Cold Storage and Release Characteristics of a Thermal Battery Unit Using Solid Nitrogen and Solid Nitrogen Impregnated in Metal Foam
Large cold storage capacity is very important to maintain the stable working condition of a superconducting magnet. Solid nitrogen is frequently used for cold storage at cryogenic temperatures. In this paper, we report the experimental investigation of the cold storage and cold release characteristics of a thermal battery unit using solid nitrogen, as well as the combination of solid nitrogen and copper foam under different conditions. In order to enhance the heat transfer without significantly compromising the cold storage capacity, the copper foam is adopted to enhance the effective thermal conductivity of solid nitrogen. It is found that the copper foam can effectively enhance the cold release process, making the cold energy stored effectively utilized.
Investigation of solid nitrogen for cryogenic thermal storage in superconducting cable terminations for enhanced resiliency
Low heat capacity of helium makes the helium gas cooled high temperature superconducting (HTS) power devices susceptible to large temperature rises during unexpected heat loads such as electrical faults or cryogenic system failures. Cryogenic thermal storage in the form of solid nitrogen designed in the terminations is explored as a means to increase the thermal stability and operational time of HTS power cables in the event of unexpected heat loads. An external tank containing activated charcoal is used as an adsorption buffer tank for nitrogen gas. The use of activated charcoal minimizes the volume of the buffer tank and prevents pressure rises during melting and boiling of the solid nitrogen. Calculations of the cryogenic thermal storage needed and a description of the experimental setup used to understand the design constraints are discussed.
Preparation and thermal characterization of paraffin/metal foam composite phase change material
Abstract The utilization of paraffin in the latent thermal energy storage (LTES) system for solar energy storage is hampered by its low thermal conductivity. Paraffin/nickel foam and paraffin/copper foam composite phase change materials (PCMs) were prepared using a vacuum impregnation method in the present study. The impregnation ratios which reflect the actual mass fraction of pure paraffin impregnated were studied comparatively for the impregnations with and without vacuum assistance. The surface porosity was obtained by employing the image processing approach. The thermal conductivities of the composite PCMs were measured by the transient plane heat source technique (TPS) as well as the steady state method, and the thermal behaviors were analyzed with a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). It is found that the surface porosity obtained from image analysis was in the range of 90–94%, whereas the bulk porosity predicted by the mass fraction was about 97%. Compared with pure paraffin, the thermal conductivities of the composite PCMs were drastically enhanced, e.g., the thermal conductivity of the paraffin/nickel foam composite was nearly three times larger than that of pure paraffin. The presence of porous metal foam made the phase change temperatures shift slightly, e.g., the deviations of the peak melting temperatures of the paraffin/nickel foam composite and paraffin/copper foam composite with the pore size of 25PPI from those of pure paraffin were 0.55 °C and 0.40 °C, respectively.