Enhancement of Thermal Storage System Using Phase Change Material

Solar energy, the inexhaustible source of energy is very intermittent in nature. So it is essential to develop efficient, economical solar thermal energy storage (TES) devices. Systems using PCM are more fashionable in latent heat storage today. The present work is about the savE® HS-58phase change material (PCM) filled in multiple spherical capsules for the improvement of the thermal storage system for domestic solar water heating application. Experimental investigation is carried out to understand the improvement of performance of thermal storage system using combination of water- PCM in comparison with only water. Experiments were conducted for same heat input during accelerated conditions in both for Water-PCM and also only water inside thermal storage system. It is experimentally proven that for the laboratory model of 10 liters per day capacity of system with 26% of volume occupied by PCM, improvement in thermal storage capacity is 22% which is comparably substantial improvement in thermal energy storage. Thus, the thermal storage system using PCM can be used with higher size solar collector or amount of storage can be reduced for the same size solar collector. This model has prospects for the development of better and economical storage system.