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
Advanced energy storage market expected to reach $6.93 billion by 2022
The global market for advanced energy storage systems is expected to reach $6.93 billion by 2022, according to Grand View Research.
“Rising electricity consumption on a daily basis coupled with increasing energy supply-demand gap has resulted in high need for storage capacity additions,” according to the report. Thermal energy storage technology, which now accounts for more than 40 percent of capacity, will continue to dominate the market, “owing to high effectiveness in energy capturing and storing temporarily for use after a stipulated time period.”
PHASE CHANGE MATERIAL
Kettering professors partner with Warmilu to improve incubator blanket
Two physics professors at Kettering University are working with a Michigan startup on an incubator blanket designed to help preterm infants born in remote parts of developing countries. The goal is to make Warmilu‘s IncuBlanket stay warmer longer.
“The 8-by-16-inch pouch is filled with phase change material,” reports Michigan Live. “To get it warm, all a mother needs to do is boil it and place it in the blanket. Once the warming pack cools to room temperature, there is a spring to push to release more energy and more heat for a few more hours.”
Warmilu says the reusable packs can now maintain a temperature of 37º Celsius for two to five hours. The company hopes to extend that time to six to eight hours.
ENERGY STORAGE
NETenergy wins $40,000 at University of Chicago’s New Venture Challenge
Chicago startup NETenergy, an energy storage and management services provider, raked in $40,000 at the University of Chicago’s Edward L. Kaplan New Venture Challenge this week.
NETenergy, which won the $100,000 prize at the Clean Energy Trust Challenge earlier this year, was awarded $30,000 from the New Venture Challenge, plus a $10,000 Khosa Maker Prize. The company’s thermal energy storage units use phase change composites to store cold energy, allowing customers to shift A/C production to off-peak hours, when electricity is cheaper. The units are paired with software that manages energy use.
Maestro, which is developing a countertop device that can cook pre-portioned healthy foods, won the challenge’s top prize of $50,000, plus $20,000 from Pritzker Group Venture Capital.
PATENT APPLICATIONS
Air conditioning system with supercooled PCM
U.S. patent application 20150135743 (assignee Carrier Corp., Farmington, Conn.): “An air conditioning system includes a chiller system including a compressor, a condenser, an expansion device and an evaporator; a phase change material in thermal communication with the condenser; an actuator coupled to the phase change material; and a controller providing a trigger signal to the actuator to initiate changing the phase change material from a supercooled state to a solid state.”
RESEARCH ROUNDUP
For our full list of recent academic research, see puretemp.com/academic. Here are highlights from the past week:
From Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells:• Flame retardance property of shape-stabilized phase change materials
• Graphite nanoplates loading into eutectic mixture of adipic acid and sebacic acid as phase change material
From Applied Energy:
• Macroencapsulation and characterization of phase change materials for latent heat thermal energy storage systems
From Energy:
• Comparison of phase change slurries: Physicochemical and thermal properties
• Synthesis and characterization of thermal energy storage microencapsulated n-dodecanol with acrylic polymer shell
From Applied Thermal Engineering:
• Modeling Air Conditioning System with Storage Evaporator for Vehicle Energy Management
• Expanding Heisler Chart to Characterize Heat Transfer Phenomena in a Building Envelope Integrated With Phase Change Materials
• Microfluidic fabrication and thermal characteristics of core-shell phase change microfibers with high paraffin content
From Building and Environment:
• Virtual Special Issue – PCM applications in building environment
From Energy and Buildings:
• Simulation study on dynamic heat transfer performance of PCM-filled glass window with different thermophysical parameters of phase change material
• Synthesis and Characteristics of Hygroscopic Phase Change Material: Composite Microencapsulated Phase Change Material (MPCM) and Diatomite
From Renewable Energy:
• Key performance indicators in thermal energy storage: Survey and assessment
NETWORKING
Connect with PCM experts and industry leaders on LinkedIn
Nearly 200 of your colleagues have joined a new 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 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 Ramin Abhari, P.E. He writes:
“I am an engineer at Renewable Energy Group, where we have technology and manufacturing capacity to produce PCM-range paraffins from biorenewable feedstocks. Specifically, these include C12, C14, C16, C18, C20, C22, and C24 paraffins, covering melting points in the -10 C to +50 C range with latent heats greater than 170 J/g. I look forward to connecting with you and discussing how we can deploy these in new and existing applications.”
YOUR TURN
Got a question about PCMs or TES? Ask our experts
Two Entropy Solutions advisors, Dr. Mohammed Farid of the University of Auckland and Lucas B. Hyman of Goss Engineering, are ready 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.