This article describes a group of thermal energy storage (TES) composites that combine TES and structural functionality. The composites are encapsulations of low melt temperature phase change materials (PCM) such as paraffin waxes in polymer matrices. Room temperature cured bisphenol-A epoxy and styrene-ethylene-butylenestyrene (SEBS) polymers are chosen as matrix materials because of their excellent chemical and mechanical properties. The polymeric network structure in the composite encapsulates the PCMs, which transform from the solid to the liquid phase. The PCMs provide the energy storage function via the solid-liquid latent heat effect. The resulting composite exhibits dry-phase transition in the sense that fluid motion of the PCM, when in the liquid phase, is inhibited by the structure of the polymer matrix. The polymer matrix is formulated to provide structural functionality. The latent heat, thermal conductivity and contact conductance, and structural moduli of composites having various PCM-tomatrix volume fractions are measured.
Laboratory experiments on natural convection of air between vertical parallel plates with uniform and symmetric heat fluxes are reported. Data collection was through direct temperature measurement using thermocouples and through analysis of interferograms of the flow. Data were collected over a range of heat fluxes and geometric parameters where the flow was in the developing temperature field regime. A correlation is developed that allows for the calculation of the maximum temperature variation of the plates for a given input heat flux and plate geometry. The equation is expected to be accurate to ±5 percent.
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