Thermal and Mechanical Characteristics of a Multifunctional Thermal Energy Storage Structure

Thermal energy storage (TES) sandwich-structures that combine the heat storage function with structural functionality are described. The structure consists of a thermal interface (TI) connected to a hollow plate lamination. Each laminate is a hollow aluminum plate having a series of mm-scale channels or compartments that are filled with phase change material (PCM). Heat storage is via the latent heat of the PCM. A generalized thermal response model that is applicable to a wide range of channel geometrical configurations is described. The model couples the thermal response of the TI to the hollow aluminum plate/PCM-volume. The temporal response of the system is easily obtained via numerical solution of two ordinary differential equations, which can be solved to give closed-form solutions subject to a simple assumption. Thermal analysis delineates geometrical configurations that have good thermal response characteristics. The mechanical properties of the laminated structure are determined experimentally. Four-point bending experiments are conducted using specimens made with three layers of hollow plates laminated using a structural adhesive. An energy method is developed to model both the deformation and strength of the laminated structure. The energy method is developed based on the assumption that plane cross sections of the structure remain plane under bending, a condition that is valid for both linear and nonlinear materials. The energy method can provide deformation of the aluminum laminates comparable with the experiments. Experiments and modeling indicate that these laminated structures have an excellent performance-to-weight ratio.