ASSOCIATION
RAL Quality Association PCM welcomes new member
The RAL Quality Association PCM voted to approve membership for Passive Edge Tech, bringing total membership to 14. Passive Edge focuses on creating innovative phase change material (PCM) solutions for various industries, including thermal storage, IDC cooling, cold chain, liquid coolant additive, and green building.
Stefan Thomann, managing director of the RAL Quality Association PCM, heralded the newest member of the 20-year-old trade association. “It is a pleasure for me to welcome Passive Edge Tech as our latest member. Their strategy to provide highly efficient and cost-effective solutions for thermal storage and temperature control fits perfectly into our association´s scope. It is great to see our membership growing continuously,” he said.
Passive Edge Tech has research and development centers in China, Singapore, and the United States. The company provides pure PCM (organic, inorganic and compound) at a wide range of temperatures (-80°C to 300 °C) with high performance.
What really sets Passive Edge apart, says Qian Huang, founder and CEO of Passive Edge, are two new technologies: UltraST (all-solid PCM) and Mofpoly technology (nano PCM microcapsule).
The company says that UltraST has high thermal conductivity and can be used on cold chain, heat/cold storage and temperature control on electron devices. Additionally, UltraST promises no leakage and no per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the encapsulation process.
Mofpoly technology creates the application on cooling liquid along with thermal control. The innovation is said to resolve the high cost of traditional PCM microcapsule and application in liquid coolant.
RAL’s high quality standards appealed to Passive Edge Technologies, Huang said. The company now has 12 months to get at least one product certified to meet the association’s high quality standards.
“Passive Edge sought RAL Quality Association PCM membership to be part of a prestigious global community dedicated to advancing PCM technology,” Huang said. “Being a member of the association allows us to collaborate with industry leaders, share knowledge, and ensure that our innovations meet the highest international standards. Our commitment to sustainability, efficiency, and excellence aligns with RAL’s mission to promote the best practices and standards in the PCM industry.”
NEW PRODUCT
Pluss launches ACUSTARE thermal batteries
Pluss Advanced Technologies announced the launch of ACUSTARE thermal batteries, a cold storage solution for pharmaceutical products that saves up to 20% in energy consumption.
Bhuvnesh Kumar, product lead-climate technologies for Pluss, said ACUSTARE was developed to resolve the issue of temperature failures in cold storage warehouses that lead to the loss of high-priced vaccines and medicines. Such failures cost the biopharma industry about $35 billion annually, according to the IQVIA Institute. And that doesn’t take into account the high cost to human health, Kumar said.
“ACUSTARE solutions core technology is based on savE Phase Change Materials (PCM) that works on the thermal inertia effect,” said Vishnu Sasidharan, vice president-climate technologies for Pluss. “The savE PCMs act as thermal shock absorbers, which start absorbing the excess heat during unpredicted high heat loads and release the cold energy to maintain the right temperatures for stored items.”
Joris de Luij, chief commercial officer for Pluss BV, said, “Integration of PCMs in the cold storage is in its nascent stage and until now was not seen as a ‚must have,‘ and this is going to change. The solution offers a unique value proposition for the operators of the cold storage with combined benefit of temperature back insuring the cold storage from any untoward breakdowns and also offers an increase in energy efficiency. Designed to work for more than 10 years, savE PCMs are also made to last.
“In addition to this, the retrofit-ability of this product in the existing cold warehouses makes this product versatile to use.” With a thickness of only 3 centimeters, ACUSTARE can be mounted on walls, ceilings, or in shelves, he added.
Some cold storage rooms do not have an auxiliary backup system for refrigeration, which can spoil valuable vaccines and medicines. Other cold storage rooms use diesel generators to maintain a constant temperature during power outages, refrigeration system breakdowns or peak heat load durations.
ACUSTARE was designed to be a reliable, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuel-based generators in cold storage rooms. The new thermal battery offers reliable backup in temperatures from -20°C to +8°C for up to 48 hours.
PCMs reduce the total run time and improve the operational performance of the compressor, resulting in increased energy efficiency and overall cost savings.
ACUSTARE is a collaboration between Pluss and MSI, France to design, develop and execute the complete solution.
IN BRIEF
• PCM researcher Harald Mehling has written a „Review of Classification of PCMs, with a Focus on the Search for New, Suitable PCM Candidates“ to provide a systematic analysis of PCM classification that addresses the growing number of PCMs and new, suitable PCM candidates. Mehling said his goal was “to provide a consistent classification based on the chemical composition of PCM. The classification is specifically detailed with regard to mixtures, with examples based on a brief literature review.” The classification also correlates with specific R&D topics such as sources and chemical modification for pure substances and optimization by way of new compositions and additives. “The paper also shows that issues like nucleation, hysteresis, etc., become more and more diverse with a growing number of PCM,” he said.
• The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a five-year investment of $104 million, with a potential 10-year investment of up to $208 million, in four new Engineering Research Centers (ERCs). The foundation said: „The Environmentally Applied Refrigerant Technology Hub (EARTH) Engineering Research Center (ERC) will bring together talent in engineering (chemical, environmental, mechanical, and materials), architecture, business, chemistry, economics, geography, history, law, psychology, and entrepreneurship in one Innovation Ecosystem to co-create convergent technical and societal solutions with industry partners, colleges, professional organizations, regulators, and end users.“ The other three ERCs will tackle the carbon challenge, expand physical capabilities and enable the U.S. supply and manufacturing of natural rubber.
• Envirotainer says its integration with va-Q-tec is complete, which should result in market releases of new solutions for transportation of pharmaceuticals in 2025. Envirotainer’s cold chain solutions for shipment of temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals is now fully combined with va-Q-tec’s advanced passive temperature-controlled supply chain solutions. “By combining the best of active and passive technologies, we’re better equipped to meet the evolving needs of the pharmaceutical industry. … This is the beginning of a new era for us, one where we can make an even greater impact on global health,” said David Simonsson, CEO of Envirotainer.
• Kashif Nawaz, section head for building technologies research at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), has been named a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in recognition of his outstanding engineering achievements. Nawaz, who joined ORNL in 2016, specializes in the heating, cooling and dehumidification systems of buildings, including the development of novel heat exchangers and enhanced phase change material (PCM) processes. He has pioneered the development of next-generation heat exchangers made from metals, ceramics and polymer composites for a range of energy applications.
• Researchers at the University of Nottingham in England said they have developed a heat pump system that uses water or ice as the heat source and gas pipelines for energy transfer. “This process takes advantage of the high enthalpy of phase change, allowing significant energy absorption with minimal mass or volume,” they told pv magazine. “This heat pump concept is effective with water as the heat source due to water’s high latent heat of fusion, enabling substantial energy absorption with low mass.” They said the system is an ideal solution for rainy countries like the United Kingdom.
• Sunamp is featured in Tech Crunch, which traces the company’s origins to the chance reading of an article about climate change nearly 20 years ago. The article outlines how Sunamp founders Andrew Bissell and Susan Lang-Bissell developed a thermal battery that stores and uses solar power by using a compound commonly used to flavor salt-and-vinegar potato chips: sodium acetate trihydrate (SAT).
PATENTS
Heating and cooling system using mechanical transfer of encapsulated phase change materials
U.S. patent application 20240302109 (Trigo Energies, Inc., Trois-Rivières, Canada):
„A heat transfer system comprises a solid-liquid phase change material (PCM) encapsulated in a plurality of capsules movable through a closed loop circuit by a tranfer mechanism.“
U.S. patent application 12055303 (Boca International Limited, Kowloon, Hong Kong):
„A high-efficient central chiller plant system with variable load by phase change material thermal energy storage includes a refrigeration unit and a phase change thermal energy storage. The refrigeration unit operates under the highest COP. If the refrigerating output is higher than the demand of cooling load, the phase change thermal energy storage stores energy by the phase change. Contrarily, if the refrigerating output cannot meet the demand of cooling load, the phase change thermal energy storage releases energy to supply the insufficient cooling load of the refrigeration unit.“
Polyurethane foams comprising phase change materials
U.S. patent application 20240262950 (Auckland Uniservices Limited, Auckland, New Zealand):
„The present invention relates to composites comprising a polyurethane foam and a phase change material, methods for its preparation and uses thereof. More specifically, the invention relates to stable rigid composites comprising a polyurethane foam and a phase change material, wherein the phase change material is present in the composite at a high concentration.“
More U.S. patent applications:
Thermal retention apparatus for heating a liquid on demand (Phasestor, LLC, Asheboro, North Carolina) | Heat supply system coupling passive phase change energy storage sunlight room and air source heat pump (Tianjin University, Tianjin, China) | Phase change materials (Petroliam Nasional Berhad, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) | Crockery comprising microwave-activatable phase-change material (Promeco, NV, Kortrijk, Belgium) | Passive thermally controlled condition-in-place shipping container (Peli Biothermal, LLC, Maple Grove, Minnesota) | High-performing liquid-cooled apparel (Oceanit Laboratories, Inc., Honolulu, Hawaii) | Heat dissipation devices (Thero New Material Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen, China)
RESEARCH ROUNDUP
From Applied Thermal Engineering:
• CRYOMOVE: Cold chain real-time management of vaccine delivery using PCM and deep learning
From Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects:
From Journal of Energy Storage:
• Heat transfer efficiency of thermoelastic shaped phase change materials enhanced by pressure
• Cold energy storage enhancement and phase transition temperature regulation
From Energy and Buildings:
• Thermal and energy performance assessment of naturally ventilated roofs with phase change material
From Renewable Energy:
From Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells:
• Flame-retardant shape-stabilized phase change composites with superior solar-to-thermal conversion
From International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer:
From Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews:
• Anaerobic biodigesters heating sources: Analysis and recommendations
• Integrated heat pump with phase change materials for space heating
From International Journal of Refrigeration:
From Case Studies in Thermal Engineering:
From Journal of Cleaner Production:
From Applied Surface Science:
From Applied Energy:
From Energy:
From Materials Today Communications:
NETWORKING
Connect with PCM experts and industry leaders on LinkedIn
More than 1,800 people have joined a LinkedIn group devoted to the discussion of phase change material and thermal energy storage. You are invited to join the Phase Change Matters group and connect with PCM and TES experts from around the world.
This issue we welcome Paul El Kati, packaging engineer R&D cold chain for Ranpak, Eygelshoven, the Netherlands; Tom Porter, commercial director at Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd., Consett, United Kingdom; Ahmed Salah Jamal, cementitious materials researcher, Erbil, Iraq; Gaia Varriano, student at Polytechnic of Turin, Angrogna, Italy; Jash Jain, marketing manager at Fasteners and Fixtures, LLP, Mumbai, India; Stephen Mieske, regional account manager at CSL Seqirus, Detroit, Michigan; and Kassahun Tadesse, lecturer at Hawassa University Institute of Technology, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
NEWS TIPS
Does your company, agency or university have a job opening, new research, new product or other news you’d like to share? I would love to hear from you. Please contact newsletter editor Amy Phillips at phasechangematters@gmail.com.
A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR
This newsletter is made possible through the generous support of the RAL Quality Association PCM and the members listed below. To learn more about the association, including membership benefits, please contact Stefan Thomann, executive director, at pcm@kellencompany.com.
Axiotherm GmbH | B Medical Systems | Croda International Plc. | ISU Chemical Co. Ltd. | RuhrTech | Microtek Laboratories | PCM Technology | PLUSS Advanced Technologies | PureTemp LLC | Rubitherm Technologies GmbH | Sasol Germany GmbH | S.Lab Asia Inc. | Sunamp Ltd. | va-Q-tec AG