Experimental investigation of the charge/discharge process for an organic PCM macroencapsulated in an aluminium rectangular cavity

Abstract

Buildings sector has one of the highest potential regarding the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions, as being responsible for more than 40% of energy consumption worldwide. This is why, in order to achieve indoor thermal comfort, it is mandatory to use energy-efficient systems. Materials acting as thermal energy storage (TES) represents one of the most effective strategy that can be implemented and nowadays, many studies are focusing their attention on latent heat storage, respectively on phase changing materials (PCM) which can embed a large embed a high quantity of energy, unlike classic materials acting as thermal mass. This purpose of this paper is to experimentally investigate the charge and discharge processes for an organic PCM (RT35 paraffin) macroencapsulated in an aluminium rectangular cavity which was placed first in a horizontal position and after in a vertical position. After several experimental campaigns conducted we determined that the vertical position enhance the heat transfer because of the natural convection which occurs inside the cavity. Therefore, the charging time is lower in case of the vertical cavity and the temperature measured inside and on the surface is higher.