Phase change materials promise boost for decarbonised heat

A research team led by Dr Jonathon Elvins, Senior Technology Transfer Fellow at Swansea University’s Faculty of Science and Engineering, found that adding inorganic PCM spheres into sensible heat storage (water) increased storage capacity, thereby reducing building carbon emissions by up to 22 per cent.

“The exact composition of the PCM spheres is confidential,” said Dr Elvins. “We chose them to be inorganic to assess their long-term durability, and because their phase transition temperature was in the correct range for the [860L/18kWh] tank.

Dr Elvin’s team at the University’s SPECIFIC (Energy Technology Research & Demonstration) Centre has been carrying out experiments to find the ideal combination of charge rate and density of PCM spheres to maximise the amount of energy stored. Their research has so far achieved an increase of up to 72 per cent in energy storage.

“We were working with charging and discharging to simulate commercial and public sector building use,” he said. “Charging at 2kW and 4kW, discharging at 2kW, 4kW, 6kW, 8kW and 10kW.”