TY - GEN
T1 - Experimental characterization of the thermal diffusivity of paraffin phase change material embedded with herringbone style graphite nanofibers
AU - Warzoha, Ronald J.
AU - Rao, Anthony
AU - Weigand, Rebecca
AU - Fleischer, Amy S.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Phase change materials (PCMs) are promising candidates for thermal energy storage due to their intrinsically high values of latent heat. However, PCMs are unable to effectively utilize all of their energy storage capacities due to their poor thermophysical properties. In this study, the effect of graphite nanofibers (diameter = 2 to 1000 nm, length = 100μm) on the bulk thermal properties of paraffin PCM (Tmelt = 56 °C) is investigated. Material properties including effective thermal conductivity, specific heat, latent heat, melt temperature and thermal diffusivity are measured using a Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) and comparative reference bar apparatus. Results suggest that the addition of nanostructures not only increases thermal conductivity by up to 180%, but also reduces the specific heat capacity and density of nano-enhanced paraffin, leading to improved thermal diffusivity and thus greater utilization of its latent heat for transient thermal energy storage.
AB - Phase change materials (PCMs) are promising candidates for thermal energy storage due to their intrinsically high values of latent heat. However, PCMs are unable to effectively utilize all of their energy storage capacities due to their poor thermophysical properties. In this study, the effect of graphite nanofibers (diameter = 2 to 1000 nm, length = 100μm) on the bulk thermal properties of paraffin PCM (Tmelt = 56 °C) is investigated. Material properties including effective thermal conductivity, specific heat, latent heat, melt temperature and thermal diffusivity are measured using a Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) and comparative reference bar apparatus. Results suggest that the addition of nanostructures not only increases thermal conductivity by up to 180%, but also reduces the specific heat capacity and density of nano-enhanced paraffin, leading to improved thermal diffusivity and thus greater utilization of its latent heat for transient thermal energy storage.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84892640333
U2 - 10.1115/HT2012-58043
DO - 10.1115/HT2012-58043
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84892640333
SN - 9780791844786
T3 - ASME 2012 Heat Transfer Summer Conf. Collocated with the ASME 2012 Fluids Engineering Div. Summer Meeting and the ASME 2012 10th Int. Conf. on Nanochannels, Microchannels and Minichannels, HT 2012
SP - 307
EP - 315
BT - ASME 2012 Heat Transfer Summer Conf. Collocated with the ASME 2012 Fluids Engineering Div. Summer Meeting and the ASME 2012 10th Int. Conf. on Nanochannels, Microchannels and Minichannels, HT 2012
T2 - ASME 2012 Heat Transfer Summer Conference Collocated with the ASME 2012 Fluids Engineering Div. Summer Meeting and the ASME 2012 10th Int. Conf. on Nanochannels, Microchannels and Minichannels, HT 2012
Y2 - 8 July 2012 through 12 July 2012
ER -