Thermophysical characterization and comparison of PCMs using DSC and T-History experimental setup

In this paper, the thermal characterization of the chosen phase change materials (PCMs) was done using a conventional DSC analysis initially. However, the thermophysical properties of a very small amount of measured samples differ from those of the bulk measurements, including heterogeneous additives. Inconsistent results were observed in the DSC analysis, particularly for the inorganic PCM samples. Hence, a T-History experimental characterization for PCM investigation was carried out. The results obtained using DSC and fabricated T-History evaluation were compared and discussed in detail. The validated results showed that the T-History method of characterization is better compared to DSC analysis, especially, in the case of inorganic salt-hydrated PCMs due to its consistent and reasonable accuracy in measurements. The validated results also suggest that the RT28 and HS29 PCMs could be employed either as building integrated components or in separate energy storage modules in order to enhance passive cooling in future building construction. (paper)