Design and fabrication of cylindrical ceramic crucible as insulator for energy storage systems
No Thumbnail Available
Date
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Description
The ubiquitous demand for thermal energy in domestic and industrial applications,
necessitates the need that heating systems, are effectively insulated, portable and occupy less
space. This research focuses on the design and fabrication of a portable crucible for insulating
a thermal energy storage system operating at high temperature. The insulating properties of the
crucible were also investigated. Two ceramic crucibles, comprising of kaolin, and a mixture of
kaolin and sand, were fabricated using the parameters obtained from simulation. When
subjected to thermal treatment, the crucible comprising of kaolin and sand structurally failed at
75 ℃. However, the crucible comprising of only kaolin remained stable and attained steady
state at a temperature of 200 ℃. The heating and cooling temperature curves of the kaolin
crucibles were plotted and the estimated thermal conductivity of the kaolin crucible was 0.09
W/mK at 200 ℃; this is in good agreement with theoretical values of kaolin which range from
0.03 to 0.3 W/mK. The computed thermal diffusivity is 4.9x10-8 m2/s, which is much lower
when compared with the thermal diffusivity of insulating materials like polystyrene, glass fibre
and rock wool. Thus, the rate at which heat diffuses through the crucible is low, making it
suitable for insulating a thermal energy storage material operating at 800 ℃. The results of this
study will facilitate an efficient way of transporting stored thermal energy in portable
insulating containers.
Keywords
QC Physics, TP Chemical technology