The Development of Middle and High Temperature Phase Change Materials

Major problems with using solar energy are the intermittently and the instability, which are influenced by the weather. Storage of thermal energy is very important in solar energy system. Among various methods of thermal energy storage, latent heat storage is one of the most efficient ways of storing thermal energy. Unlike the sensible heat storage, the latent heat storage provides much higher energy storage density, with a smaller temperature difference between storing and releasing heat. So the use of phase change materials(PCMS) especially high temperature PCMS for thermal energy storage in Solar Electric Generating Systems(SEGS) has received considerable attention. This paper reviewed middle and high temperature PCMS that could be used for SEGS. At last, an innovative idea of solar electric generating system was proposed in this study.