Experimental research of sleeping bed integrated with PCM heat storage and solar heating

This paper puts forward a new way of using solar energy and Phase Change Material (PCM): the integration of PCM, sleeping bed and solar energy. The cavity of sleeping bed is filled with PCM. The sleeping bed is a heat storage device charged by solar energy, and it is a heating terminal too. The performance of heat charging and discharging of this kind of sleeping bed is studied by experiments. The results show that: 1) the internal temperature distribution in sleeping bed Is nearly uniform and even during charging and discharging, the goal of storage of much heat without significant temperature rise is achieved; 2) the discharging time is long enough to keep the sleeping bed warm for a whole night; 3) the solar collectors are of high efficiency and it is suitable to be used as the heating source for this kind of sleeping bed.