POTENTIAL USE OF PHASE CHANGE MATERIALS WITH REFERENCE TO THERMAL ENERGY SYSTEMS IN SOUTH AFRICA

The supply of fossil energy source such as coal is becoming less reliable. The CO2 has to be reduced. At the same time energy consumption is increasing in South Africa. One of the solutions is to make use of phase change materials in the thermal systems. Phase change materials absorb and release thermal energy at a constant temperature. In addition, they have high density energy storage. Integrating phase change materials in thermal systems can improve the efficiency and reliability of those systems. Different potential applications of Phase change materials are provided in this paper that can be valuable in the context of South Africa for storing energy and control temperature purpose.