Abstract
For promotion of further energy conservation, development of a coolant with a higher heat capacity regulated around a room temperature is strongly required. As a candidate of such a new coolant, we employ the clathrate hydrate, i.e., a mixture of Tetra n-butyl ammonium fluoride (TBAF) and water. This clathrate hydrate is composed of the micro crystals with an order of 100 μm in dimension. It retains fluidity and melting point at a room temperature of about 25 °C. Moreover, the melting point is able to be controlled between 25 °C and 0 °C by changing the concentration of TBAF. The temperature can be regulated by its latent heat at the melting point. Characteristics such as the latent heat and the crystal structure of the clathrate have been experimentally obtained to confirm the feasibility for its usage as the latent heat storage around a room temperature.
