Research Projects

The proposal aims to produce a bio-based phase change material (PCM) roofing system to provide thermal comfort and store the thermal energy in the form of electric current. At the moment, three basic types of energy storage systems are being used: sensible heating systems, phase-changing materials, and thermomechanical materials. The phase-changing material absorbs (or releases) a huge amount of latent heat when it is subjected to a change in physical state from solid to liquid and from liquid to solid. The current proposal targets utilising the stocked-up energy to be stored in the form of electric energy by the Seebeck effect, which could be used in commercial, industrial, and residential applications for thermal comfort. Thermal energy storage (TES) is one of the top solutions for decarbonization. The energy released by the PCM during the phase transition could be stored in the TES system and effectively utilised for future applications. Based on the extensive literature survey, it was found that the majority of PCM production involves exhaustive trial mixes. In addition, there is a large amount of material waste and an inappropriate material composition. By introducing lean technology, one can reduce the difficulty in the production of nanoencapsulated flyash cenosphere phase-changing material. Hence, it is proposed to adopt a combination of cost-effective IoT-based health monitoring roofing systems for energy storage technology, which is a new vision towards smarter and greener structures. The stored energy could be used to charge the electric vehicle from various sources, moving towards a greener environment that helps protect our society and keep the atmosphere safe.