Contribution to an increased applicability of salt hydrates as PCM

Salt hydrates are attractive as phase change materials (PCM) in thermal energy storages i. a. due to their high volumetric storage capacity. This work has the aim to contribute to an increased applicability of salt hydrates as PCM by addressing application-relevant issues. Amongst others, three novel eutectic PCM based on salt hydrates are developed in the temperature range between 0 and 25 °C using new and improved experimental methods. The conducted investigations underline the importance of using methods that are tailored to specific salt hydrates or groups of salt hydrates for their application-oriented characterisation. Only then the full potential of the investigated salt hydrates as PCM can be assessed.