JP2003183636A - Heat accumulation agent (thermal storage medium) - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a new heat accumulation agent (thermal storage medium) having little toxicity to human body, nonexplosive and safe, affecting little to the environment and capable of being used at a high temperature. <P>SOLUTION: (1) The heat accumulation agent (thermal storage medium) comprises a saturated fatty acid as a principal ingredient. (2) The saturated fatty acid in the heat accumulating agent (thermal storage medium) has 6-30 carbon number. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a novel heat storage agent (heat storage medium) which is highly safe and has little adverse effect on the environment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Although many regenerators are known, most of them have a freezing temperature of around 0 ° C., and a practically useful regenerator (heat storage medium) having a high solidifying temperature as in the present invention is known. ,
As far as the inventors of the present invention know, Japanese Patent Application No. 20 related to the applicant's prior application
Except for 00-280011 (filed on September 14, 2000), it does not exist in the literature or in products of each company.

[0003]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide a novel heat storage agent (heat storage medium) which is less toxic to humans, less explosive, safe, less harmful to the environment and usable at high temperature. And

[0004]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The above problems are solved in the following 1) to
It is solved by the invention of 2). 1) A heat storage agent (heat storage medium) containing a saturated fatty acid as a main component. 2) The heat storage agent (heat storage medium) according to 1), wherein the saturated fatty acid has 6 to 30 carbon atoms.

The present invention will be described in detail below. The present inventors have conducted a wide range of screening tests on materials that can be expected to have a heat storage effect, a thermal memory effect, a temperature retention effect, are less toxic to the human body, are not explosive and are safe, and have no adverse effect on the environment. The inventors have found that fatty acids meet these conditions and have reached the present invention.
The heat storage agent (heat storage medium) of the present invention is used after being once heated to a melting temperature or higher and completely melted. The saturated fatty acid used in the present invention may be linear or branched, and may have a substituent such as a hydroxyl group, but it preferably has about 6 to 30 carbon atoms, particularly 10 to 22 carbon atoms. preferable. Preferred examples include lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, 12-hydroxystearic acid,
Examples include behenic acid. In addition, the saturated fatty acid,
You may use individually or in mixture of 2 or more types.

Since the heat storage agent (heat storage medium) of the present invention contains a saturated fatty acid which is also used for food as a main component, it has little toxicity to human body and is not explosive. In addition, there is no possibility of seriously adversely affecting the environment unless it leaks in large quantities. Further, according to the present invention, the holding temperature zone (the temperature zone in which a certain period of time can be maintained) and the heat storage temperature (the temperature at which solidification occurs after melting) are defined by changing the type of saturated fatty acid or the mixing ratio of two or more types of saturated fatty acids. ,
It is possible to freely change the effective initial value of the holding temperature zone), and especially to easily provide a heat storage agent (heat storage medium) that can be kept at a temperature higher than room temperature (usually around 20 ° C.). . In practice, it is convenient to use a heat storage agent (heat storage medium) having different heat storage temperatures in units of about 5 ° C. (having a heat storage temperature of about 5 ° C.). Further, the heat storage agent (heat storage medium) of the present invention can be reused any number of times by heating again above the melting temperature even if the temperature drops due to use and the heat storage function, heat storage function, and temperature holding function disappear. It is possible and very economical, and since it is difficult to produce waste, it has a low environmental impact. According to the screening test, various paraffins; unsaturated fatty acids such as oleic acid and linoleic acid; various diols such as ethylene glycol and polyethylene glycol;
It was confirmed that many substances including sugar alcohols such as mannitol and sorbitol cannot be used as the heat storage agent intended by the present invention.

In the present invention, "containing saturated fatty acid as a main component" means containing at least 50% by weight of saturated fatty acid, and unless other adverse effects are exerted on the heat storage action, the heat storage action and the temperature holding action. The substances may be mixed,
Usually, it is composed only of saturated fatty acids, excluding the minor components added for various purposes. Examples of trace components added for various purposes include various additives well known in the art, such as preservatives, rust preventives, antibacterial agents, and pH adjusters. Saturated fatty acids are less susceptible to oxidative deterioration than unsaturated fatty acids, but the effect of deterioration cannot be ignored over time, so it is desirable to add an antioxidant. As such an antioxidant, various known compounds prior to the present application can be used, and specific examples thereof include vitamin C, vitamin E, propyl gallate and the like. In addition to the above additives, acids such as phosphoric acid and citric acid may be used together as synergists. The heat storage agent (heat storage medium) of the present invention has many uses, but
For example, as an energy-saving auxiliary agent such as an incubator, underfloor heating, road heating, bathtub, and heat-retaining box, medicines, alcohols, culture media, catering, temperature-related logistics related to feeding centers, warm handkerchiefs, warm lunch boxes, warm It can be used for ideas such as mats.

[0008]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

Examples 1 to 9 0.05 parts by weight of benzoic acid and 0.005 parts by weight of vitamin E were added to the saturated fatty acids of the examples shown in Table 1 below and dissolved in a heating bath at 80 to 100 ° C. While stirring and mixing, a heat storage agent (heat storage medium) was prepared and its physical properties were measured. The results are shown in Tables 1 and 2 and FIGS. 1 to 9. In addition, the measurement of each physical property was performed as follows. The thermal storage temperature was measured by a temperature measuring device for a personal computer "Soft Thermo" manufactured by Techno Seven Co., Ltd. The melting start temperature and the melting latent heat are measured by a differential scanning calorimeter (SEIKO-SSC / 5200H manufactured by Seiko Instruments Inc.).
Samples of the heat storage agent (heat storage medium) were left to stand in an air thermostatic chamber at 95 ° C. to be heated and melted, and then rapidly collected in the sample span of the calorimeter to be solidified.
1 to 9, the upper black line indicates the temperature of the surface of the heat storage agent (heat storage medium), the lower gray line indicates the temperature of the center of the cooler box, and the heat storage agent (heat storage medium) 400 g Is placed in a hard case (190 × 140 × 25 mm ³ ) and melted, and then the hard case containing the heat storage agent is arranged one by one on four side surfaces of a cooler box 12L (liter) manufactured by S & H Co., Ltd. MC-811 made by ESPEC with the cooler box set to 0 ° C outside temperature
It is measured in a state of being placed in a mold constant temperature bath.

[0010]

[Table 1]

[0011]

[Table 2]

[0012]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a novel heat storage agent (heat storage medium) which is safe with no toxicity to humans, has no explosive properties, is less harmful to the environment, and can be used at high temperature.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a temperature change of a heat storage agent (heat storage medium) of Example 1.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a temperature change of a heat storage agent (heat storage medium) of Example 2.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a temperature change of a heat storage agent (heat storage medium) of Example 3.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a temperature change of a heat storage agent (heat storage medium) of Example 4.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a temperature change of a heat storage agent (heat storage medium) of Example 5.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a temperature change of a heat storage agent (heat storage medium) of Example 6.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a temperature change of a heat storage agent (heat storage medium) of Example 7.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a temperature change of a heat storage agent (heat storage medium) of Example 8.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a temperature change of a heat storage agent (heat storage medium) of Example 9.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A heat storage agent (heat storage medium) containing a saturated fatty acid as a main component. 2. The heat storage agent (heat storage medium) according to claim 1, wherein the saturated fatty acid has 6 to 30 carbon atoms.