A Review on the Performance of the Phase Change Material on the Solar Energy Collector Devices

Abstract

Energy is the basic need for all developing countries and India is also a developing country. Energy is central to performing the interrelated economic, social aim of human development. Solar energy is a rapid growing technology and have gained a lot of attention because it is renewable source of energy and is available in abundance in India. Due to over exploitation of fossil fuel soon there will be its scarcity. This will not only save the fuel but also reduce the pollution. So, it is very important to switch towards renewable source of energy. Phase change material is the material that is utilized to store the solar energy for long time and that can be used at night or during rainy and cloudy days. This paper discussed the performance of the phase change material if used in solar water heater/solar air heater. The phase change material is used in the thermal energy storage device the performance of the storage is increased and the exergy is also increased. The limitation of the solar energy collector devices is changing after used phase change material (PCM). Analyzed that if PCM is used the supply temperature is not suddenly down it slowly gets down and supply hot water for a long time. In general, solar energy collector devices or solar water heater gives hot water up to 4 PM but after using PCM the efficiency of the solar water heater is increased, time of collect hot water is increased and we can get hot water even after sunset.