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Publications (43)
Xylitol shares the good thermophysical properties of other sugar alcohols that are candidates for thermal storage purposes, with one singularity: it shows noticeable supercooling coupled with a low crystallization rate. This makes it a suitable material for long-term heat storage applications based on supercooled PCMs, but its thermal endurance for...
The eutectic mixture formed by urea and sodium nitrate can be an interesting candidate for use as a phase change material for thermal energy storage in space heating and domestic hot water applications. It shows a melting point of 85 °C, a melting enthalpy of 172 J/g and a price around 0.9 €/kg. However, the thermal stability of the mixture is a gr...
Thermal energy storage is a key technology to overcome the structural mismatch between energy supply and demand in thermal energy systems. Its use is essential for a proper integration of renewable or efficient technologies in day-to-day applications, such as heating and domestic hot water. Latent heat thermal energy storage, which is based on the...
One of the key factors that currently limits the commercial deployment of thermal energy storage (TES) systems is their complex design procedure, especially in the case of latent heat TES systems. Design procedures should address both the specificities of the TES system under consideration and those of the application to be integrated within. This...
Thermal energy storage (TES) is an efficient solution for improving the dispatchability of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants. A system, consisting of two tanks with Solar Salt (NaNO3 60% wt. and KNO3 40% wt.) is commonly used. However, the investment cost of this technology is very high, due to the huge amount of salts required (thousands of to...
Recently, a number of theoretical and experimental studies have been performed to understand the effect of nanoparticles on thermal properties and heat transfer performance but there is a lack regarding their corrosion properties. In this work, an extended corrosion characterization (at central tower plant storage temperature (565 °C)) has been car...
Summer school 2018. Energy Storage in Smart Cities, 18-20 July 2018, Jaca (Spain)
Solar Salt-based nanofluids have attracted significant scientific interest in recent years due to their improved thermal properties, making them strong candidates as thermal energy storage materials and/or heat transfer fluids in CSP plants. There have been reports on increased specific heat due to the addition of nanoparticles, however, there is a...
One of the key factors that currently limit the commercial deployment of latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) systems is their complex design procedure. The optimization of such kind of systems requires a compromise between the storage capacity and the charging/discharging power, and therefore, there is a need of modeling tools that allow the...
Thermal Energy Storage (TES) and its associated dispatchability is extremely important in Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants since it represents the main advantage of CSP technology in relation to other renewable energy sources like photovoltaic(PV).Molten salts are used in CSP plants as a TES material because of their high operational temperatu...
The study of more efficient materials for thermal energy storage at high temperatures is a broad field of research. The use of the nanotechnology is a strategy recently considered to enhance the thermal properties of these materials. The nano-enhanced Molten Salts(neMS) are constituted by an inorganic salt where tiny quantities of nanoparticles (NP...
Magnesium alloys have become promising materials in the medical field, particularly in tissue engineering applications. To solve the lack of durability, the production of calcium phosphate coatings onto the magnesium alloys is under research worldwide. Specifically, the electrodeposition processes using the magnesium alloy as electrode material, ar...
A novel material has been developed for thermal energy storage at high temperatures (>300 °C) with enhanced thermal transport and storage properties. It is considered more efficient than the current molten salts used in the concentrated solar power plants. It is composed of an inorganic salt doped with a small percentage of nanoparticles (NPs), whi...
The present article studies the binary mixture comprised by erythritol and urea for its application as a phase change material (PCM) in latent hat thermal energy storage systems for heating and domestic hot water applications. A sequential methodology was employed to evaluate the suitability of the mixture as a PCM. First, a preliminary evaluation...
The use of nanofluids (NFs) based on Solar Salt (SS) and nanoparticles (NPs), either as Thermal Energy Storage (TES) material or as Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF), is attracting great interest in recent years. Many authors [1,3] have reported important improvements on the thermophysical properties (specific heat capacity cp,thermal conductivity k) of NF...
Articles you may be interested in The influence of mixing water on the thermophysical properties of nanofluids based on solar salt and silica nanoparticles AIP Conf. Proc. 1734, 050031 (2016); 10.1063/1.4949129 Preparation and characterization of ambazone salt with nicotinic acid AIP Conf.
This research studies a binary mixture composed of sodium nitrate and urea for use as a phase change material in latent thermal energy storage systems between 75 and 90 °C. This range of temperatures is suitable for heating and domestic hot water applications, such as solar thermal systems and cogeneration devices. The work is divided into two part...
This research studies a binary mixture composed of sodium nitrate and urea for use as a phase change material in latent thermal energy storage systems between 75 and 90. °C. This temperature is suitable for heating and domestic hot water applications, such as solar thermal systems and cogeneration devices. This work is divided into two parts. In Pa...
Articles you may be interested in Preparation of nanofluids based on solar salt and boehmite nanoparticles: Characterization of starting materials AIP Conf. Proc. 1734, 050030 (2016); 10.1063/1.4949128 Investigating the effect of suspensions nanostructure on the thermophysical properties of nanofluids A study on stability and thermophysical propert...
Nanostructured materials have attracted great interest in recent years because of the
unusual and exceptional properties showed by them due to the presence of additives at the nanometric
scale. Among other properties, the thermal transfer rate is greatly improved compared to the base material
which means the key to push forward the current technolo...
A great concern in Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) is to boost energy harvesting systems, by finding materials with enhanced thermal performance. Phase Change Materials (PCM) have emerged as a promising option, due to their high thermal storage density compared to sensible storage materials currently used in CSP. A thermal storage system for solar p...
In order to reduce the required volume for thermal energy storage, a finned plate latent heat thermal energy storage system for domestic applications is presented in this paper. This innovative design allows the exchanging of energy between water and the RT60, used as the phase change material. The simulation of that system is covered by a validate...
In order to evaluate the accuracy and performance of two different heat transfer models for PCM containing systems, a thermal testing has been performed in a conductivimeter. A mixture of PCM and gypsum was submitted to a cyclic surface temperature change inside the conductivimeter, measuring heat fluxes and temperatures. The results of this test w...
The present article evaluates the influence of the experimental conditions in the determination of the subcooling of sodium sulfate decahydrate (Glauber's salt) nucleated with anhydrous and hydrated sodium tetraborate (borax). Experiments have been carried out by means of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and by two other custom experimental...
The fracture and fatigue behaviour of prototype automotive pistons produced in an aluminium alloy matrix composite in industrial
conditions has been studied. Fracture toughness increased when the testing temperature rose from 20° to 75°C and kept near
constant up to 250°C, when a significantly lower value was recorded. A change in the failure opera...
This article presents the results of a study about the corrosion behaviour of four aluminium alloys (EN AW 2024, 3003, 6063, and 1050) in contact with a commercial thermal storage material based in the Glauber’s salt (Na2SO4·10 H2O). Results indicate that the Al 2024 alloy is not compatible with this material due to the extense formation of NaAlCO3...
The wear behaviour of a composite material consisting in AS12UNG alloy reinforced with 15% short fibres of alumina has been studied. The material composition and the wear test conditions were defined in order to evaluate the potential performance of automotive pistons produced with such composite composition. As initially expected, the results indi...
This paper analyses the wear behaviour of four materials. The first one is a composite constituted by an aluminium AS12UNG alloy matrix reinforced by 15% of alumina fibres. The second one is a commercial aluminium alloy matrix composite with 15% of particles of alumina. Third one is a hypereuthectic aluminium - silicon alloy and the four one a grey...
In the present article, the reactions and phase transformations occurring between the fibers and the matrix during the T6
thermal treatment of an industrial composite are analyzed. The composite (taken from prototype diesel piston heads) consisted
of an aluminum alloy conforming to AFNOR AS12UNG (Al-12 pct Si-1 pct Mg-1 pct Cu-1 pct Ni) that was re...
Wear and friction behavior of CuSn12 bronze and CuSn12 bronze/graphite-alumina composites have been investigated. The CuSn12 composite shows excellent wear resistance and a lower coefficient of friction with respect to its matrix alloy. The tribological properties of the composite are mainly attributed to the thin layer of graphite at the surface o...
The present work deals with the mechanical behaviour of a commercial AS9U3/SiCp composite formed by sand and permanent mold casting. The corresponding unreinforced matrix was also formed in the same conditions. As cast and heat treated (T6) tensile test specimens were machined and tested at room and 300 degrees temperatures. The results showed a fi...
The present paper deals with the problems found in the determination of peak hardness ageing conditions by means of Vickers microhardness measurement, in a Squeeze Cast Al-12Si-1Cu-1Mg-1Ni alloy partially reinforced with 15% δ-Alumina short fibre. Vickers measurement demonstrated to be not representative from the ageing process due to the large per...
Metal matrix composites are presently being introduced in various industrial applications; specifically δ-alumina short-fibre-reinforced
aluminium composites are already employed by some Japanese companies for the production of car pistons. Many studies on the
fundamental properties of these composites can be found in the literature. However, in sp...
This paper analyses the wear behaviour of a composite constituted by an aluminium AS12UNG alloy matrix reinforced by 15% of alumina fibres. Ball on disc tests were carried out, using both reciprocating and circular movements. The influence of temperature in the range between 20 and 300º C, applied load and testing speed. A significant increase in t...
Analysis of the Solidification and Properties of Plaster Cast Al Based Composites
The present work deals with aspects related to the solidification and properties of an Al-Si10Mg/SiC 20 p alloy cast in plaster moulds. Several strategies were followed to shorten its solidification time such as embedding copper tubes into the mould to make circulate...