Thermal storage in ammonium alum/ammonium nitrate eutectic for solar space heating
- Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Ammonium alum and ammonium nitrate in the weight ratio of 1:1 forms a eutectic that melts at 53 C and crystallizes at 48 C. The latent heat of fusion of this eutectic was found to be 215 kJ/kg. Its enthalpy as measured by drop calorimetry was found to be 287 kJ/kg in the temperature range of 24--65 C, which is 1.67 times greater than water (172.2 kJ/kg) and 8.75 times greater than rock (32.8 kJ/kg). Upon several heating/cooling cycles, phase separation was observed. However, by adding 5% attapulgite clay to this eutectic mixture, phase separation was prevented. This eutectic was encapsulated in 0.0254m diameter HDPE hollow balls and subjected to about 1,100 heating/cooling cycles in the temperature range between 25 and 65 C. At the end of these cycles, the decrease in enthalpy was found to be 5%. A scale model of the heat storage unit was fabricated to investigate the heat transfer characteristics of this eutectic encapsulated in HDPE balls. The thermal extraction efficiency of the system was measured with the recirculation of hot air during charging and was found to be in the range of 85--98%.
- OSTI ID:
- 109900
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950725--; ISBN 0-89553-167-4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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