The successful use of thermal energy storage systems relays on the stability of the phase change materials (PCM). The thermal stability of these materials can be determined by measuring its thermophysical properties after a number of repeated thermal cycles. In this paper, results when three different PCM for domestic hot water applications (fatty acid, paraffin and salt hydrate) are thermally-cycled 0, 100, 1000 and 3650 times, are presented. Thermophysical characterization before and after those cycles was performed in differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and chemical degradation was evaluated by FT-IR. Results show that there is no degradation after cycling, therefore the three PCM retain their thermophysical properties after 3650 cycles.
展开▼