Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 151 (2021) 111541

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Preparation and thermophysical property analysis of nanocomposite phase

change materials for energy storage
Jin Wang a, Yanxin Li a, Dan Zheng a, Hrvoje Mikulčić b, Milan Vujanović b, Bengt Sundén c, *
a
School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin, 300401, China
b
Department of Energy, Power Engineering and Environment, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, 10002, Zagreb, Croatia
c
Department of Energy Sciences, Division of Heat Transfer, Lund University, Lund, SE22100, Sweden

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Paraffin wax and various nanoparticles (CuO, Al2O3 and Fe3O4) were used as matrix and heat conduction
Electronic cooling enhancer of phase change materials (PCMs), respectively. The dispersant Span 80 was added into the nano­
Energy storage composite to provide stable PCMs. Based on analyses of melting and freezing curves and infrared thermal im­
Nanocomposite
aging tests, the phase change latent heat, viscosity, and thermal conductivity of the nanocomposite PCMs were
Thermophysical property
Heat pipe
measured. This article also analyzes the effects of heating power and fan power on heat transfer characteristics of
the heat pipe with PCMs as the cooling system. Temperature of evaporator is investigated by applying PCMs
energy storage. It is found that temperature fluctuations in the evaporator is alleviated by filling an adiabatic
section covered with PCMs for energy storage in the cooling system. The results show that compared to pure
paraffin wax, the thermal conductivity of 1.2 wt% CuO/paraffin composite PCMs increases by 24.9 % at 25 ◦ C,
whereas the thermal conductivity at 70 ◦ C increases by 20.6 %. Compared to pure paraffin wax, the latent heat of
the nanocomposite PCMs decreases by 1.5 %, the viscosity increases by 10.1 % at the melting temperature 70 ◦ C.
With an integrated cooling scheme, the temperature of the evaporator with 1.2 wt% nano-CuO/paraffin com­
posites at a 2 V fan voltage is 22.0 % less than that without PCMs at a 0 V fan voltage.

technologies for heat dissipation from electronic components [2]. PCMs

1. Introduction change their physical state at a certain temperature, and thermal energy
is released or stored in the process of transforming the physical state.
Phase change material (PCM) are commonly used for phase change PCMs also play an important role in thermal control and energy saving
energy storage in renewable energy applications with features of high [3]. Application of PCMs in building envelopes also provides passive
latent heat and low costs. Nowadays, water tank sensible heat and latent cooling and improves the comfort of the living environment [4]. PCMs
heat utilizations have been widely investigated for energy storage sys­ are mainly divided into three types: inorganic phase change material
tems. Ahmed et al. [1] evaluated the thermocline combined with a (IOPCM), organic phase change material (OPCM), and composite phase
sensible-latent heat thermal energy storage system, and they indicated change material (CPCM) [5]. The fire resistance and durability of the
that the combined sensible-latent heat system was one good choice due IOPCM in architecture is superior to the OPCM. As shown in Fig. 1, the
to its optimal performance and comparatively low cost. More stable CPCMs have been widely used in many fields, such as architecture,
operating temperatures and higher energy density are easier to achieve refrigeration, military equipment, and aerospace engineering.
for the latent heat storage systems compared to the sensible heat storage Pure paraffin materials are frequently used as an organic phase
systems. Various PCMs have been used in different engineering appli­ change material because of its high latent heat, stable chemical perfor­
cations. The contradiction between energy and time mismatch can be mance and no phase separation advantages [6]. Nevertheless, the pure
resolved to improve energy efficiency. paraffin materials have a low thermal conductivity and slow heat
Optimal thermal management of complex electronic systems has transfer rate, so effective methods are needed to improve its thermal
been required for smart and efficient developments of electronic conductivity. Lin et al. [7] summarized many methods to increase the
equipment. Excessive local heat often causes damage of electronic thermal conductivity of PCMs. It was found that adding materials with
components. Heat sinks using PCM have become one of effective high thermal conductivity is an effective way to improve the

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (B. Sundén).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2021.111541
Received 3 December 2020; Received in revised form 9 June 2021; Accepted 24 July 2021
Available online 27 July 2021
1364-0321/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
J. Wang et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 151 (2021) 111541

was found that compared with the paraffin wax, a weight fraction of
Nomenclature nano-carbon nanotubes about 3 % can increased the thermal conduc­
tivity of solids and liquids by 30.3 % and 28.5 %, respectively. Li et al.
A absorptance (L⋅g− 1⋅cm− 1) [12] pointed out that the thermal conductivity of the nanocomposite
C concentration (g/L) PCMs increased by 11.4 % when 3 % multi-wall carbon nanotubes
Hf freezing enthalpy (J/g) (MWCNTs) were added into the stearic acid with the dispersant poly
Hm melting enthalpy (J/g) vinyl pyrrolidone (PVP). Zou et al. [13] experimentally researched the
Ia absorbed light intensity (cd) synergistic heat transfer enhancement of the thermal conductivity using
I incident light intensity (cd) MWCNTs and graphene. The results showed that the nanocomposite
K molar absorption coefficient (L⋅mol− 1⋅cm− 1) PCMs with a nano-graphene/MWCNTs mass ratio of 7/3 had 124 %
L thickness (cm) increase of the thermal conductivity compared to pure PCMs. Colla et al.
q heating power (W) [14] prepared nano-PCM by mixing pure paraffin wax RT20 (Paraffin
T temperature (◦ C) wax with a phase transition temperature of 20 ◦ C) with nano Al2O3 or
t time (s) carbon black (CB), and they found that addition of CB nanoparticles
resulted in 35 % increase in thermal conductivity for 1 wt% wax RT20.
Greek symbols Colla et al. [15] analyzed thermal conductivity, specific heat and latent
λ thermal conductivity (W/m⋅K) heat of both 0.5 wt% and 1.0 wt% Al2O3/paraffin PCMs. The
μ viscosity (Pa⋅s) solid-liquid phase transition process of the nano-PCM was analyzed
τ shear rate (s− 1) through numerical simulations, and it was found that the melting pro­
χ cycles of phase changes cess of nano-PCM was delayed by about 50–100 s.
Surface modification, surfactant applications and ultrasonic vibra­
tion are used to enhance the thermal stability of the composite PCMs
[16]. Nourani et al. [17] proposed that the dispersion of nano-Al2O3 in
pure paraffin wax was improved by using sodium stearoyl lactylate (SSL)
as the dispersant. Chen et al. [18] found that the CuO/paraffin nano­
composite PCM had favorable dispersity when the ultrasonic tempera­
ture was maintained above 62 ◦ C. based on results from
thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Sami and Etesami [19] pointed out
that the thermal stability of nano-TiO2/paraffin composite PCMs was
improved by using the SSL as the dispersant. Wang et al. [20] mixed
Fe3O4 nanoparticles into DI-water and this sample was put into an ul­
trasonic oscillator for ultrasonic treatment. It was found that the heat
transfer of the ferrofluid with a magnetic cannula was enhanced by 26.5
% and 54.5 % at the Reynolds numbers 391 and 805, respectively.
For electronics cooling, Murshed and Castro [21] summarized con­
ventional coolants and cooling approaches used in electronic equip­
ment, and they also analyzed performance of nanofluids as potential
new coolants. They pointed out that the nanofluid cooling in
high-heating electronic equipment had extensive application prospects.
Arora and Gupta [22] summarized thermal performance improvement
of nanofluids and their application prospects in flat tubes radiators. The
combined effect of the nanofluid and flat tubes effectively improved the
cooling performance of the radiator. Sardarabadi et al. [23] studied
thermal performance of new thermosiphon experimentally. It was found
that compared with pure water at 70 W power, the nanofluid showed the
highest thermal efficiency in the thermosiphon at high power of 90 W.
Farzanehnia et al. [24] experimentally studied the influences of PCMs on
thermal performance of the electronic chip. It was found that the
application of nanocomposite PCMs extended the system service time.
Fig. 1. Classification and applications of PCMs.
Arshad et al. [25] developed PCMs with pin fin heat sinks. It was found
that a heat storage unit filled with PCM was highly effective for the
thermophysical properties of PCMs. Babapoord and Karimi [8] con­
passive cooling at a low input heat. Raj et al. [26] investigated a novel
ducted an experimental study on the thermal properties of a paraffin
wall-less heat sink using multi-walled carbon nanotube/graphene
nanocomposite PCM and it was found that the addition of Al2O3 nano­
nanoplatelet composite PCMs, and they found that the maximum tem­
particles effectively increased the thermal properties of the PCM.
perature of the cooling system decreased by 9.77 %. Yang et al. [27]
Compared with pure paraffin materials, the thermal conductivity of
experimentally improved the PCM based finned heat pipe cooling sys­
Al2O3 composite PCM with 6 wt% increased by 141.2 %. Lin and
tem, and the highest temperature was kept lower than 85 ◦ C at a 1000 W
Al-Kayiem [9] evaluated the thermophysical properties of a nano-Cu
periodic heat flow by increasing the fins and reducing the contact
composite PCM with different mass fractions through experiments and
thermal resistance. Wang et al. [28] experimentally analyzed heat
found that the thermal conductivity of 2.0 wt% nano-Cu composite PCM
dissipation of a finned heat pipe cooling system using nanocomposite
increased by 46.3 % compared with pure paraffin materials. Mehrali
PCMs, and they found that the high fan voltage and adding nano­
et al. [10] prepared a paraffin/graphene oxide nanocomposite PCM and
composite PCMs effectively improved the heat dissipation of the finned
studied its thermal properties. They found that the thermal conductivity
heat pipe system.
of the paraffin/nano-graphene oxide composite PCM with 48.3 wt% was
Few studies have considered dispersion stability analysis of the
greatly improved from 0.305 to 0.985 W/(m⋅K). Wu et al. [11] improved
nanoparticles CuO, Al2O3, and Fe3O4 in paraffin wax during both
the thermal conductivity by filling carbon nanotubes with paraffin. It
melting and freezing tests. This research investigates effects of the

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different nanoparticle materials and mass fractions on thermal proper­ Table 2

ties and stability of the nanocomposite PCMs. Nanocomposite PCMs are Accuracies of instruments.
applied to a heat pipe heat dissipation system. For two fan powers and a Equipment Model Range Accuracy
variable heating power, CuO nanocomposite PCMs with different mass
Visible light indexing JH-13-12 B-13-12- − 0.301–3 A ±0.002 A
fractions are discussed to find an effective method to improve the heat instrument 060
dissipation of the finned heat pipe cooling experimental system. Infrared camera TESTO 885-2 − 20–1200 C
◦
±2 ◦ C
Thermal conductivity DRE-2B 0.01–5.0 W/ ±1–3 %
meter (m⋅K)
2. Materials and methods
Agilent data collector 34972A / ±0.001 ◦ C
Differential scanning DSC200F3 0~±600 mW ±1 %
2.1. Materials and instruments calorimeter
Ultrasonic oscillator SK1200H-J / /
The nanoparticles were purchased from Beijing Dekedao Gold Digital rotary viscometer DV-C 0.001–2000 Pa s ±1 %

Technology Company in Tianjin, China. Paraffin wax was supplied by

Kmart Chemical Technology Company in Tianjin, China. Information of
thermal conductivities, specific heat, density, and grain size of nano­
particles were supplied by Dekedao Gold Technology Company of China
as listed in Table 1. Sorbitan fatty acid ester (Span-80) was purchased
from Kmart Chemical Technology Company in Tianjin, China. Table 2
lists the accuracies of the various instruments.

2.2. Experimental sample preparation

Fig. 2 shows the preparation procedure of nanocomposite PCM and

images of various nanoparticles using a scanning electron microscope
(SEM). 20 g paraffin wax was weighed on an electronic scale, and the
nanoparticles with the different weight fractions (0.3 %, 0.6 %, 0.9 %
and 1.2 %) and dispersant Span-80 were added into the molten paraffin
with a ratio of 1:1.50 min ultrasonic oscillation at a frequency of 40 kHz
and a temperature of 80 ◦ C was conducted to prepare stable composite
PCM.

2.3. Melting and freezing tests

Fig. 2. Preparation procedure of composite PCM.
During melting tests, the samples (nanocomposite PCMs and paraffin
wax) are placed in a constant temperature environment of 70 ◦ C. Three
thermocouples are inserted into each sample, and another two ther­
mocouples are used to measure the water temperature changes. Every
experimental sample is put into the water bath at the same time and with
the same initial temperature. The measured data is transmitted to the
computer through a data logger. The melting test ends, when the sample
has the same temperature as the water in the water bath. The experi­
mental system is shown in Fig. 3.
During freezing tests, the samples in the water bath will be cooled to Fig. 3. Diagram of the melting experimental system.
the room temperature by natural convection. Another two thermocou­
ples are used to collect the room temperature changes. through the suspension, it means that particles in the base medium are
uniformly dispersed and the suspension is stable. Conversely, poor
3. Material properties and testing particles fail to be dispersed into the base medium. The relative absor­
bance is represented by the ratio of the absorbed light intensity Ia to the
In this section, dispersion stability, performance test, and thermo­ incident light intensity I. The absorbance can be measured by the
physical properties of nanocomposite PCMs will be discussed. spectrophotometer, and it is expressed as follows [29]:
I
3.1. Dispersion stability analysis A = KCL = log (1)
I − Ia

The visible light spectrophotometer is used to analysis the dispersion where A refers to the absorbance of the test sample, and K means the
stability of nanocomposite PCMs. If the incident light cannot pass molar absorption coefficient, C and L represent the concentration and
the absorption thickness of the experimental sample, respectively.
Table 1 The relative absorbance can be calculated by Eq. (1). Fig. 4 shows the
Thermophysical properties of paraffin wax and nanoparticles. change trend of relative absorbance with number of the phase changes.
It was found that the use of dispersant Span-80 can improve the
Materials Thermal conductivity Specific heat Density Grain size
(W/(m⋅K)) (J/(kg⋅K)) (kg/m3) (nm)
dispersion stability of nanocomposite PCMs. The dispersant can be easily
adsorbed on the nanoparticles surfaces to weaken the Van der Waals
CuO 76.5 540 6310 50
force between particles and prevent occurrence of agglomeration and
Al2O3 25.08 765 3600 30
Fe3O4 80 670 5180 20 deposition [11]. By a comparative analysis of three nanocomposite
Paraffin 0.22 2660 880 / PCMs, it can be discovered that the CuO/paraffin nanocomposite PCMs
wax shows the best dispersion stability. After adding the dispersant, the

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Fig. 4. Relative absorbance tests of nanocomposite PCMs.

relative absorbance values of CuO/paraffin, Al2O3/paraffin and

Fe3O4/paraffin composites decreased by 7.1 %, 11.7 % and 35.3 %
compared with the initial state, respectively. This result also indicates
that the PCMs have good dispersion stability after many repeated tests.
This conclusion is mainly because the polymer groups in the dispersant
have a good attraction with the CuO nanoparticles. The dispersant can
be easily adsorbed on the CuO nanoparticles. The Van der Waals force
between the particles is weakened, thereby weakening the agglomera­
tion of the particles. The Al2O3/paraffin and Fe3O4/paraffin nano­
composite PCMs show relatively poor dispersion stabilities. The
particles are easily adsorbed and agglomerate due to a large intermo­
lecular force, which causes an obvious sedimentation.

3.2. Performance test analysis

Fig. 5(a) shows that the melting rate of all nanocomposite PCMs with
1.2 % mass fraction is higher than that of the base medium (the paraffin
wax). This result is because the thermal conductivities of nanocomposite
PCM are increased by addition of nanoparticles. In addition, CuO/
paraffin nanocomposite PCMs show the highest melting rate during the
melting process, which indicates that CuO nanoparticles have larger
heat transfer enhancement than the other nanoparticles mixed into the
paraffin wax. Fig. 5(b) shows that the CuO/paraffin nanocomposite PCM
has the fastest freezing rate after the freezing time 2000 s. Therefore,
considering heat transfer characteristics and dispersion stability, the
CuO/paraffin nanocomposite is one of the most promising PCMs and
will be mainly discussed in this research.
The CuO/paraffin nanocomposite with different mass fractions are
subjected to melting tests as shown in Fig. 6(a). It is found that by
increasing the weight fraction of the nano-CuO, the melting rate of the
nano-CuO/paraffin composite is significantly increased before the
melting time 800 s. Fig. 6(b) shows that the freezing curves of the CuO/
paraffin nanocomposites with different weight fractions are almost
overlapping before the freezing time 2000 s. From 2000 s to 3000 s, the
1.2 % CuO/paraffin composite has the fastest freezing rate compared to
the others.
In order to intuitively analyze temperature rise of the nanocomposite
PCMs, the paraffin wax with and without the 1.2 % CuO/paraffin
nanocomposite are placed in a constant temperature environment of
70 ◦ C. Fig. 7 shows infrared images of the samples over time. The
temperature increasing rate of the 1.2 % nano-CuO/paraffin composite
Fig. 5. Temperature profiles of various nanocomposite PCMs during
is faster than that of the paraffin wax after 10 min. The CuO/paraffin
testing processes.
nanocomposite completes the melting process after 20 min at a heating
temperature of 70 ◦ C, whereas the paraffin wax cannot be completely
paraffin nanocomposite and paraffin wax with various mass fractions. It
melted at the same heating condition.
can be found that the nanocomposites show similar DSC curves as for the
paraffin wax. There is a peak of the solid-liquid phase transition during
3.3. Analysis of phase change property each melting or freezing process, and there are slight differences be­
tween the DSC curves of pure paraffin materials and CuO/paraffin
Some physical parameters show great effects on the thermal storage nanocomposites.
performance, heat absorption and release. The characteristic tempera­ The DSC curves of the melting and freezing processes are experi­
tures of PCM are obtained by heat flow curves from a differential mentally analyzed by using the Proteus Analysis software. Table 3 shows
scanning calorimetry (DSC). Fig. 8 shows the DSC analyses of CuO/

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decreases by 0.2 %, 0.7 %, 1.2 %, and 1.4 %, respectively. For the

freezing enthalpy values, the CuO/paraffin nanocomposites with 0.3 wt
%, 0.6 wt%, 0.9 wt%, and 1.2 wt% have reductions of 0.6 %, 1.1 %, 1.5
% and 1.6 %, respectively. It is concluded that phase transition enthalpy
of the nano-CuO/paraffin composite decreases with the increase of the
weight fraction of nanoparticles. The case of fixed total mass of different
nanocomposite materials, compared with pure paraffin wax, after add­
ing CuO, Al2O3 and Fe3O4 nanoparticles, the mass of paraffin wax is
relatively small [30].

Fig. 8. DSC curves of nanocomposite PCM and pure paraffin wax.

Table 3
Phase transition enthalpies and temperatures of the paraffin and CuO/paraffin
nanocomposites.
Sample Melting Freezing Melting Freezing
temp. Tm temp. Tf (◦ C) enthalpy Hm enthalpy Hf
(◦ C) (J/g) (J/g)

Paraffin 51.6 ± 0.5 49.9 ± 0.5 155 ± 1.0 − 155 ± 1.0

0.3 wt% 51.2 ± 0.5 50.3 ± 0.5 154.7 ± 1.0 − 154.1 ± 1.0
nano-CuO/
paraffin
Fig. 6. Temperature variation curves of composite PCMs with different 0.6 wt% 50.9 ± 0.5 49.7 ± 0.5 153.9 ± 1.0 − 153.3 ± 1.0
concentrations. nano-CuO/
paraffin
0.9 wt% 50.7 ± 0.5 50.3 ± 0.5 153.1 ± 1.0 − 152.7 ± 1.0
that the CuO/paraffin nanocomposite has a fluctuation range of about nano-CuO/
1 ◦ C. The paraffin wax has a melting enthalpy of 155 J/g, whereas the paraffin
0.3 % CuO/paraffin nanocomposite has a melting enthalpy of 154.7 J/g. 1.2 wt% 50.9 ± 0.5 49.8 ± 0.5 152.8 ± 1.0 − 152.5 ± 1.0
nano-CuO/
Compared with the paraffin wax, the melting enthalpy for the CuO/
paraffin
paraffin nanocomposite with 0.3 wt%, 0.6 wt%, 0.9 wt%, and 1.2 wt%

Fig. 7. Infrared images of the paraffin wax with and without 1.2 % CuO nanoparticles.

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3.4. Thermal conductivity analysis

In this research, the thermal conductivity is evaluated by Ref. [31]:

/
q dθ
λ= (2)
4π dln t

where λ is thermal conductivity of the test sample, and q is the heating

power. θ is temperature increase of probe, and t is the test time.
Thermal conductivities of nano-CuO/paraffin composites and pure
paraffin wax are measured by a thermal conductivity meter DRE-2B
(Xiangtan Instrument Co Ltd). Fig. 9 shows that the thermal conduc­
tivities of pure paraffin wax and 0.3 wt% nano-CuO/paraffin composite
are 0.217 W/(m⋅K) and 0.245 W/(m⋅K) during a freezing process,
respectively. In other words, addition of 0.3 wt% CuO nanoparticles
results in 12.9 % increase of the thermal conductivity compared to that
of pure paraffin wax during a freezing process. The thermal conductiv­
ities of nano-CuO/paraffin nanocomposites with 0.6 wt%, 0.9 wt%, and
1.2 wt% increase by 17.5 %, 21.2 %, and 24.9 %, respectively.
Fig. 10. Viscosities of various CuO/paraffin composites.
Compared with thermal conductivity of the pure paraffin at the melting
process, the thermal conductivities of CuO/paraffin nanocomposites
with 0.3 wt%, 0.6 wt%, 0.9 wt%, and 1.2 wt% increase by 10.0 %, 11.9 4. Heat dissipation experiments of finned heat pipe
%, 15.6 %, and 20.6 %, respectively. The experimental results show that
adding the nano-CuO into pure paraffin wax can significantly increase 4.1. Experimental setup
the thermal conductivity of the nanocomposite material.
The cooling performance of the finned heat pipe cooling system was
3.5. Analysis of viscosity investigated using the equipment shown in Fig. 11. The finned heat pipe
cooling experimental system consists of a finned cooling fan, two copper
When phase change of the CuO/paraffin composite occurs, viscosity fasteners, five copper heat pipes, a fan voltage controller, a tank, a
will show a dominant impact on the heat transfer performance of PCMs. surface heater, a data collector (Agilent 34972A), a laptop and DC power
As shown in Fig. 10, the viscosities of the liquid paraffin and CuO/ supply. This research uses T-type thermocouples to record the temper­
paraffin nanocomposites measured by a digital rotary viscometer DV-C ature at various locations in the cooling experimental system. The
(Jinan Zhuolong Biological Technology Co Ltd). It is found that the cooling system consists of three parts, namely the evaporation part
viscosities of the paraffin and CuO/paraffin nanocomposite with 0.3 wt (which is heated by a surface heater), the adiabatic part (which includes
% are 0.04457 Pa s and 0.04613 Pa s at 70 ◦ C, respectively. Compared the phase change tank filled with the PCMs) and the condensation part
with the paraffin, the viscosities of the 0.3 wt%, 0.6 wt%, 0.9 wt%, and (which is a finned cooling fan for heat pipes).
1.2 wt% CuO/paraffin nanocomposites increase by 3.5 %, 6.2 %, 7.3 %,
and 10.1 %, respectively. This result indicates that adding CuO nano­ 4.2. Experimental uncertainty analysis
particles into the paraffin will increase its viscosity, and the viscosity of
the nanocomposites PCMs significantly improve with the increase of the To ensure reliability of the data collected in the experiment, this
mass fraction of CuO nanoparticles. paper analyzes the uncertainty of the experimental data of the fin heat
pipe heat dissipation. The system error of the experiments mainly comes
from thermocouples and the DC power supply, and the variables u, v and
w. The error σy is calculated according to the law of the error propaga­
tion as shown in Eq. (3) and described ref. [32]. Table 4 shows the un­
certainty analysis of this research. The uncertainty of each parameter is
below 4 %, which indicates that the experimental results are reliable.
[( )2 ( )2 ( )2 ]1/2
∂f ∂f ∂f
σy = σ2u + σ2v + ... + σ 2w (3)
∂u ∂v ∂w

4.3. Cooling performance analysis

Usually, the heating power of heat pipe-PCMs module fluctuates

occasionally in practical applications. To simulate this actual situation,
as shown in Table 5, the heating power is varied between 15 W and 30 W
every 5 min.
To analyze the heat dissipation performance of the fin heat pipe
cooling system, Fig. 12 shows the temperature changes of the evaporator
using different phase change materials for two fan voltages and variable
powers. It can be found that when the fan voltage is 0 V, the maximum
temperature of the evaporator without PCM is 105.9 ◦ C, and the
maximum temperature of the paraffin evaporator is 100.5 ◦ C. The
highest temperature of the evaporator is 97.1 ◦ C, 96.4 ◦ C and 95.8 ◦ C,
when paraffin wax is mixed with 0.3 %, 0.6 %, 1.2 % CuO nanoparticles,
Fig. 9. Thermal conductivities of composite PCM with different CuO respectively. The results indicate that for the 1.2 % CuO/paraffin
mass fractions. nanocomposite, the evaporator temperature of the cooling experiment

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Fig. 11. Diagram of the experimental system.

case without PCMs.

Table 4 Fig. 13 presents comparisons of the cooling experiment system
Experimental uncertainties.
evaporator temperature for two fan voltages, and the surface tempera­
Variable Maximum uncertainty ture field of both 1.2 % nano-CuO/paraffin composites and paraffin wax
PCM heat storage ±1.7 % in the adiabatic part. It is found that the cooling experiment system
Heat input (W) ±1.5 % evaporator with the 1.2 % nano-CuO/paraffin composite at 2 V fan
Heat output (W) ±3.1 % voltage shows 13.8 % lower temperature than that for 0 V fan voltage.
Thermocouple measuring temperature ±1 %
The cooling experiment system evaporator with the paraffin wax at 2 V
fan voltage has 11.8 % lower temperature than that at 0 V fan voltage.
Under the influence of the fan and nano-CuO/paraffin composites, the
Table 5 cooling experiment system evaporator temperature can be reduced by
Heating power changes in different periods.
up to 22.0 %. The results show that thermal dissipation of the cooling
Heating periods Power (W) Time (min) experiment system evaporator is improved by using nano-CuO/paraffin
Heating periods 1 15 5 composite and the fan. Based on a comparison of the temperature field of
Heating periods 2 30 5 the adiabatic section using IR, it can be seen that the surface tempera­
Heating periods 3 15 5 ture field for the 1.2 % nano-CuO/paraffin composite shows signifi­
Heating periods 4 30 5
cantly higher values than that for paraffin wax. This tells that the
Heating periods 5 15 5
Heating periods 6 30 5 nanocomposite PCM stores more heat, which is helpful for the heat
Heating periods 7 15 5 dissipation of the evaporator of the experimental system.
Heating periods 8 30 5
Heating periods 9 15 5
5. Conclusions

system is 9.5 % lower than that for the case without PCMs. When the fan In this research, CuO nanoparticles with various mass fractions were
voltage is 2 V, the temperature of the cooling experiment system evap­ mixed into paraffin wax to prepare stable nanocomposite PCMs. More­
orator with 1.2 % CuO/paraffin is reduced by 9.3 % compared to the over, phase change and thermophysical properties of these

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nanocomposite PCMs were analyzed, including phase transition

enthalpy, thermal conductivity, and viscosity. The nanocomposite PCMs
were applied to the heat pipe heat dissipation system, and this paper also
analyzed the heat dissipation of the fin heat pipe system. The main
conclusions are drawn as follows:
After adding the dispersant, the relative absorbance value of CuO/
paraffin composite decreases by 7.1 % compared with the value at the
initial state. By comprehensive analyses of melting and freezing curves
of nanocomposite PCMs, it is concluded that the CuO/paraffin nano­
composite PCMs with the mass fraction of 1.2 % have the largest melting
and freezing rate. By the infrared thermal image analysis, it is intuitively
shown that the addition of nano-CuO to the pure paraffin wax effectively
improved the heat transfer rate.
The CuO/paraffin nanocomposite fluctuates within 1 ◦ C. By DSC
analyses, it is found that the freezing enthalpy and melting enthalpy
decrease with increase of the nanoparticle CuO. The freezing enthalpy
and melting enthalpy of 1.2 % nano-CuO/paraffin are 1.6 % and 1.4 %
lower than those of paraffin wax, respectively. Compared with the pure
paraffin wax, the thermal conductivity of 1.2 % nano-CuO/paraffin
composite increases by 24.9 % at 25 ◦ C, whereas the thermal conduc­
tivity and viscosity of the 1.2 % nano-CuO/paraffin composite PCMs at
70 ◦ C increase by 20.6 % and 10.1 %, respectively.
For the heat pipe cooling system under a variable heating power, the
evaporator temperature decreases by 22.0 % by adding 1.2 % nano-
CuO/paraffin composite under the fan voltage of 2 V compared to that
without PCMs under 0 V fan voltage. The results indicate that applica­
tions of a cooling fan and CuO/paraffin composite PCMs effectively in­
crease the heat dissipation of the finned heat pipe evaporator.

Credit author statement

On behalf of all co-authors, I confirm that all co-authors have

significantly contributed to the work reported in this manuscript.
The main work has been carried out by students at Hebei University
of Technology (HUT), Tianjin under the initiative, leadership and su­
pervision of Professor Jin Wang. Staff members from University of
Zagreb, Croatia have acted as external advisors and cooperated with
HUT. Professor Bengt Sunden is an external supervisor and advisor. He
has long lasting cooperation with Professor Jin Wang. All co-authors
contributed significantly to make this study successful. The writing
Fig. 12. Variation of evaporator temperature of various materials under vari­ and finalizing of the manuscript are joint work.
able power. On behalf of all co-authors, I confirm that there are no other persons
who satisfied the criteria for authorship but are not listed. I further
confirm that the order of authors listed in the manuscript has been
approved by all co-authors.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial

interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgment

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation

of China [grant numbers 51876161, 51576059]; the Project of Innova­
tion Ability Training for Postgraduate Students of Education Department
of Hebei Province [grant number CXZZSS202000X].

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