Title:
Stable paraffin composites for latent heat thermal storage systems

dc.contributor.advisor Graham, Samuel
dc.contributor.author Mallow, Anne
dc.contributor.committeeMember Kalaitzidou, Kyriaki
dc.contributor.committeeMember Cola, Baratunde
dc.contributor.department Mechanical Engineering
dc.date.accessioned 2016-01-07T17:36:05Z
dc.date.available 2016-01-07T17:36:05Z
dc.date.created 2015-12
dc.date.issued 2015-11-20
dc.date.submitted December 2015
dc.date.updated 2016-01-07T17:36:05Z
dc.description.abstract Phase change materials (PCMs) have the ability to store thermal energy as latent heat over a nearly isothermal temperature range. Compared to sensible heat storage, properly chosen PCMs can store an order of magnitude more energy when undergoing phase change. Organic PCMs present several advantages including their non-corrosive behavior and ability to melt congruently, which result in safe and reliable performance. Because of these qualities, organic PCMs have been proposed for use in latent heat thermal storage systems to increase the energy efficiency or performance of various systems such as cooling and heating in buildings, hot water heating, electronics cooling, and thermal comfort in vehicles. Current performance is hindered by the low thermal conductivity, which significantly limits the rate of charging and discharging. Solutions to this challenge include the insertion of high conductivity nanoparticles and foams to increase thermal transport. However, performance validation remains tied to thermal conductivity and latent heat measurements, instead of more practical metrics of thermal charging performance, stability of the composite, and energy storage cost. This thesis focuses on the use of graphite nanoplatelets and graphite foams to increase the thermal charging performance of organic PCMs. Stability of graphite nanoplatelets in liquid PCM is realized for the first time through the use of dispersants and control of the viscosity, particle distribution, and oxidation. Thermal charging response of stable graphite nanoplatelet composites is compared to graphite foam composites. This study includes a correlation of thermal conductivity and latent heat to material concentration, geometry, and energy storage cost. Additionally, a hybrid PCM storage system of metal foam combined with graphite nanoplatelet PCM is proposed and evaluated under cyclic thermal conditions.
dc.description.degree M.S.
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1853/54406
dc.publisher Georgia Institute of Technology
dc.subject Phase change materials
dc.subject Graphite nanoplatets
dc.subject Stability
dc.subject Thermal charging
dc.title Stable paraffin composites for latent heat thermal storage systems
dc.type Text
dc.type.genre Thesis
dspace.entity.type Publication
local.contributor.advisor Graham, Samuel
local.contributor.corporatename George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
local.contributor.corporatename College of Engineering
relation.isAdvisorOfPublication cf62405d-2133-40a8-b046-bce4a3443381
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication c01ff908-c25f-439b-bf10-a074ed886bb7
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 7c022d60-21d5-497c-b552-95e489a06569
thesis.degree.level Masters
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