high temperature thermal energy storage
From Renewable Energy:
• An experimental study on the thermal performance of a solar chimney without and with PCM
YOUR TURN
Got a question about PCMs or TES? Ask our expert
Dr. Mohammed Farid, an Entropy Solutions advisor and professor of chemical and materials engineering at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, has agreed to answer your questions about phase change material and thermal energy storage. We’ll select the best questions sent to inquiries@entropysolutionsinc.com and post the answers here each Friday.
NETWORKING
Connect with PCM experts and industry leaders on LinkedIn
More than 100 of your colleagues worldwide have joined a new LinkedIn group devoted to the discussion of phase change material and thermal energy storage. The Phase Change Matters group is intended to be a highly interactive complement to the 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. The topic this week: Introductions!