Review on thermal energy storage with phase change: materials ...

252 B. Zalba et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 23 (2003) 251–2832.1.1. Non-commercial/commercial materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2542.1.2. Organic/inorganic materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2542.2. Thermophysical properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2572.2.1. Thermophysical properties determination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2572.3. Long term stability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2592.3.1. Stability of the PCM-container system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2592.3.2. Corrosion of the materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2602.3.3. Encapsulation of the materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2613. Heat transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2643.1. Theory and simulation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2643.1.1. Moving boundary problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2643.1.2. Numerical solution considering only conduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2663.1.3. Numerical solution considering also convection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2673.1.4. Numerical simulation in different heat exchanger geometries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2683.2. Heat transfer enhancement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2694. Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2694.1. Ice storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2704.2. Conservation and transport of temperature sensitive materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2714.3. Building applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2714.4. PCM tanks vs. water tanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2724.5. Other applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2725. Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2741. IntroductionThermal energy storage (TES) in general, and phase change materials in particular, have been amain topic in research for the last 20 years, but although the information is quantitativelyenormous, it is also spread widely in the literature, and difficult to find.The work described below falls within an area of international interest as it deals with energysaving, the efficient and rational use of available resources and the optimum use of renewableenergies. Within this framework, TES provides solutions in very specific areas:• The time delay and available power between production or availability of energy and its consumptionin receiving systems (solar energy, cogeneration, etc.)• Security of energy supply (hospitals, computer centres, etc.)• Thermal inertia and thermal protectionIn the first case, applications related with the use of renewable energies are common, in particularthe use of solar energy among others, although applications are also found in cogeneration