INTEGRATION OF PHASE CHANGE MATERIALS INSIDE EVACUATED TUBE SOLAR COLLECTOR FOR STORAGE AND TRANSFER OF THERMAL ENERGY

摘要

An objective of the invention is to design and develop an effective method to collect and store heat in a solar collector for delayed release. An embodiment of the invention is directed to an evacuated tube collector, where PCM is placed directly inside the void space of the collector tube, next to the heat pipe. The heat pipe is located with phase change material (PCM) in such a way that its thermal connection with the heat pipe can be switched “ON” to start heat transfer from PCM or “OFF” to keep latent heat stored in PCM for delayed usage. In additional, flow of heat exchange fluid through the manifold can enable release of stored heat of PCM to storage tank. Delayed release of accumulated heat in PCM enables added functionality of on-demand operation of SWH.

主权项

1. A solar collector comprising:
an evacuated tube collector (ETC) or an ETC array; a phase change material, wherein the phase change material is located within the inner space of the evacuated tube collector; and a heat pipe, wherein the heat pipe is located within the inner space of the evacuated tube collector and wherein the heat pipe is in thermal contact with the phase change material.