Charging behavior of an electrical storage heater using a high temperature composite phase change material

doi:10.12028/j.issn.2095-4239.2017.0066

Abstract

Abstract: The work reported in this paper concerns the charging behaviour of an electrical storage heater using a high temperature composite phase change material (CPCM). A mathematical model was developed to study the transient heat transfer behavior of the composite PCM bricks. The model was validated experimentally. The results showed that the CPCM based electrical storage heater offered a better performance that was superior to MgO-based electrical storage heater. For a given volume, the same power rating, and the same amount of stored heat, the mass of the MgO based electrical storage heater exceeded 1.6 times that of the CPCM based storage heaters. For the same mass and the same power rating, the heat storage capacity of the CPCM based electrical storage heater was 68% higher than that of MgO-based unit. The results also indicated the importance of temperature control strategy. It was found that the average temperature and the maximum temperature inside the electrical storage heater could meet the requirements if the control temperature measurement point was selected to be 10 mm away from the heating elements. In such a case, heating elements only had two start-stops over the 8-hour charging period.

Key words: high temperature, composite phase change materials, thermal energy storage, heat storage electrical heater

LI Chuan1, SI Yanyang2, LENG Guanghui1, XU Yong2, DING Yufeng2, WENG Likui2, DING Yulong1. Charging behavior of an electrical storage heater using a high temperature composite phase change material[J]. Energy Storage Science and Technology, 2017, 6(4): 739-747.

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