Solar to Thermal Energy Storage Performance of Phase Change Material Supported by Copper Foam and Loaded with Graphite

Thermal Energy Storage (TES) using Phase Change Material (PCM) has evolved as one of the sustainable technique of storing the excess amount of heat and utilizing it as and when required. PCM stores and release thermal energy at almost constant temperature and therefore they are widely used in varieties of thermal applications. However, PCM suffers with two major drawbacks of leakage during phase transformation and poor thermal conductivity. Both these drawbacks hamper the thermal performance of the PCM and consequently reduce the efficiency of the TES system. Therefore, in this study a composite PCM was developed to overcome these drawbacks. Copper foam was used as the supporting material for paraffin wax PCM loaded with graphite in 0, 10, 20 and 30wt%. Thermal energy storage parameters were observed using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), thermal stability was observed by using Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), and thermal conductivity was analyzed using Thermal conductivity meter. Additionally, Solar to thermal conversion performance and surface temperature profile was also observed for all the samples of copper foam loaded with paraffin and graphite. The results indicate significant improvement in thermal conductivity and better solar to thermal performance as graphite percentage is increased.