Experimental Study of Heat Transfer Performance of the Solar Collector-Automatically Multiple Phase Change Thermal Storage

This paper presents a solar collector-automatic multiple phase change thermal storage. The device achieves the integrated design of Solar Energy Technology (SET) and Phase Change Thermal Storage Technology (PCTST), and it not only can automatically adjust the heat storage temperature and heat storage capacity of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) according to the solar radiation but also can achieve multiple storage and multiple utilization of solar energy. The device consists of a Solar Energy Collecting Layer (SECL), a High Temperature Phase Change Heat Storage Layer (HTPCHSL), an Automatic Adjustable Heat Transfer Coefficient Layer (AAHTCL), a Low Temperature Phase Change Heat Storage Layer (LTPCHSL). Through the experiments, we concluded that the device can store the solar energy in different temperatures. In the heat discharging experiments, the cold water (22°C ) can reach a temperature rise about 5°C through the LTPCHSL, and about 10°C through the HTPCHSL, which demonstrated that solar energy can be multiple-used. The studies showed the concepts that solar energy multiple-stored and multiple-used, and the integrated design of SET and PCTST is feasible.