Beyond Zero talks to Zafer Ure of Phase Change Material Products Ltd

Zafer Ure is a refrigeration engineer by training and has leapt up a notch to lead the world on the use of Phase Change Materials (PCM) for Domestic and Industrial applications. His companies' PCMs are usually common salts like Sodium Chloride and Sodium Sulphate which are being used for such applications as Telecommunications repeater sites without active cooling, Solar Hot Water storage tanks with 3-4 times the capacity of the same volume wiith just water and even Breast implants to avoid sweaty problems of the past.  These commercially available now PCMs are able to store heat with a density factor of 5-50 depending on the application (Usually 7-10x but 50x in certain domestic applications.)  Find out more about PCM products by listening to our discussion with Zafer Ure.  More information http://www.pcmproducts.net/

Zafer Ure is President of Phase Change Material (PCM) Products Limited in the United Kingdom.

He first became involved in this industry through studying Mechanical Engineering and specializing in air conditioning and refrigeration. He worked as an industry consultant and then set up his own company in 1996 to develop new products aimed at improving applications and finding energy-saving solutions.

What is PCM?

A phase change material (PCM) is a substance with a high heat of fusion which, melting and solidifying at a certain temperature, is capable of storing and releasing large amounts of energy. Heat is absorbed or released when the material changes from solid to liquid and vice versa; thus, PCMs are classified as latent heat storage (LHS) units. (Wikepedia description).

Water is a simple form of PCM as it changes from liquid to solid. The freezing temperature of water can be altered with the introduction of salts (“bog standard salts”) and this solution can then be used in industrial processes where the release of energy is required.

Zafer referred to two classifications of PCMs.

1.      Organic solutions such as coconut oil and vegetable extract which behave in the same way as ice – storing energy and releasing it back.

2.      Salt solutions – altering the freezing temperature of water by adding different salts thus offering other applications and energy availability.

Terminal Energy Storage

Zafer referred to “terminal energy storage” (or TES) – storing energy to use later or recoverable energy. The main function of TES is to bridge the gap between energy availability and energy use and to reduce waste.

The application of TES enables smaller machines to be used to run over a longer period of time thus creating “tremendous incentives energy-wise and cost-wise”. (For example energy is stored overnight when it is not being used and then it can be utilised more cheaply and environmentally). This technology also has standby capabilities.

PCM applications

PCM’s main application is in building – in heating and cooling. Latent heat storage is the storage of heat from the sun in the daytime. A practical example of this was the Commonwealth Games Village buildings and the MCC Building which used cooling towers’ storage overnight to cool offices during the day.

PCMs seem to have limitless applications such as pharmaceutical products requiring cool storage; electronics industry’s temperature-sensitive parts, storing cool overnight to cool working parts in the daytime; custom made solutions such as space stations and the military (keeping bodies cool). The latest application Zafer is working on is prosthetic material for breasts to replace silicon which is hot and uncomfortable for their users.

Beyond Zero talks to Zafer Ure of Phase Change Materials Ltd

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