Thermophysical characteristics and application of metallic-oxide based mono and hybrid nanocomposite phase change materials for thermal management systems

Abstract

This experimental study covers the chemical, physical, thermal characterization and application of novel nanocomposite phase change materials (NCPCMs) dispersed by TiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , and CuO nanoparticles. A commercial-grade of paraffin, namely RT-35HC, was considered as a phase change material (PCM). The mono and hybrid NCPCMs were synthesized at a constant weight concentration of 1.0 wt.%. In the first phase, various characterization techniques were used to explore the thermophysical properties and chemical interaction of mono and hybrid NCPCMs. In the second phase, the thermal cooling performance was investigated by filling the prepared NCPCMs in a heat sink at various input power levels. The results showed the uniform dispersion of TiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , and CuO nanoparticles onto the surface of both mono and hybrid NCPCMs without altering the chemical structure of RT-35HC. The optimum latent-heat of fusion and highest thermal conductivity of 228.46 J/g and 0.328 W/m.K were obtained, respectively, of Al 2 O 3 +CuO dispersed hybrid NCPCM compared to pure RT-35HC. In comparison of RT-35HC, the increasing trend in specific heat capacity was observed of NCPCMs and 36.47% enhancement was obtained for hybrid NCPCM in solid-phase. The reduction in heat sink base temperature was achieved of 3.67%, 6.13%, 13.95% and 8.23% for NCPCM T iO 2 , NCPCM Al 2 O 3 , NCPCM CuO and NCPCM Al 2 O 3 +CuO , respectively, compared to RT-35HC. Further, no phase segregation, less subcooling, smaller phase transition temperature, higher chemical and thermal stability were observed with hybrid NCPCMs which can be used potentially for thermal management of electronic devices, Li-ion batteries and photovoltaic (PV) modules systems.

Thermophysical investigation of metallic nanocomposite phase change materials for indoor thermal management

“…The maximum and minimum increment of decomposition temperatures are about 4.38% and 0.166%, respectively, among the different nanocomposite PCMs. The improvement in thermal stability of the nanocomposite PCM is due to the improvement in specific heat capacity and improved TC, as both enhance the uniform heat distribution in the PCM 25,35 …”

“…Santosh et al 23 compared surface roughened PCM and Al 2 O 3 nano‐dispersed PCM by analyzing their thermal performance and presented their results. The thermophysical characteristics of nanocomposites with mono and hybrid nanoparticles were studied by Arshad et al 24,25 They reported that the developed hybrid nanocomposite PCMs had improved thermal properties and can be used for thermal management of electronic devices. Selimefendigil and Sirin 26 experimentally investigated a parabolic greenhouse dryer using nano‐enhanced PCM.…”

Investigating the effect of single and hybrid nanoparticles on melting of phase change material in a rectangular enclosure with finite heat source

“…This problem must be overcome to guarantee operation at low temperature but for a very long period compared to that guaranteed by addition of single nanoparticles. For this, the addition of hybrid nanoparticles has shown the ability of NePCM to lower the electronic component working temperature and clearly extend the latent heat phase duration where the electronic component operates away from any risk or failure 34 . The hybrid nanoparticles fraction has a significant influence since NePCM with 1%‐Al 2 O 3 and 3%‐Cu has decreased the temperature further compared to that with 2%‐Al 2 O 3 and 2%‐Cu.…”

Thermal Management of Small-Scale Li-ion Battery Module Using Graphite Matrix Composite with Phase Change: Effect of Discharge Rate

“…So, it requires encapsulation of PCM. This weakness of material depending on its nature can be improved using different methods investigating by researchers including increasing the heat transfer area (Aydin et al, 2018), geometric optimization (Yazici et al, 2014), dispersing particles (Arshad et al, 2020), metal matrix (Alhusseny et al, 2020), impregnated graphite foam/matrix (Py et al, 2001), encapsulation (Zhang et al, 2021).…”