Low temperature paraffin phase change emulsions

A Phase Change Slurry (PCS) is a multifunctional fluid consisting of a Phase Change Material (PCM) and a carrier fluid. PCSs can store or transfer amounts of thermal energy by using both the sensible heat capacity of the carrier fluid and that of PCM as well as the latent heat capacity of the PCM during its phase transformation, e.g.solid-liquid. Fraunhofer UMSICHT has investigated three paraffin/water emulsions as a PCS with different phase transition temperatures: CryoSolplus 6, CryoSolplus 10 and CryoSolplus 20. CryoSolplus 6 is foreseen for air-conditioning applications with a freezing peak point of 6 °C, CryoSolplus 10 for cooling of buildings with a freezing peak point of 10 °C and CryoSolplus 20 for increasing the thermal mass of building components wirh a freezing peak point of 20 °C. The different fields of applications have different requirements on the properties of the emulsions. In this paper the properties of the emulsions have been investigated and evaluated according to the requirements on PCSs.