Lin CHEN, Yafei WU, Liming CHE. A new approach to determine the degree of subcooling in phase-change paraffin emulsion: equilibrium volumetry[J]. CIESC Journal, 2019, 70(9): 3370-3376.
DOI:
Lin CHEN, Yafei WU, Liming CHE. A new approach to determine the degree of subcooling in phase-change paraffin emulsion: equilibrium volumetry[J]. CIESC Journal, 2019, 70(9): 3370-3376.DOI: 10.11949/0438-1157.20190293.
A new approach to determine the degree of subcooling in phase-change paraffin emulsion: equilibrium volumetry
Paraffin phase change emulsion is a new type of functional fluid that integrates heat storage and heat transfer
and has broad application prospects. However
the application of phase-change paraffin emulsion suffers from subcooling phenomenon
which weakens its ability to store and transfer heat remarkably. The degree of subcooling in phase-change paraffin emulsion is conventionally determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)
the result of which is dependent on the heating / cooling rate. As the heating / cooling rate increases
the degree of subcooling is higher. Here an equilibrium volumetric method was presented to determine the degree of subcooling in phase-change paraffin emulsion by measuring its specific volume at different temperatures. The specific volume obtained was plotted against the temperature to identify the phase transition temperature of paraffin during heating / cooling process
then the degree of subcooling was deduced from the phase transition temperatures obtained. The results showed that the degree of subcooling in phase-change paraffin emulsion can be measured accurately using the equilibrium volumetric method presented in this work. The results also revealed the mechanism of subcooling in phase-change paraffin emulsion from the point of view of specific volume change.