Experimental study of a PCM storage system integrated with a thermal solar collector

Abstract

Recently, phase change materials (PCM) have become widely used in thermal storage systems for both industrial and domestic applications. These materials have good thermal properties, like thermal capacity and phase change temperature, however low thermal conductivity and high viscosity limits their heat transfer coefficient. This paper experimentally investigates the execution of a water-PCM storage system integrated with a flat plate solar collector. Paraffin wax is used as the PCM material and is packed in small cylindrical aluminum containers and accommodated in a hot water tank. In this study, an experimental test facility was designed and built and experiments were carried out in the City of Kerbala in Iraq. The study includes two different heat source types, namely a flat-plate solar collector and an electrical heater element. Experimental results show that the proposed configuration with the PCM material can produce hot water with up to 9.5 °C higher than that of the basic warm water storage system. In the case of the flat plate solar collector, the water remained hot, at about 28.5 °C more than the surrounding temperature during the solar system tests. This study highlights the potential of using PCM materials in heat storage systems and thermal solar energy.