ENHANCED THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE IN CLOTHING WITH IMPREGNATED MICROENCAPSULATED PCM

A PHASE I PROGRAM IS PROPOSED TO INVESTIGATE AND DEVELOP AN INNOVATIVE CLOTHING MATERIAL HAVING AN ENHANCED THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE CAPABILITY. PRESENT FABRICS THAT UTILIZE MULTIPLE LAYERS OF PASSIVE INSULATION OR ACTIVE ELECTRICAL HEATING ARE RESTRICTED BY EXCESSIVE BULK AND IMPAIRED DEXTERITY OR POWER LIMITATIONS AND BATTERY WEIGHT. A NOVEL APPROACH IS PROPOSED THAT WOULD PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT THERMAL STORAGE BY INCORPORATING PHASE CHANGE MATERIALS (PCMS) WITHIN THE FIBERS THEMSELVES TO PRODUCE A LOW-BULK, LAYERED FABRIC THAT WOULD BE DURABLE, STABLE, WATERPROOF AND CLEANABLE. ENCAPSULATED PCMS HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO PROVIDE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE BY UTILIZING THEIR HIGH HEAT OF FUSION DURING MELTING FROM A SOLID TO A LIQUID. SUCH A DEVELOPMENT OF NEW TECHNOLOGY TO IMPLEMENT THE USE OF THE FABRICS. THIS PHASE I PROGRAM WOULD INVESTIGATE THE CONCEPTUAL FEASIBILITY FOR PRODUCTION OF SUCH A MATERIAL, ITS KNITTING INTO A SAMPLE FABRIC, AND ITS TESTING AND COMPARISON TO A CONTROL FABRIC USING COMPUTER MODELING AND LABORATORY EXPERIMENTATION.