Phase Change Matters

• The Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability in Darmstadt, Germany, has developed a traction battery that can use thermal energy as a heat source in electric vehicles. A new type of fiber-reinforced composite sandwich housing protects the battery from temperature fluctuations. The phase change material composite system is designed to precondition the battery at low outside temperatures and reduce heat generation during rapid charging. The system was developed as part of the European Union's Optimized Energy Management and Use project. "We've developed material, structural and process technologies that can guarantee drivers a more reliable and uniform range for their battery-powered vehicles," said Felix Weidmann, project manager at Fraunhofer LBF.

• Airec AB of Sweden has joined the EU Horizon 2020 project SWS-Heating. The project's goal is to develop seasonal thermal storage of solar energy. The energy will be stored in phase change materials. Airec will develop heat exchangers for the project. 

• A process for extracting a biodegradable polymer from crustaceans is among the winners of this year's Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. The awards were formerly known as the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. The American Chemical Society’s Green Chemistry Institute has collaborated with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to manage the awards since their inception in 1995. The EPA dropped out this year, citing long-term certainty about the program’s financial situation.  

• Ember Technologies' temperature-control mugs are now available in Apple stores and on apple.com. The travel version right, uses phase change material to bring hot beverages down to a drinkable temperature. Earlier this year, Nordstrom began selling the mugs online and in Nordstrom popup stores.

• Capstone Turbine Corp. and Argonne National Laboratory have received funding from U.S. Department of Energy to refine Argonne’s high-efficiency, fast-charging and fast-discharging thermal energy storage system for use in combined heat and power systems. The system, originally developed for use in concentrated solar power applications, will use phase change material to capture waste heat from industrial manufacturing processes. The goal is to integrate Argonne's technology into a Capstone C200 CHP system.

• New from Persistence Market Research: "Global Market Study on Salt Hydrate: Pharmaceutical Industry to Remain Dominant Consumer Through 2026"

• New from QY Research: "Global Thermal Energy Storage Market Size, Status And Forecast 2025"

• New from Maia Research: "Inorganic PCMs Market Analysis, Market Size, Application, Analysis, Regional Outlook, Competitive Strategies And Forecasts, 2018 -2025"

• At the World Energy Engineering Congress in Charlotte, N.C., this week, Mark Richards of Phase Change Energy Solutions reports that the company demonstrated "a mini PhaseStor tank in action with 1/2 ton chiller and small heater (system hand made by Scott Queen) to charge and discharge the tank and includes on board DAQ system to show tank thermal performance." Richards presented at a panel discussion Friday, "Justifying HVAC Energy Savings in Buildings Using Phase Change Materials - A Debate with a Skeptical Engineer." Also presenting were Guy Frankenfield, energy division manager at DN Tanks Inc. ("Thermal Energy Storage - Uncovering the Value of Ice and Chilled Water TES Systems") and Ice Energy CEO Mike Hopkins ("Thermal Energy Storage in Package Units? Yes, it is Here").

The Ice Cub, Ice Energy's hybrid air-conditioning and thermal energy storage system, is now available for purchase by California homeowners and homebuilders.

The solar PV-compatible unit replaces a conventional 5-ton outdoor condensing unit and is designed to work seamlessly with home HVAC systems. The Ice Cub functions like a typical condensing unit, but it also makes ice to store up to four hours' worth of cooling.

"For homes with solar PV," Ice Energy says, "a full tank of ice can be made and stored during the day, using what would otherwise be surplus solar generation."

The Ice Cub retails for $15,000. But Ice Energy says two government incentives potentially reduce the cost of purchase and installation to below that of a conventional air conditioning system. The Ice Cub qualifies for California’s Self-Generation Incentive Program rebate and, for homes with solar PV, the federal Solar Investment Tax Credit. Ice Energy says the payback period for an Ice Cub installed in a California home with solar PV is less than one year.

The company, based in Southern California, says it is in the early stages of recruiting regional project partners such as homebuilders and HVAC installers.

“Conventional AC units in California have become increasingly expensive to operate as the state’s new time-of-use rates take effect,” said Joseph Draper, executive chairman of Ice Energy. “The Ice Cub, by contrast, reduces consumption of expensive electricity and can save homeowners as much as $1,500 a year on their utility bill. The smart, energy-efficient Ice Cub is a true consumer product with real potential to render conventional home AC units obsolete. We are very excited to make it available for immediate delivery to homeowners and builders here in California.”

• Viking Cold Solutions of Houston, Texas, has reached a deal to install its PCM-based thermal energy storage system in one of Red de Frios' frozen food warehouses in Monterrey, Mexico. Viking systems are designed to reduce energy costs by shifting peak demand to nighttime hours.

• The German Aerospace Center, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the University of Stuttgart have signed an agreement to build a research facility in Germany to develop an efficient, cost-effective and "virtually loss-less" heat-based electrical storage technology. At this week's signing ceremony in Stuttgart, Stanford University Professor Robert B. Laughlin, right, 1998 Nobel Laureate in Physics, explained why he thinks heat storage will play a key role in the energy landscape of the future.

• The Conductive Plastics conference in Vienna Nov. 6-7 will include sessions on "Challenging the boundaries in thermally conductive and electrically conductive polyamides," "Boron nitride filler materials for high-performance thermal management applications," "Mineral flame retardants and metal oxides as thermally conductive fillers," "Investigating the effect of material molecular orientation on thermal conductivity of polymeric products" and "Thermally conductive materials based on synthetic rubber."

• In a LinkedIn post, Pluss Advanced Technologies of India announced it has reached a deal with Ferro-Plast Srl of Italy to distribute Pluss products in Europe.

• New from MarketResearch.biz: "Global Advanced Phase Change Material (PCM) Market Trends, Applications, Analysis, Growth, And Forecast: 2018 To 2027"

• New from Invant Research: "Global Advanced Phase Change Material (PCM) Market Study 2015-2025"

• New from Future Market Insights: "Salt Hydrate Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012 - 2016 and Opportunity Assessment; 2017 - 2027"

• New from Polaris Market Research: "Fatty Acid Esters Market, [By Product Type (Glycerol Monostearate, Medium Chain Trigylcerides, Isopropyl Esters (Myrsitate & Palmitate) and Others); By Application (Lubricants, Pharmaceuticals, Personal care & Cosmetics, Surfactants and Others); By Regions]: Market size & Forecast, 2018 – 2026"

• Peli BioThermal has opened service centers in Basel and Berlin to support the company's line of Credo reusable temperature-control shippers.

• Nominations are being accepted for Metrohm USA's Young Chemist Award 2019. Entrants submit an abstract of their research for a chance to win a $10,000 cash prize and an all-expenses-paid trip to PITTCON 2019. The contest is limited to undergrad, grad, post-grad and doctoral students in the United States and Canada. Entrants must demonstrate novel research or a novel methodology using titration, ion chromatography, electrochemistry and/or spectroscopy. Applications are due by Dec. 31, 2018.

• Sonoco ThermoSafe, a global provider of temperature assurance packaging in the life sciences sector, has an opening for a sales director, responsible for sales growth in North America.

• Sonoco ThermoSafe has posted the agenda for the next Leading Minds Seminar, to be held Nov. 6-7 in London. Co-hosted by ELPRO, the seminar is a chance for pharmaceutical manufacturers, supply chain partners and government representatives to discuss temperature-assurance packaging and data monitoring in a collaborative environment.

• ASHRAE Learning Institute will offer 20 courses during the 2019 ASHRAE Winter Conference and AHR Expo. The conference will be held in Atlanta Jan. 12-16. Courses include "Advanced Designs for Net Zero Buildings," "Thermal Energy Storage Systems for Air Conditioning" and "Solar PV and Thermal System Analysis and Design."

U.S. patent application 20180289531 (applicant Relief Technologies Inc., San Francisco, Calif.):

"A cooling device includes a package substrate, a plurality of cooling units, and device electronics. The plurality of cooling units are configured to cool a user's body. Each cooling unit includes a plurality of semiconductor cooling elements sandwiched between a first cooling unit substrate and a second cooling unit substrate. Each of the cooling units is connected to the package substrate. The device electronics are coupled to the cooling units. The device electronics are configured to store a first cooling device profile that includes data indicating an amount of power to deliver to each of the cooling units over a period of time. The device electronics are configured to deliver power to the cooling units according to the first cooling device profile, wirelessly receive a second cooling device profile from an external computing device, and deliver power to the cooling units according to the second cooling device profile."

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20180289531.pdf

U.S. patent application 20180291798 (applicant Hutchinson SA, Paris, France):

"A temperature management system on a vehicle cooling circuit using a heat transfer liquid, the circuit comprising a path for circulating the liquid and, arranged on the path: in series, a means for circulating the liquid along the path, an engine for moving the vehicle, whose components are to be placed in a heat exchange relationship with the liquid, and a heat exchanger having an inlet and an outlet for said liquid in order to place this liquid in a heat exchange relationship with another fluid within the exchanger, mounted on a first leg, between the inlet and the outlet of the heat exchanger, a heat store into which said liquid can enter and from which it can exit, and valves positioned so that liquid arriving from the engine flows toward the heat exchanger and/or the heat store, the heat store being a latent heat storage and thermal energy release unit containing at least one volume: enclosing elements made of phase change material (PCM) for storing and releasing the thermal energy contained in said liquid in view of a heat exchange with this liquid (9), and around which is installed a thermal barrier comprising at least one first layer containing a phase change material and which is surrounded by one second layer containing a porous thermally insulating material to thermally isolate said volume from the outside."

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20180291798.pdf

U.S. patent application 20180291166 (applicant Qatar University, Doha, Qatar):

"A method of manufacturing an article or material, the method comprising: forming a blend composition, the blend composition comprising a polyolefin, a phase change material, and an optional cross-linking agent, and an optional additive material; executing an operation comprising cross-linking the polyolefin to form a cross-linked intermediate composition; executing an operation comprising foaming the cross-linked intermediate composition to form a foamed article or material."

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20180291166.pdf

U.S. patent application 20180290946 (applicant REG Synthetic Fuels LLC, Ames, Iowa):

"Paraffin compositions including mainly even carbon number paraffins, and a method for manufacturing the same, is disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the method involves contacting naturally occurring fatty acid/glycerides with hydrogen in a slurry bubble column reactor containing bimetallic catalysts with equivalent particle diameters from about 10 to about 400 micron. The even carbon number compositions are particularly useful as phase change material."

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20180290946.pdf

U.S. patent application 20180290044 (applicant Boe Technology Group Co. Ltd., Beijing, China):

"Protective gears and operating control methods thereof are provided. The protective gear includes at least one impact-resistant pad, containing a phase-change material and capable of at least partially wrapping a protected area; a phase-change controller, including a heating device and a cooling device configured to control the phase-change material; and a control circuit, configured to send a signal to the phase-change controller to control the phase-change material to be in a solid phase state after detecting a fall-down of the protected area, and send another signal to the phase-change controller to control the phase-change material to be in a liquid phase state after detecting an un-fall-down of the protected area."

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20180290044.pdf