Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 18, 2025

Author Spotlight: Simulation and Analysis of the Temperature Rise of Ring Main Unit Equipment
Published on: July 5, 2024
Heat Storage of Paraffin-Based Composite Phase Change Materials and Their Temperature Regulation of Underground Power
Peiling Xie1, Haoliang Huang1, Yuchang He1
1School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
Abstract:
Excessive heat accumulation in backfill materials causes thermal fatigue damage in underground power cable systems that significantly affects the cable carrying capacity. To improve the thermal conditions of the system, two types of composite phase change materials (CPCMs) were prepared by incorporating paraffin into porous ceramsite (CS)/expanded graphite (EG) in this study. EG and CS can carry 90 and 40 wt.% paraffin, respectively. The phase change temperature of paraffin/CS and paraffin/EG CPCMs was approximately 65 °C, and the corresponding latent heats were 63.38 J/g and 156.4 J/g, respectively. Furthermore, the temperature regulation by CPCMs was evaluated experimentally by designing a setup to simulate the underground power cable system. The reduction in the maximum temperature of the backfill materials with paraffin/CS CPCM and paraffin/EG CPCM was approximately 7.1 °C and 17.1 °C, respectively, compared to reference samples. A similar conclusion was drawn from the heat flux curves. Therefore, the prepared CPCMs could significantly alleviate temperature fluctuations, where the paraffin/EG CPCM provided better temperature regulation than paraffin/CS CPCM. Both materials have potential applications for use in backfill materials for underground power cable systems.
Related Concept Videos
Mass Concreting
To reduce the risk of such cracking, the concrete mix may incorporate low-heat cement and pozzolans to reduce the temperature rise. Pre-cooled angular aggregates and water-reducing admixtures...
Heating and Cooling Curves
For instance, the addition of heat raises the temperature of a solid; the amount of heat absorbed depends on the heat capacity of the solid (q = mcsolidΔT). According to thermochemistry, the relation between the amount of heat absorbed or released by a substance, q, and its...
Cold Weather Concreting
To counteract the negative impacts of cold weather, ensuring...
Masonry in Cold and Hot Weather Conditions
Other key practices include keeping masonry units...
Phase Changes
A substance melts or freezes at a temperature called its melting point and boils or condenses at its boiling point. These temperatures depend on pressure. High pressure favors the denser form of the substance, so typically, high pressure...
Hot Weather Concreting
Mitigating the heat increase in concrete can be economically achieved by shading aggregate stockpiles to prevent heating from solar radiation,...

