Explore the vast range of titles available.

This research presents a dual-pronged bibliometric and systematic review of the integration of phase change materials (PCM) in asphalt pavements to counteract the urban heat island (UHI) effect. The bibliometric approach discerns the evolution of PCM-inclusion asphalt research, highlighting a marked rise in the number of publications between 2019 and 2022. Notably, Chang’an University in China has emerged as a leading contributor. The systematic review addresses key questions like optimal PCM types for UHI effect mitigation, strategies for PCM leakage prevention in asphalt, and effects on mechanical properties. The findings identify polyethylene glycols (PEGs), especially PEG2000 and PEG4000, as prevailing PCM due to their wide phase-change temperature range and significant enthalpy during phase transitions. While including PCM can modify asphalt’s mechanical attributes, such mixtures typically stay within performance norms. This review emphasises the potential of PCM in urban heat management and the need for further research to achieve optimal thermal and mechanical balance.

Advancement in thermal management system which can be adopted to absorb heat generated in Li-ion battery pack for hybrid vehicle during charge and discharge cycles, by keeping the battery pack in optimum range of 15°C-25°C. Factors such as parasitic power, additional weight of cooling unit, temperature rise and cell temperature dierence play a vital role. PCM (Phase Change Material) are compounds having high thermal conductivity and latent heat storage. They go through phase change when they absorb or release heat. The basic design is to manufacture a cooling jacket using phase change material which absorbs heat during the day and rejects it at night. The result show decreases in temperature by 1.5°C, additional increase in weight of battery pack by 17.5%, no parasitic power consumption, increase in safety and compactness to applications.

Phase change materials (PCMs) have the ability to absorb and release a large amount of energy during the process of transforming physical properties (i.e., phase transition process). PCMs are suitable for thermal energy storage and reducing energy consumption in buildings. The aim of the study is to assess the basic material properties and thermal behavior of fly ash foam concrete mixed with two different types of microencapsulated PCMs (PCM6D and PCM18D). We made five different varieties of fly ash foam concrete by replacing the equivalent unit weight of cement with PCM 0%, PCM 10% and PCM 30%. The results show that using a new type of mixer, the microencapsulated PCMs kept their spherical shapes without any cracks or damage in the foam concrete matrix. Differential scanning calorimetry analysis showed that PCM18D-30% had a latent heat capacity of 19.2 °C and 44.7 J/g, in liquid and solid phase with melting and freezing temperatures of 9.46 °C and 41.7 J/g respectively. Additionally, thermocycle analysis showed that it had maintained the temperature for 8 h within the phase change range. In conclusion, PCMs can reduce indoor temperature fluctuations and exhibit the potential for enhancing energy savings and thermal comfort of buildings.

Phase change materials (PCMs) are materials with the ability of absorption of latent heat based on a phase change. PCMs are able to store and release a large amount of energy at certain temperatures melting or freezing. The aim of the research is to verify whether this phenomenon (material) can be used within an external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS). This is particularly the usage of PCMs in the base coat. The research is focused on two main areas. The first area concerns the water condensation on the surface of the ETICS and the associated phenomenon of algae attack. The second area concerns the warming of ETICSs with the use of dark color shades. Practical experiments showed a positive effect of PCMs on the heat-storage properties of the ETICS base coat. It was also experimentally verified that the PCM sample did not condense water vapor on the sample surface compared to the reference sample.

More than half of the energy consumption in buildings is utilized for the heating and/or cooling of the indoor environment. The building envelope plays a key role in controlling the effects of external weather and, therefore, is linked with many passive design strategies. Thermal energy storage (TES) and phase change materials (PCMs) are efficient techniques, which can store a high density of thermal energy. The PCMs attract many researchers to implement them in the components of buildings for thermal management. In building walls, they were implemented in different positions and have achieved different results. This paper aims to review the related literature that examines PCMs’ application in different positions within the building walls to locate their optimum position and the influential parameters. It was found that the optimum positions of PCMs are highly dependent on performing a daily complete melting/freezing cycle to be ready for the following day. Many parameters can influence this, including climate and weather conditions and the application target, PCMs’ melting temperature and heat of fusion, PCMs’ amount, the thermal properties of the wall’s materials, a mechanical heating/cooling or free-running indoor environment, and wall orientation. An optimization process using the simulation tools is suggested so that the optimum position of the PCMs can be located.

The efficient utilization of solar energy technology is significantly enhanced by the application of energy storage, which plays an essential role. Nowadays, a wide variety of applications deal with energy storage. Due to the intermittent nature of solar radiation, phase change materials are excellent options for use in several types of solar energy systems. This overview of the relevant literature thoroughly discusses the applications of phase change materials, including solar collectors, solar stills, solar ponds, solar air heaters, and solar chimneys. Despite the complexity of their availability and high costs, phase change materials are utilized in the majority of solar energy techniques because of the considerable technical improvements they provide. While numerous studies have investigated the progress of phase change materials used in solar energy applications such as photovoltaic systems, it is vital to understand the conceptual knowledge of employing phase change materials in various types of solar thermal energy systems. Investigations into the use of phase change materials in solar applications for the purpose of storing thermal energy are still being carried out to upgrade the overall performance. This paper briefly reviews recently published studies between 2016 and 2023 that utilized phase change materials as thermal energy storage in different solar energy systems by collecting more than 74 examples from the open literature. This study focuses on demonstrating the maturity of phase change materials and their integration into solar energy applications. Based on the findings, proposals for new research projects are made.

Although water is the second most important fluid, after air, found on the Earth, there is a vital problem in the availability of water for many organisms, and this problem faces the whole world. As a result, scientists have developed many methods of purifying the saline/brackish water to be suitable for different uses in addition to the purpose of drinking. Fortunately, solar distillation is very rewarding in terms of operating costs and costs for a liter of freshwater distillated with using clean and environmentally friendly energy. Solar distiller is one of the solar distillation systems devices, which is simple in construction, cheap, and easy to use but it has the drawback of low productivity. This article aims to provide a summary of the different ideas and works on solar stills through different variables that affect the performance of distillers. In contrast to the review papers dealing with this topic, this paper contains comprehensive and complete details and careful reviews of all the variables that affect the performance of distillers. Therefore, it is like a ladder in front of the authors until they reach the recent of what has been studied on the distillers in a simplified way to save time and effort, which will help them to come up with different ideas that were not easily studied. Thus, this paper introduces an overview on the detailed parameters affecting the performance of solar stills. These parameters are climatic, design, and operating factors. Climatic factors consist of solar radiation, ambient temperature, air speed, and dusty and cloudy weather. While the design factors include the evaporative and exposure surface areas, glazing cover material, inclination, and thickness, distiller material, and of insulating material and thickness. Whist, the operating parameters consist of the water temperature, feed water temperature, applying vacuum, temperature difference between water and glass cover, and hybrid systems. From the extensive literature, it is concluded that the climatic, design, and operating factors significantly affect the performance of the solar still. Finally, some points are proposed for further investigation.

Providing thermal comfort of the human body is very important not only due to the physical and psychological health, but also in terms of energy consumption, productivity, and economy. Phase change materials (PCMs) meet the thermal management requirements for various cooling and heating applications, owing to the storage and release of high latent heat energy at near-isothermal conditions. In the textile industry, PCMs are also used for developing thermo-regulation smart textiles. In the present study, PCM nanocapsules were synthesized based on paraffin core and poly(methyl methacrylate-co-methacrylic acid) shell. During the ring spinning, the synthesized PCM nanocapsules were incorporated within cotton fibres at the concentration of 6% and the yarns were produced at different nanocapsules feeding rates ranged from 62.5 mL/h to 80.0 mL/h. Aiming to benefit from the outstanding characteristics of nanofibers, the ring-spun cotton yarn was combined with polylactic acid (PLA) nanofibres. For this purpose, PCM-loaded ring-spun cotton yarn was fed as a core to a modified electrospinning set-up, where the PLA nanofibres containing PCM nanocapsules covered it to provide a core–shell structured composite yarn with thermo-regulation property. Morphology and thermal properties of PCM nanocapsules and composite yarns were characterized by various analysis tests. The results indicated that the composite yarns exhibited a temperature difference of 2 °C and above compared to the neat yarns. The developed composite yarns combining the properties of cotton, PLA nanofibres, and PCMs in one structure would present a potential to rival the multifunctional thermally adaptive textile products.

Thermal-Energy Storage (TES) properties of organic phase change materials have been experimentally investigated and reported in this paper. Three paraffin-based Phase Change Materials (PCMs) and one bio-based PCM are considered with melting temperatures of 24 °C, 25 °C and 26 °C. Sensible heat storage capacities, melting characteristics and latent heat enthalpies of the studied PCMs are investigated through Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) measurements. Two alternative methods, namely the classical dynamic DSC and a stepwise approach, are performed and compared with the aim to eliminate and/or overcome possible measurement errors. In particular, for DSC measurements this could be related to the size of the samples and its representativity, heating rate effects and low thermal conductivity of the PCMs, which may affect the results and possibly cause a loss of objectivity of the measurements. Based on results achieved from this study, clear information can be figured out on how to conduct and characterize paraffin and bio-based PCMs, and how to apply them in TES calculations for building applications and/or simulations. It is observed that both paraffinic and bio-based PCMs possess a comparable TES capacity within the selected phase transition temperature, being representative for the human thermal comfort zone. The phase change of bio-based PCMs occurred over a much narrower temperature range when compared to the wider windows characterizing the paraffin-based materials. Bio-based PCMs turned out to be very suitable for building applications and can be an environmentally friendly substitute for petroleum-based PCMs.

To reduce energy consumption and increase energy efficiency in the building sector, thermal energy storage with phase change materials (PCMs) is used. The knowledge of the thermophysical properties and the characteristics of PCMs (like their enthalpy changes and the distribution of stored energy over a specified temperature range) is essential for proper selection of the PCM and optimal design of the latent thermal energy store (LHTES). This paper presents experimental tests of the thermophysical properties of three medium-temperature PCMs: OM65, OM55, RT55, which can be used in domestic hot water installations and heating systems. Self-made test chambers with temperature control using Peltier cells were used to perform measurements according to the T-history method. In this way the temperature range of the phase transition, latent heat, specific heat capacity, enthalpy and the distributions of stored energy of the three PCMs were determined. The paper also presents measurements of the thermal conductivity of these PCMs in liquid and solid state using a self-made pipe Poensgen apparatus. The presented experimental tests results are in good agreement with the manufacturers’ data and the results of other researchers obtained with the use of specialized instruments. The presented research results are intended to help designers in the selection of the right PCM for the future LHTES co-working with renewable energy systems, waste heat recovery systems and building heating systems.