Thermophysical Characteristics of VCO-Soybean Oil Mixture as Phase Change Material (PCM) using T-History Method

Phase change material (PCM) is widely used as thermal storage in various fields. Various successes of implementing PCM have been proven. The use of PCM in some systems can reduce electricity consumption. Energy storage utilizes latent heat of material that is larger than sensible heat. In order for a material to be used as thermal storage, it is necessary to know the thermophysical characteristics of the PCM material. A general method for knowing thermophysical characteristics by using Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC). The use of DSC has limitations such as the sample used is too little so that the characteristics of the material produced will be very different compared to using the bulk material. The T-history method has the advantage of using large samples and can be done easily. In this study, the T-history method was used to determine the thermophysical characteristics of the material. PCM used is a mixture of Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) - soybean oil for the application of thermal storage in air conditioners. The mixture of VCO-soybean oil used is 5% and 20% soybean oil in VCO.