Performance of the capric and lauric acid mixture with additives as cold storage materials for high temperature cooling application

The capric and lauric acid (C–L acid) mixtures with organic additives were tested and screened for cold storage in high temperature cooling application. The phase transition behavior and heat transfer characteristics of a fabricated cold storage ball filled with the self-developed phase change material (PCM) were investigated by theoretical and experimental study. It was shown that the C–L acid eutectic mixture at the presence of oleic acid offered an appropriate phase change temperature (14.97 °C) and high latent heat of transition (115.1 kJ/kg). The charging and discharging time of the cold storage ball were 340 min and 230 min with the charging and discharging capacity of 113,291 kJ/m3 and 106,844 kJ/m3, respectively. The charging time can be reduced either by decreasing the heat transfer fluid temperature, the diameter and thickness of the spherical shell, or by increasing the thermal conductivity of the spherical shell. The cold storage ball manifests good suitability and stability for high temperature cooling application.