EVALUATION OF GRAPHITIC FOAM IN THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE APPLICATIONS

摘要

Enhanced performance in electronics, aerospace, and military systems require improved solutions in thermal management. Some of the solutions include developing new and novel materials that exhibit high thermal conductivity, dimensional stability at high temperature, high surface area, and low density. Graphite foam is an attractive candidate in thermal management systems because it can be manufactured with ligament thermal conductivities in excess of 1,500 W/m-K and bulk thermal conductivities greater than 150 W/m-K. These qualities, in combination with an open-pore structure and low density, offer distinct advantages over other types of materials, hi order to understand the performance of graphite foam for thermal management a thermal energy storage device (TESD) was constructed using graphite foam cores and paraffinic phase change material (PCM). Heat transfer fluid at controlled temperature and flow rate was conveyed through a graphite foam core on the acquisition/rejection side of the TESD, which was interfaced with a graphite foam core saturated with PCM. The heating and cooling responses of the graphite foam infiltrated with PCM are reported.