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Investigation on thermal properties of capric–palmitic–stearic acid/activated carbon composite phase change materials for high-temperature cooling application

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Abstract

Based on the theory calculation, the capric–palmitic–stearic (CA–PA–SA) ternary eutectic mixture was prepared with melting and freezing temperature of 19.93 and 16.84 °C, respectively. Regarding CA–PA–SA as phase change materials (PCMs), and activated carbon (AC) as the additive, the CA–PA–SA/AC composites can be prepared by physical blend method which can be applied to high-temperature cooling application in solar cooling systems, radiant cooling systems, etc. A comprehensive study of the structure, thermal properties, thermal stability, thermal durability and thermal storage-release characteristic of CA–PA–SA/AC composites was conducted through the FT-IR, DSC, TG, accelerated thermal cycling test and melting–freezing experiments. The results show that, with the increase in AC content, the melting temperature of CA–PA–SA/AC composites decreases gradually, whereas the freezing temperature increases. And the addition of AC can enhance the thermal stability, the thermal durability and the thermal storage-release rate of PCM: the thermal stability of PCM1–PCM4 is much greater than that of pure mixture, and its storage time was reduced by 37, 31, 23 and 9 %, respectively, while its release time was reduced by 67, 58, 48 and 43 % respectively.

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Acknowledgements

The authors greatly appreciate the financial support by the Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos.: 11472295 and 51378426), the 2014 Cultivation program for the Excellent Doctoral Dissertation of Southwest Jiaotong University, the Youth Science and Technology Innovation Team of Sichuan Province of Building Environment and Energy Efficiency (No.: 2015TD0015), and the Open Research Fund of Key Laboratory of Green Building and Energy Conservation, Xihua University (No.: SZJJ2012-045).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, 610031, China

    Yanping Yuan, Tianyu Li, Nan Zhang, Xiaoling Cao & Xiaojiao Yang

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  1. Yanping Yuan
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  2. Tianyu Li
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  3. Nan Zhang
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  4. Xiaoling Cao
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  5. Xiaojiao Yang
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Correspondence to Yanping Yuan.

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Yuan, Y., Li, T., Zhang, N. et al. Investigation on thermal properties of capric–palmitic–stearic acid/activated carbon composite phase change materials for high-temperature cooling application. J Therm Anal Calorim 124, 881–888 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-015-5173-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-015-5173-0

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