Toward idealized thermal stratification in a novel phase change emulsion storage tank

Materials Scientists have shown how phase change materials can improve the energy density in thermal energy storage, although with limits relative to low charging/discharging speeds. In a new report now published in Elsevier's Applied Energy, Haobin Liang, Liu Liu and a team of scientists headed by Yixiang Gan and JianLei Niu in energy engineering and civil engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, and the University of Sydney, Australia, presented a new stratified phase change emulsion tank for cold storage. The team conducted both experimental and numerical studies to build radiant cooling applications for cold storage, which they demonstrated with a new, stratified storage tank of phase change materials (PCM) in water nano-emulsion. During the experiments, they used a 20 weight percent PCM-in-water nano-emulsion as the storage medium and heat transfer fluid to obtain increased cooling capacity by 60 percent with phase change emulsion (PCE) circulating in the loop. The numerical simulations indicated how baffle plates installed in the storage tank could reduce fluid mixing to significantly increase the effective energy storage capacity at high discharging flow rates. The newly designed stratified storage tank of PCM-in-water nano-emulsion is comparatively advantageous due to a low temperature difference between the cooling source and demand, to improve the overall efficiency of the energy system.