More people and more buildings means more thermal energy is needed to keep everyone warm and toasty in the winter. One way to provide thermal energy is to use low-cost solar power and heat pumps . This is about three times more efficient than using conventional resistive electric heating and can save a lot of money. This works if you are attached to the grid or if you use electric batteries. Although electric battery prices have been coming down this is still costly. Thus, with the increasing demand for thermal energy there is a need for reliable and efficient thermal energy storage solutions. Phase-change material-based thermal energy storage systems offer high-density heat retention, but the proprietary commercial systems available are all expensive – almost as expensive as electric batteries. Even laboratory-scale setups often rely on expensive hardware, limiting customization for iterative experimental testing and validation. These are exactly the experiments needed to drop the costs down to make thermal batteries an economic winner. Fortunately, a new study presents the design, fabrication, and validation of a cost-efficient, customizable, open-source phase-change material-based thermal energy storage unit .

How You Can Use 3D Printing To Make Thermal Batteries

The thermal battery system used in the study is based on parametric modeling and fused filament fabrication 3D printing . This is the same kind of 3D printing you can use to make toys for <10% for your kids for Christmas . So it really is accessible to everyone. After developing the parametric 3D model, the scientists customized and fabricated it to validate the approach through thermal, numerical, and economic analyses. The parametric model enables rapid iterative customization using low-cost 3D printers, commercially available materials, and off-the-shelf components. All thermal battery experts can now try different designs at a tiny fraction of the costs of older methods.

Results of the 3D Printing To Make Thermal Batterie s

The scientists experimented with the news system and demonstrated the ability of the module to maintain leak-free operation during hydrostatic leakage tests and repeated thermal cycles, using circular finned tubes as heat transfer elements and n-octadecane as the storage material. This is important because although thermal batteries can last more or less forever once they get started the experimental rigs that scientists use are not fully sealed and often leak.

They also found that increasing the heat transfer fluid flow rate enhanced heat transfer performance and reduced melting and solidification times by approximately a third and thermal imaging confirmed uniform temperature propagation within the cavity. A calibrated numerical model reproduced melting and solidification behavior with a small prediction error.

The complete prototype costs less than $650, with 3D-printed parts below 4% of the total. The results demonstrate an accessible approach to experimental research on phase-change material-based thermal energy storage, addressing the need for affordable, customizable setups for sustainable and renewable energy applications. This is open hardware so anyone can use it. Now we need more scientists to start to use it so that the cost of thermal batteries can drop the same way that electric battery costs have plummeted so we can all benefit from this new technology.