Recently, phase change materials (PCM) have become widely used in thermal storage systems for both industrial and domestic applications. These materials have good thermal properties, like thermal capacity and phase change temperature, however low thermal conductivity and high viscosity limits their heat transfer coefficient. This paper experimentally investigates the execution of a water-PCM storage system integrated with a flat plate solar collector. Paraffin wax is used as the PCM material and is packed in small cylindrical aluminum containers and accommodated in a hot water tank. In this study, an experimental test facility was designed and built and experiments were carried out in the City of Kerbala in Iraq. The study includes two different heat source types, namely a flat-plate solar collector and an electrical heater element. Experimental results show that the proposed configuration with the PCM material can produce hot water with up to 9.5 °C higher than that of the basic warm water storage system. In the case of the flat plate solar collector, the water remained hot, at about 28.5 °C more than the surrounding temperature during the solar system tests. This study highlights the potential of using PCM materials in heat storage systems and thermal solar energy.

This paper examines the use of a solar still associated with a solar collector, and phase change materials, in improving productivity in solar distillation. We contrasted productivity from a solar still associated with a solar collector both with and without PCMs, and explored relevant issues around design and installation. Experiments were conducted at an east–west orientation in Karbala at the end of October and beginning of November. Polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP K-30), polyethylene glycol (PEG 6000) and carboxymethyl cellulose sodium salt (CMC ), were used for their chemical properties as latent heat energy storage. The hourly output rose little where the solar distillation was coupled with solar collector but without LHTESS, through sunny days. There was an increase of about 30%–50% in freshwater output for LHTESS than was the case without. As daylight progressed the pure water created by the solar still increased. A solar still with solar collector for LHTESS is found to be increased according to the type of additive used. Water temperature was measured in a specified period. We studied the use of a solar still associated with solar collector both with and without PCM as thermal storage. The system run time was increased with the addition of PCM. System productivity and system efficiency also increased, by about 120 % and 40% respectively.

In this paper, the process of thermal heat storage within a water heating system utilizing phase change materials was numerically investigated using a CFD simulation. A two-dimensional model of the water-PCM energy storage system was designed and modelled using ANSYS Fluent. Two cases of without and with PCM were studied to investigate the possibility of using PCM materials in water storage heating systems. Paraffin wax with a melting temperature of 52 °C is used as the PCM material. Results showed that PCM (can maintain the water temperature at a higher level than that of without using PCM that meets the thermal requirements of water heating storage systems for domestic application. Also, results showed that the water temperature at the end of the simulation reaches 39.7 and 48.2 °C for the cases of without and with using PCM respectively. This means the final temperature of with PCM case is 8.5 °C higher than that of without PCM case and a temperature increase of about 21.46% can be achieved. This study highlighted the advantage of using PCM materials in water storage heating systems.

Various human activities have led to the consumption of large quantities of pure water, which has led researchers to find efficient and economical methods for desalinating seawater and water containing impurities. In this review paper, solar energy where it is permanent, abundant and environmentally friendly, to produce pure water was discussed using a new solar distillation device, representing the paper’s novelty. The distillation was designed and used in the way led to increase efficiency and improve productivity by adding a solar collector to the system and equipped with a tank containing phase change material (PCM). It has a low melting point and can change the phase by absorbing the system’s latent heat to maintain the system’s temperature. Which contributes to increasing the distillation period even after sunset, thus increasing the daily productivity of freshwater. Using phase change materials will increase distillation hours from (3-4) hours after sunset, increasing the amount of production between (75 - 90) %.

In this research paper, the solar irradiance of flat plate solar collector was evaluated using experimental and numerical analysis. In the experiment, an automatic solar simulator was designed and built to simulate the solar irradiance. The simulator was controlled by an Arduino board. The light source and fabrication of the simulator were used for a wide range of testing and the comparison was made between different cases. The test was performed on a flat plate double glazing solar collector with different base fluids; ethylene glycol (EG), glycerine, and water. To enhance the heat transfer, Al2O3 nanoparticles having a diameter of 20 nm were added. In order to investigate the effect of volume fraction on the heat absorption, three-volume fractions, 0.2%, 0.45, and 0.6%, were used in this study. Laminar flow was considered with a flow rate of 1 L/min. Solar irradiance was measured from 11:00 to 13:00 on September 25 th , 2016. COMSOL 5.2a was used in a numerical analysis of flat plate solar collector. A good agreement between numerical and experimental for all cases was observed. The maximum temperature difference between inlet and outlet was found when the (water/ Al2O3) was used as a working fluid at a volume fraction of 0.6%.