Effect of steel-wires and paraffin composite phase change materials on the heat exchange and exergetic performance of salt gradient solar pond

The addition of Phase Change Materials (PCM) to the salt gradient solar pond can significantly increase the heat capacity of the solar pond. Paraffin wax has a suitable range of phase transitions temperature and is feasible to be applied in solar pond. However, the poor thermal conductivity of paraffin is detrimental to thermal storage and release. In this study, the heat transfer behavior for the composite PCM of paraffin and steel wires has been studied firstly, the results shows that adding steel wires in paraffin improve the heat transfer performance obviously. With 10wt% adding percent, the maximum of heat transfer coefficient is 18.17 W/m2 °C−1 with increment of 18.84 % in melting process; and the maximum is 21.59 W/m2 °C−1 with increment of 20.88% during freezing process. Secondly, experiment study has been conducted in an experimental solar pond, with 20 PCM capsule tubes added, adding RT 50 and RT 60 made the day–night temperature differences 2.87 °C and 2.53 °C smaller than that of without any PCM conditions. In this study, adding RT 50 and RT 60 in solar pond achieve 9.34% and 14.13% exergy increments respectively. The study suggested that adding PCM to solar pond improves the quality of the heat energy of solar pond, and further extends the heat application scope of solar pond.