Thermal Characterization of inorganic salts as phase change materials for thermal energy storage systems

Abstract

There is a lag between the demand and supply of energy in today's global scenario. Apart from that, the world is facing serious environmental challenges like global warming due to increased burning of fossil fuels. To mitigate this, people are focusing towards the renewable based energy technology. But harnessing energy from the renewable sources has its own challenges. They are intermittent sources of energy hence, some energy storage medium is necessary for the continuous supply of energy. The present study aims to evaluate the various characteristics of the phase change materials used as energy storage mediums. Various thermo physical properties like melting temperature, enthalpy values and specific heats capacities are calculated using Differential Scanning Calorimetry technique for high temperature PCM materials. In this study, Sodium nitrate and Potassium nitrate are taken as the PCMs because of their high melting temperature above 300 °C and they are widely used in concentrated solar powerplants as a heat transfer fluids.