Thermal energy storage is among the highly efficient approaches to overcome the energy crisis. Using phase change material (PCM) is one of the most effective techniques in thermal energy storage applications. Several types of PCM with distinct characteristics and different ranges of melting and solidification temperature have found their way in various industries. However, commercialized PCMs generally suffer from low thermal conductivity which limits their application. In this study, the effect of adding different weight percentages of various nanoparticles, such as CuO, TiO2, Al2O3 and graphene to paraffin, as a standard PCM, on the improvement of the thermal properties of PCM was investigated. Thermophysical properties and morphology of the nanocomposites, such as phase change temperature and latent heat of melting were characterized by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR). SEM images display the proper distribution of nanoparticles in phase change material. FTIR results verified the formation of nanocomposites. A comparison between the investigated PCM nanocomposites showed that the nanocomposites containing 2 wt. % TiO2 with the enthalpy of 179. 88 J/g, and 1 wt. % graphene nanocomposite with the enthalpy of 120. 38 J/g had the highest and lowest energy storage capacity compared to paraffin, respectively. The results indicated that Nano-enhanced phase change materials (NEPCMs) could be particularly useful in applications in which temperature control is crucial. The new types of nanocomposites used in this study showed remarkable thermal performance, and they are capable of being used in thermal management applications. © 2020 Journal of Energy Management and Technology.

One of the dangers of storing materials in storage tanks is the leakage of materials due to corrosion to the surrounding environment, which in addition to cause damage due to the loss of valuable material and environmental pollution, can lead to accidents. PCM method is one which is used for inspecting pipelines by electromagnetic method. Electromagnetic fields easily pass-through soil, water, asphalt, etc. Therefore, without drilling and through the ground, pipelines are inspected and monitored. By measuring the amount of induced alternating current in its strong magnetic sensors, it is able to detect the current amount in pipelines, the position of sacrificial anodes, the quality of coating, and the location of its defects. In this method, alternating current is used to inspect pipelines. By increasing the frequency of alternating current, the inductive effect of this method increases on foreign structures and adjacent metal structures. In this case, by using different frequencies as well as very low frequencies, they eliminate the impact of adjacent foreign structures on the inspection results.

High potential regions for using clean and widespread solar energy are suitable choices to apply solar distillation systems. Iran has a large area with exposed solar radiation and also vast salty water sources in the south and north of country, hence and appropriate situation exists for the use of solar stills and solar distillation equipment. Researchers have focused on development and improvement of working solar distillation champers in recent years to benefit from this modern technology in water crisis conditions. In this research, effect of storage of further heat and also using PCM were surveyed when flow turbulators were applied in the spiral heat exchanger and the salty water flow rates were simultaneously changing and it is this which is the novelty of this research. These experiments were carried out in Babol city, which is a wet region with a mild climate in the north of Iran. These tests also were done during a period of one year. The experiment results determined that during cold months (December to April) using PCM has no effect on efficiency of system. But in warm months (May to November) the effect of PCM is more than the effect of stored heated water. The results show that using heat storage and also applying PCM increase the distilled water gain of system up to 7% and 14% respectively. Furthermore, using turbulators can improve system’s water gain by increasing the heat transfer up to 14%. Maximum distilled water gain was equal to 2250 milliliter/ day.