Effect of PCM and nano‐embedded PCM on the solar pond performance as sensible heat storage: An experimental approach

Abstract

A solar pond is an environment‐friendly system for storing thermal energy. Solar ponds can balance the energy supply and demand when incorporated with PCM. Solar thermal energy can be stored inside the solar pond and used for solar drying, desalination, and power production. The present study reports the heat change in the solar pond with or without PCM and nanoparticles. From the literature, it was found that handling phase change material is difficult, and added nanomaterials are used to settle with time, which reduces the efficacy of the system. The novelty of present study is to examine the performance of nanoparticle‐embedded paraffin the sensible energy storage in the solar pond. The experiment has been performed, and results have been investigated/compared for four cases, namely, (i) solar pond, (ii) solar pond with heat storage (ie, paraffin wax [PW]), (iii) solar pond with aluminum oxide () mixed PW, and (iv) solar pond with copper oxide (CuO) mixed PW. The results show that with the addition of 1% and 2%, and CuO in PW, the thermal conductivity is increased by 2.94%, 5.92%, 2.99%, and 6.01%, respectively, compared to basic paraffin wax. It can be observed from the results that with the inclusion of CuO in paraffin wax solar pond temperature was high during non‐sunshine hours compared to other solar ponds. The results also show that sensible energy without heat storage material is negligible during non‐sunshine hours compared to heat storage and nanoparticle‐embedded heat storage solar ponds. Incorporating CuO in paraffin wax showed significant potential to store heat energy.