2016 Volume 33 Issue 4 Article ID: 16-25SE
Tetra-n-butyl ammonium bromide (TBAB) hydrate has been attracting attention as a thermal storage material, since the phase change temperature of TBAB hydrate is from 5 to 12 °C and it is optimal for a thermal storage material of the air-conditioning. However, the TBAB solution tends to be supercooled. In this study, the effect of an DC voltage application on hydrate nucleation in supercooled TBAB aqueous solution was investigated experimentally. The electrode was inserted into the TBAB solution under room temperature, and DC voltage applied to the TBAB solution. After that, the electrode was extracted from the solution and the sample was cooled under a supercooled state. The electrode material, the concentration of TBAB aqueous solution and the duration for the DC voltage application were varied as the experimental parameters. It was found that the probability of nucleation becomes higher due to the DC voltage application, and the probability depends on the amount of the electric charge during the DC voltage application. Moreover, it was found that the probability of nucleation depends on the electrode material. The probability of nucleation is especially high in the case of the Cu, Ag and Zn electrodes.
