Design and functionality of a segmented heat-storage prototype utilizing stable supercooling of sodium acetate trihydrate in a solar heating system

A solar heating system with 22.4 m² of solar collectors, a heat storage prototype consisting of four 200 kg phase-change material (PCM) storage units, and a 735 L water tank was designed to improve solar heat supply in single-family houses. The PCM storage utilized stable supercooling of sodium acetate trihydrate composites to conserve the latent heat of fusion for long-term heat storage. A control strategy directed heat from a solar collector array to either the PCM storage or a water buffer storage. Several PCM units had to be charged in parallel when the solar collector output peaked at 16 kW. A single unit was charged with 27.4 kWh of heat within four hours on a sunny day, and the PCM temperature increased from 20 °C to 80 °C. The sensible heat from a single PCM unit was transferred to the water tank starting with about 32 kW of thermal power after it had fully melted at 80 °C. A mechanical seed crystal injection device was used to initialize the crystallisation of the sodium acetate trihydrate after it had supercooled to room temperature. The unit discharge during solidification peaked at 8 kW. Reliable supercooling was achieved in three of the four units. About 80% of latent heat of fusion was transferred from PCM units after solidification of supercooled sodium acetate trihydrate to the water tank within 5 h. Functionality tests with practical operation conditions on the novel, modular heat-storage configuration showed its applicability for domestic hot water supply and space heating.