THE EFFECT OF EXPANDED GRAPHITE ON THE CHARGING TIME OF STEARIC ACID PHASE CHANGE MATERIAL IN A HOT WATER TANK

Abstract

The present work is to investigate the thermal conductivity of the phase change material (PCM) of stearic acid (SA) by using the supporting material of expanded graphite (EG). The EG is used with the mass ratio of 10%, 15% and 20%. SA is commercial grade and the EG is formed by thermal method using natural graphite powder and crystalline zinc nitrate. The composite materials of (SA/10% EG, SA/15% EG and SA/20% EG) are prepared by direct impregnation method. Thermal conductivity of pure SA and composite PCMs are investigated by laboratory apparatus of heat transfer base unit TD1002. The thermal conductivity of the SA/10%EG composite PCM has been improved to 0.64 W/mK from that of SA (0.28 W/mK) with the percentage enhancement of 129%. To verify the morphology of the materials, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis is utilized. The results show that the EG is formed in multilayers with pores in which stearic acid is well absorbed. The charging characteristics of pure SA, SA/10% EG and SA/15% EG for low temperature latent heat storage (LHS) system are studied experimentally. The system is applied for domestic water heating. The PCM is filled in a 33 mm diameter cylindrical copper tube and placed in hot water storage tank. The water is filled in tank from the top section through the distributor to uniform entry. The phase change phenomena of the PCMs are measured by inserting thermocouples at two layers of PCM tube. The result shows that the melting time decreases with the increasing mass ratio of expanded graphite in composite PCM. Although the melting time of both layers are nearly the same at the experiment of composite PCMs, the lower layer takes longer time than upper layer for pure PCM. The charging time is decreased by 67% for SA/10%EG and 79% for SA/15% EG composite PCM from that value of pure SA.