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Marxer Haus uses PCMs for heating & cooling

Comfort cooling, Overheating, Thermal storageBy Ian Biggin 13th February 2018 Leave a comment

Image courtesy of Roland Korner, Filmfabrik, Woessner The new apartment building in Vaduz, Liechtenstein has been designed as an active energy building. Details of the project can be found at http://www.architectour.net/opere/opera.php?id_opera=6869&nome_opera=Marxer%20Haus&architetto=Falkeis%C2%B2architects&language=1 and http://www.puretemp.com/pcmatters/inspired-by-nature-marxer-haus-takes-wing-in-liechtenstein. As well as many other sustainable features, the apartment block utilises movable “wings”. These climate wings contain 1.4 tonnes of Rubitherm PCMs enclosed in aluminium tubes. …

MIT find a new way to store and release thermal energy

Thermal storageBy Ian Biggin 17th November 2017 Leave a comment

(Image and text courtesy of MIT) Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found a way to prevent wax-based PCMs from releasing their stored heat until triggered by light. MIT’s Professor Jeffrey Grossman stated that “the trouble with thermal energy is, it’s hard to hold onto it,” So his team developed what are essentially…

VDI Standard – PCM energy storage systems in building services

Performance assessmentBy Ian Biggin 10th September 2017 Leave a comment

For those who missed the launch of this German engineering standard at the end of last year it’s certainly worth checking out VDI 2164. This 70 page document is half in German and half in English and covers the use of PCMs in construction applications in great detail. A three page abstract (including the index)…

Chicago startup’s thermal battery is ‘adaptive’ solution to spikes in electricity demand

air conditioning, Comfort cooling, OverheatingBy Ian Biggin 24th March 2017 Leave a comment

On very hot days, the power grids in the USA are under considerable strain to maintain power to all the country’s air conditioners. A new start-up in Chicago, NETenergy, works on the premise “why store electricity to generate cold air when you could store cold instead” (see http://midwestenergynews.com/2017/03/22/chicago-startups-thermal-battery-is-adaptive-solution-to-spikes-in-electricity-demand/). A chemical engineering professor at the University of…

Bio-PCM development in Thailand

UncategorisedBy Ian Biggin 13th March 2017 Leave a comment

After laying down good foundations for the company’s three core businesses – oil refining, marketing, and electricity generating – Bangchak Petroleum’s CEO Chaiwat Kovavisarach said he had now moved to concentrate on incubating the fourth and fifth growth engines for the group, namely bio-products and resources. The group is also delegating more money and resources…

NASA Phase Change Material Heat Exchanger

Comfort cooling, OverheatingBy Ian Biggin 21st February 2017 Leave a comment

Image courtesy of NASA NASA has developed a phase change material heat exchanger — PCM HX for short — which stores energy by thawing a wax-based phase change material using hot coolant. That energy is later rejected by the spacecraft’s radiator, which then refreezes the wax and prepares it for the next heat load. This new type…