Energy storage is a pressing need throughout a range of applications.  Electrical storage implementations, such as for renewable power intermittency mitigation and electric vehicles, often receive the most attention, but thermal energy storage has equally great potential.  Here we consider reinforced polymer composites designed for thermal energy storage via latent heat of phase change.  We focus on potential applications in industrial heat storage . We describe the synthesis of several polymer composite formulations, which show excellent thermal capacity, with some exceeding 150 kJ/kg.  The material also shows a low temperature difference between charge and discharge, and the mechanisms contributing to this difference under various operating conditions are characterized.  Heat exchange by direct contact with a heat transfer fluid is explored and found to provide excellent performance.  Models of conjugate heat transfer processes in a bed of storage media are presented.  We also characterize the mechanical behavior of the composites in charged and discharged states as well as the effect of cycling.  Composite reinforcement is shown to be effective in stabilizing the media during phase change allowing robust operation.  Processes influencing composite stability are considered.  We demonstrate the performance of a small scale thermal storage system, and the performance of full scake systems aimed at industrial heat storage are also modeled and shown to be promising for a range of applications.  We also consider the application of similar materials in the mitigation of thermal transients in electronic systems.


Polymer Composites for Thermal Energy Storage

Division / Sponsors: 
Electronic & Photonic Packaging Division (EPPD)

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/InterPACK/InterPACK2020/volume/84041

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