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
• Sonoco ThermoSafe has announced the creation of a passive, temperature-controlled container that will be manufactured by AEROTUF of Charleston, S.C. The Pegasus ULD container will use AEROTUF’s patented AeroTHERM composite material technology, along with a gelled phase change material. “The Pegasus ULD will ultimately provide 2-8, CRT, and frozen temperature ranges depending on the PCM used for durations up to and exceeding five days,” said Ben VanderPlas, manager of Engineering and Product Management at ThermoSafe, which is based in Arlington Heights, Ill. A launch date for the product has not been announced.
• The Chinese rail company that worked with the UK’s University of Birmingham last year to develop a prototype of PCM-based freight container is bringing the concept to market. Hebei-based transport business CRRC Shijiazhuang sold 49 of the containers to a manufacturer in China this month. The low-emissions freight containers keep payloads cold without the need for fuel-generated refrigeration. “We are delighted to see our cold storage technologies start to make the commercial market,” said Yulong Ding, director of the Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage. “We are working with our partners to extend the cold storage technologies to more applications.”
• Here’s a co-branding opportunity for a PCM manufacturer with a taste for hops: Lagunitas Brewing Co. of Petaluma, Calif., has introduced Phase Change, “an unfiltered, wet-hop ale packed full of lupulin-drenched Simcoe, Citra & Mosaic hops.” The brewer describes the beer as “somewhere between a solid and a liquid… a Phase Change of sorts.”
• More than 170 speakers are lined up for the 14th International Conference on Advanced Building Skins, to be held Oct. 28-29 in Bern, Switzerland. The Japanese architect and Pritzker laureate Shigeru Ban will deliver the keynote address. Thomas Friedrich of Innogration GmbH, Germany, will discuss “collection of thermal energy from the façade” and “decentralized PCM storage elements for saving thermal energy.” Damien Mathis of Ai Environnement, Paris, will give a presentation on the “thermal performance of engineered wood flooring impregnated with phase-change materials.” The registration fee is 680 euros and includes the conference documentation as well as meals during both days. Participants who register by Aug. 30 will receive a 10 percent discount.
PATENTS
Substance delivery device
U.S. patent application 20190254797 (applicant TG Medwise Ltd., Hod HaSharon, Israel):
“A delivery device includes a collar device for wearing on an animal, a dosing probe disposed on the collar device for delivering a substance therefrom, an actuator configured to deliver the substance from the dosing probe through an opening formed in the dosing probe, a controller in communication with the actuator and configured to control delivery of the substance from the dosing probe, and a sensor in communication with the controller and configured to sense that the collar device is touching fur or skin of the animal and the dosing probe is directed towards fur or skin of the animal.”
Ice-based thermal energy storage device
U.S. patent application 20190257593 (applicant Boreales Energy, Hérouville-Saint-Clair, France):
“Disclosed is a heat exchange device including a first thermally conductive tube that is hollow over its length, a second thermally conductive tube that is hollow over its length, and including a thermally conductive fin, in which the fin extends lengthwise along the first tube, the fin extends lengthwise along the second tube and the fin extends width-wise between the first tube and the second tube. … The invention is open to industrial application or useful in the field of heat accumulators, transferring heat between two phase change materials and in particular for storing energy in the form of ice from freshwater or saltwater or brackish water.”
Article of clothing with PCM
U.S. patent application 20190254362 (applicant Under Armour Inc., Baltimore, Md.):
“The present invention is directed toward an article of apparel effective to regulate the temperature of the wearer. In an embodiment, the article of apparel includes a base textile with a thermal regulation membrane. The thermal regulation membrane contains a plurality of system-reactive components selectively engaged heat and/or moisture. In an embodiment, the printed coating includes a cooling agent, a phase change material, and a heat dissipation material. In operation, the article of apparel is effective to delay/diminish the rise in skin temperature (compared to a garment lacking the membrane), increasing wearer comfort.”
RESEARCH ROUNDUP
For our full list of recent academic research, see puretemp.com/academic. Here are highlights from the past week:
From Chemical Engineering:• Thermal properties and behavior of microencapsulated sugarcane wax phase change material
From Renewable Energy:
• Experimental study on the influence of preparation parameters on strengthening stability of phase change materials (PCMs)
• Climatic and seasonal suitability of phase change materials coupled with night ventilation for office buildings in Western China
From Applied Energy:
• Thermal energy storage (TES) with phase change materials (PCM) in solar power plants (CSP). Concept and plant performance
From Materials Research Express:
• Preparation and thermal characteristics of caprylic acid based composite as phase change material for thermal energy storage
From Energy Conversion and Management:
• Thermodynamic assessment of an integrated renewable energy multigeneration system including ammonia as hydrogen carrier and phase change material energy storage
From Russian Journal of General Chemistry:
• Symmetrical Fatty Dialkyl Carbonates as Potential Green Phase Change Materials: Synthesis and Characterisation
From Journal of Physics: Conference Series:
• An Integrated Energy Power Generation with Energy Storage System
From Safety in Extreme Environments:
• Review of energy storage technologies in harsh environment
From Materials Today: Proceedings:
• Review on performance assessment of phase change materials in buildings for thermal management through passive approach
From International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology:
• Sunlight-driven organic phase change material-embedded nanofiller for latent heat solar energy storage
From International Journal of Energy Research:
• Application of a ground source heat pump system with PCM‐embedded radiant wall heating for buildings
From Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research:
• Theoretical Evaluation of an Organic Phase Change Material (PCM)-Inserted Dual-Functional Adsorbent for the Recovery of Heat of Adsorption
From Chemical Engineering Journal:
• Flame-retardancy and thermal properties of a novel phosphorus-modified PCM for thermal energy storage
From Solar Energy:
• Numerical study on charging characteristics of heat pipe-assisted cylindrical capsule for enhancing latent thermal energy storage
From Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability:
• Use of phase change materials in concrete: current challenges
From Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells:
• Ambient pressure dried flexible silica aerogel for construction of monolithic shape-stabilized phase change materials
From Applied Thermal Engineering:
• Preparation and properties of phase change temperature-tuned composite phase change material based on sodium acetate trihydrate–urea/fumed silica for radiant floor heating system
From Sustainable Cities and Societies:
• Cardinal orientation and melting temperature effects for PCM-enhanced light-walls in different climates
From Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry:
• Phase change materials (PCMs) for improving solar still productivity: a review
NETWORKING
Connect with PCM experts and industry leaders on LinkedIn
The LinkedIn group devoted to the discussion of phase change material and thermal energy storage reached the 1,500-member mark this week. 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 Raghavender Rao, yogi at AVKS LLC, Washington, D.C., and Ali Al-janabi, LEED Green Associate and research assistant at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.