Abstract:
The mismatch between energy demand and supply has provoked the researchers to look for
clean and alternate energy supply methods. Thermal storages are cheaper and have high
density whereas solar energy is renewable. Therefore, Solar systems incorporated with phase
change materials (PCMs) as a thermal storage have significant plausibility to serve in this
context. These systems are not yet able to endure the energy demands significantly but are
being constantly improve. The aim of this project is to design and fabricate a Solar System
integrated with a PCM thermal storage heat exchanger for achieving comfortable room
temperatures in winters with almost zero operating cost. This project includes a review paper
on Solar PCM Systems, a conference paper, submitted and to be presented in 19th
International Bhurban Conference on Applied Sciences and Technology (IBCAST), a solar
PCM heat exchanger designed for a small-scaled room and a research paper based on the
testing of the fabricated system. The review paper will be focused on architectures of Solar
systems integrated with PCMs tested by numerous researchers. Based on the extensive
research on pre-existing Solar PCM systems, a novel design approach of Solar PCM System
will be devised for indoor heating in winter conditions of Pakistan. A model based on this
novel design is fabricated and installed. The fabricated model is tested in winter conditions
and a research paper studying the room temperature and certain other associated parameters
will be written. A parametric study is also conducted using an experimentally validated
Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis.
