A Seminar Report On “Phase Change Material (PCM)” submitted By Shahid Tavar. Phase Change Material (PCMs) is a material which absorbs or releases the maximum heat during its state change due to change in temperature. It uses chemical bonds to store and releases the heat. The thermal energy transfer occurs when a material changes from a solid to a liquid or from a liquid to a solid. This is called a change in state or phase. Ice changes phase when heated at 0°C and is converted to water. Ice is an excellent phase change material. This seminar contains the introduction of Phase Change Material, it’s need, properties, working, types, various applications in energy saving, selection criterion of phase change material, its advantages and effect of operating temperature on selection of PCM. Phase Change Materials (PCMs) are theoretically able to change state at constant temperature and therefore store large quantities of energy. Seminar also focuses the Energy Conservation by using Solar Energy with Phase Change Material.

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A
Seminar Report
On
“Phase Change Material (PCM)”
Submitted By
Shahid S. Tavar
Under the guidance of
Prof. T.K. Gawande
Submitted in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree of
BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING
in
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Prof. Ram Meghe Institute of Technology & Research, Badnera
Session 2021-22

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
With immense please I, Mr. Shahid S. Tavar, am presenting Seminar report on “Phase Change
Material (PCM)” as part of the curriculum of 'Bachelor of Engineering'. I wish to thank all the
people who gave me unending support.
I express my profound thanks to Head of Mechanical Department Dr. A.D. Shirbhate and
seminar guide Prof. T.K. Gawande and all those who have indirectly guided and helped me in
preparation of this seminar.
Shahid S. Tavar

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CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Mr. Shahid Shafi Tavar, a student of Mechanical Engineering,
bearing Roll No. 52 , has successfully completed seminar on “Phase Change Material
(PCM)”.
To my satisfaction and submitted the same during the academic year 2021-2022
towards the partial fulfillment of Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering,
under the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Prof. Ram Meghe Institute of
Technology & Research, Badnera.
Prof. T.K. Gawande Dr. A.D. Shribhate
Guide Head
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
P.R.M.I.T. & R, Badnera P.R.M.I.T. & R, Badnera
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Prof. Ram Meghe Institute of Technology & Research, Badnera
2021-22

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INDEX
Sr.
No.
Content Page
No.
1. Acknowledgement ii
2. Certificate iii
3. Abstract 2
4. Introduction 2
5. Thermal Energy Storage 2
6. Latent Heat 3
7. Need Of PCM 3
8. Classification of PCM 4
9. Mechanism of Heat Transfer 5
10. Properties 6
11. Selection Criterion 6
12. Applications 7-8
13. Scope for future Research 9
14. Conclusion 9
15. References 9

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ABSTRACT
Phase Change Material (PCMs) is a material which absorbs or releases the maximum heat
during its state change due to change in temperature. It uses chemical bonds to store and
releases the heat. The thermal energy transfer occurs when a material changes from a solid to
a liquid or from a liquid to a solid. This is called a change in state or phase. Ice changes phase
when heated at 0°C and is converted to water. Ice is an excellent phase change material.
This seminar contains the introduction of Phase Change Material, it’s need, properties,
working, types, various applications in energy saving, selection criterion of phase change
material, its advantages and effect of operating temperature on selection of PCM.
Phase Change Materials (PCMs) are theoretically able to change state at constant temperature
and therefore store large quantities of energy. Seminar also focuses the Energy Conservation
by using Solar Energy with Phase Change Material.
INTRODUCTION
Phase change material (PCM) is a substance with a high heat of fusion which melting &
solidifying at a certain temperature. It is capable of storing & releasing large amount of energy.
The Phase Change materials are the key to Thermal energy storage technology.
Thermal Energy Storage
Thermal energy storage (TES) is achieved with greatly differing technologies that collectively
accommodate a wide range of needs. It allows excess thermal energy to be collected for later
use, hours, days or many months later, at individual building, multiuser building, district, town
or even regional scale depending on the specific technology.
A class of materials, called phase change materials (PCMs) are the key to this thermal energy
storage technology. As the name suggests, these materials change their phase with a change in
temperature.
The different kinds of thermal energy storage can be divided into three separate categories:
sensible heat, latent heat, and thermo-chemical heat storage.
Fig. Types of Thermal Energy Storage

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Latent Heat
Latent heat is the heat released or absorbed by a body or a thermodynamic system during a
constant-temperature process. A typical example is a change of state of matter, i.e., the phase
transition process during which the temperature of the system remains constant even though
heat is absorbed (or released) by the system.
Fig. Latent Heat of material
Latent heat Storage relies on phase changes of medium for instance from Solid to Liquid (One
phase to another), that use latent Heat to store energy. And the Materials used for Latent heat
storage are Phase Change Materials.
NEED OF PCM
In mechanical industry lot of equipments require the energy in the form of heat. In case of
condenser, it is necessary to remove the heat from the fluid which is to be cooled or condensed.
In case of Internal Combustion Engine, the problem of cold starting can be avoided by using
Phase Change Material. It is possible by providing the PCM in jackets of engine.
Cooling plants can be used in the off load period and energy can be stored in the Phase Change
Material and it can be regained again in the peak load period, it reduces the demand on the
plant and proper distribution of the load is possible.
In electronics equipments, cooling is necessary for its operational requirement. This can be
done with the help of pads of phase change material which absorbs the heat during working
and releases the heat at atmospheric temperature. Energy required for the cooling process can
be saved.
PCM can provide the replacement for corrosive cooling fluid in the engine jackets by that the
maintenance cost gets reduced and life of the engine increases.

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CLASSIFICATION OF PCM
Fig. Classification of PCM
1) Inorganic PCMs
Early efforts in the development of latent heat storage materials used inorganic PCMs.
Inorganic PCMs are salt hydrates. The advantages of these materials are: high latent heat
values, non-flammable, low-cost and readily available. However, the disadvantages of
inorganic PCMs have led to the investigation of organic PCMs. Some of these disadvantages
are corrosiveness; instability, improper re-solidification, and a tendency to super cool. The high
storage density of salt hydrate materials is difficult to maintain and usually decreases with
cycling. This is because most hydrated salts melt congruently with the formation of the lower
hydrated salt, making the process irreversible and leading to the continuous decline in their
storage efficiency.
2) Organic PCMs
Organic PCMs have a number of characteristics which render them useful for latent heat
storage in certain building elements. They are more chemically stable than inorganic
substances, they melt congruently and super cooling does not pose as a significant problem.
Moreover, they have been found to be compatible with and suitable for absorption into various
building materials. Although the initial cost of organic PCMs is higher than that of the
inorganic type, the installed cost is competitive.
However, these organic materials do have their quota of unsuitable properties. Of the most
significant of these characteristics, they are flammable and they may generate harmful fumes
on combustion.

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3) Eutectic PCMs
A true eutectic is a mixture of two or more chemicals which, when mixed in a particular
ratio, have a freezing/melting point which is lower than the corresponding freezing points of
the component chemicals. During the freezing/melting process (phase change) the composition
of the solid and liquid phases are identical.
Fig. Detailed Classification of PCM
MECHANISM OF HEAT TRANSFER
The easiest way to explain PCM (Phase Change Material) is to compare it to water. Water has
three phases: ice, liquid and gas.
In melting or solidifying the material latent heat is emitted or absorbed from the surrounding.
When the solid phase change material absorbs heat, it is converted in to the liquid state. When
it rejects the heat it is again converted in to solid state. Phase Change Material can undergo
thousands of cycles of phase change without changing their chemical properties.

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Fig. Mechanism of Heat transfer of PCM
PROPERTIES OF PCM
Latent heat storage materials also called phase change materials (PCMs) should involve the
following desirable thermophysical, kinetics, and chemical properties
▪ Appropriate phase change temperature
Appropriate phase change temperature is necessary according to the need of
application.
▪ High latent heat of fusion
Material having high latent heat of fusion absorbs the max energy hence high latent
heat of fusion is desirable.
▪ High thermal conductivity
▪ Low viscosity of the fluid phase
Low viscosity fluid needs less energy to flow due to less shear resistance.
▪ Favorable phase equilibrium
▪ High density
▪ Low thermal expansion
Low thermal expansion needs less volume to accommodate the same quantity of fluid.
SELECTION CRITERION OF PCM
• Thermodynamic properties:
The phase change material should possess...
1. Melting temperature in the desired operating temperature range
2. High latent heat of fusion per unit volume
3. High specific heat, high density and high thermal conductivity
4. Small Volume changes on phase transformation and small vapor pressure at
operating temperatures to reduce the containment problem

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5. Congruent melting
• Kinetic properties
1. High nucleation rate to avoid super cooling of the liquid phase
2. High rate of crystal growth, so that the system can meet demands of heat recovery
from the storage system
• Chemical properties
1. Chemical stability
2. Complete reversible freeze/melt cycle
3. No degradation after a large number of freeze/melt cycle
4. Non-corrosiveness, non-toxic, non-flammable and non-explosive materials
• Economic properties
1. Low cost
2. Large-scale availabilities
APPLICATIONS OF PCM
PCMs have the wide area of applications; some of applications are as follows:
▪ Energy saving in Telecommunication shelters – while using natural energy
▪ Increasing life of Telecom equipments
▪ Reduce air-conditioning cost in building industry
▪ Increase hot water efficiency in solar water heaters
▪ Capture waste heat in boiler industry
▪ Cold storage/cold chain applications for horticulture
▪ Bio-Pharmaceuticals and vaccine transport
▪ Food / Poultry / Meat transport at specific temperatures
▪ Thermal wears for adverse climatic conditions
▪ Can be used as a room heater, same device / trolley can also be used as a
▪ Cooler in summer
▪ Backup for room warmers / fireplace
Applications in details
Transportation
A huge percentage of our food is transported by road with refrigerated vehicles now common
place. PCM technology offers both mechanical-refrigeration-free and back-up cooling options.
Cold Storage Back-up
A power failure is potentially extremely costly in food storage. In countries with less reliable
power supplies, PCM technology has been employed in warehouses to effectively soak the heat
out of the storage area to ensure that the products remain un spoilt.
Electronics Cooling

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To effectively dissipate, the heat generated from high power density microprocessors is one of
the top challenges in the semiconductor industry. High quality thermal interface materials
(TIM) are at the highest demand. Among many options, phase change materials (PCM) have
shown several favorable characteristics as a TIM. Their main advantage is that they become
flowable at the operation temperature, but are much less subjected to pump-out than greases.
As PCMs become flowable, voids on the substrate surfaces are filled and as a result, the
interfacial resistances are minimized.
Temperature Control in Buildings
The phase change material (PCM)-based TES in the building has attracted attention in the
recent years. In the PCM-based TES system, the heat energy gained during daytime is absorbed
by the PCM and the stored energy is released during the night time. The objective of the work
is to control the room temperature fluctuations by incorporating PCM in the building roof.
Fig. Temperature Control in Buildings using PCM
Mechanical Machines
When engines and hydraulic machines are started from low temperatures, energy consumption
and abrasion are high. Therefore, several companies have already investigated and developed
latent heat stores for motor vehicles.
Solar Water Heaters
Evacuated tube type solar water heaters provide the higher rate of heat transfer between water
and solar collectors. It uses the PCM material to transfer the heat from solar collector to the

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water. The material gets vaporized while in contact with solar panel and it gets condensed while
it comes in contact with water.
SCOPE FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
PCMs can be used for the water cooling purpose but the major problem is the melting and
crystalline temperature of the material. Ex. If we want to cool drinking water at 20°C then the
melting point of the PCM should be less than 20°C and it should get solidify at the atmosphere
temperature for saving the energy. Present problem in this regard is melting and solidifying
temperature of the material.
PCM can be used for the localized cooling. It can also be used in the small electronic
equipments such as Laptops, Computers, Xerox Machine etc for cooling of the equipments, as
in the above applications the process will be natural so the energy requirement for cooling the
equipments get reduced, finally it will lead to reduce the power requirement.
CONCLUSION
Phase Change Material has the wide area of application as an engineering point of view. Use
of PCM can lead to save the energy and proper distribution of the load on the resources such
as Demand Side Management etc. Air Cooling and heating with the help of PCM can help to
the air conditioning for human comfort. Cooling of Electronics equipments with the help of
PCM saves the energy to cool the equipments. PCM can be use for the lot of engineering
applications for conservation of energy.
REFERENCES
[1] ARTICLE “Latent Heat Storage Through Phase Change Materials”, Akanksha Mishra,
A Shukla and Atul Sharma. RESONANCE June 2015
[2] Atul Sharma, C. R. Chen, “Solar water heating system with phase change materials”,
(I.RE.CH.E.), Vol. 1, N. 4, July 2009.
[3] Nanoencapsulated phase change materials for solar thermal energy storage Jyoti Saroha,
Shailesh Narain Sharma, in Sustainable Material Solutions for Solar Energy Technologies,
2021
[4] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase-change_material