Thermal Property Enhancement on Water based PCM in Spherical Container for Cold Storage Applications

The purpose of the present work is to study the solidification behaviour of a di-water based PCM for cold energy management applications. Thickening agents such as agar, gelatin and cornstarch are examined at various mass fractions. The experiment is carried out in a low temperature bath of -7°C inside which the PCM sample is kept spherically encapsulated for uniform distribution. The behaviour and effect of addition of the nucleating agents are compared. The analysis showed that the subcooling of di-water was substantially reduced and its crystallisation occurs at a faster rate. It is concluded that faster crystallisation and reduction in subcooling can help increase the efficiency of a cool thermal energy system and can be applied to any commercial system in the society to help alleviate the electrical load.