Design and Development of Solar-Thermal Energy Storage System of Phase Change Materials

In this study an attempt has been made to bring out a new kind of organic phase change material (PCM) for energy-storage. The material used is refined BITUMEN of specific grade. In this work the system is fabricated using combination of PCM and water as the storage material. This system consists of two simultaneously functioning heat-absorbing units. One of them is a solar water heater (SWH) and the other thermal energy storage (TES) unit consisting phase changing material packed in spherical capsules. It is found from the literature that use of refined bitumen as phase changing material as better characteristics compared to conventional sensible heat storage system.