Materials research for passive solar systems: solid-state phase-change materials

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Abstract

A set of solid-state phase-change materials is being evaluated for possible use in passive solar thermal energy storage systems. The most promising materials are organic solid solutions of pentaerythritol (C/sub 5/H/sub 12/O/sub 4/), pentaglycerinve (C/sub 5/H/sub 12/O/sub 3/), and neopentyl glycol (C/sub 5/H/sub 12/O/sub 2/). Solid solution mixtures of these compounds can be tailored so that they exhibit solid-to-solid phase transformations at any desired temperature betweeen 25/sup 0/C and 188/sup 0/C, and have latent heats of transformation between 20 and 70 cal/g. Transformation temperatures, specific heats, and latent heats of transformation have been measured for a number of these materials. Limited cyclic experiments suggest that the solid solutions are stable. These phase-change materials exhibit large amounts of undercooling; however, the addition of certain nucleating agents as particulate dispersions in the solid phase-change material greatly reduces this effect. Computer simulations suggest that the use of an optimized solid-state phase-change material in a Trombe wall could provide better performance than a concrete Trombe wall four times thicker and nine times heavier. Nevertheless, a higher cost of the phase-change materials (approx. =$0.70 per pound) is likely to limit their applicability in passive solar systems unless their performance can be significantly improved through further research.

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