Experimental Analysis of Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage using Paraffin Wax as Phase Change Material

A significant amount of heat is wasted in manufacturing process, electricity generation, chemical and industrial process. Recovery and reuse of this energy through storage can be useful in conservation of energy. In the present study, a double pipe type heat exchanger has been designed and fabricated for low temperature industrial waste heat recovery using phase change material (PCM) paraffin wax (PW). Experiments were performed for two different mass flow rates and inlet temperature of heat transfer fluid (HTF) is maintained at constant in charging process. In order to recovery of heat during discharging process temperature of HTF is maintained at atmospheric temperature. The effect of mass flow rate on the performance of the system was studied. Calculations for amount of heat stored and released during charging (melting of PCM) and discharging (solidification of PCM) and heat discharging efficiency were also made. The experimental results show the feasibility of using PCM as storage media in heat recovery systems. Index Terms —Charging, Discharging, Paraffin wax, Phase change material.