Normal two-wheelers use PVC leather cloth seat covers that are mainly black in colour, absorb very high heat when exposed to sunlight and becomes unbearably hot. This makes the rider very uncomfortable due to sweat produced. It is difficult to wipe the sweat while riding. Hygiene becomes a problem which can lead to various skin diseases in the groin. Due to perspiration, seat becomes slightly slippery which can make a rider accident prone. Seat covers have a problem of wrinkles, stitches opening up, cracking and tearing of the seat. Loose Seat Covers tied with strings are used as replacement Seat Cover for 2 wheelers. This results into poor grip and often the material gets damaged. Phase change materials (PCMs) are suitable for storing thermal energy in the form of latent heat and release when required by changing its phase from solid to liquid and vice versa, as per a paper by Samit Jain and Nidhi Agarwal ofPluss Polymers Pvt Ltd, India. They absorb or release large quantities of heat at a constant temperature thereby maintaining desirable ambient conditions. Studies conducted to compare phase change (latent heat) and sensible heat storages have shown that a significant reduction in storage volume can be achieved by using PCM as compared to sensible heat storage. Phase change materials find their application in cold storage, temperature controlled food transportation, pharmaceutical transportation, air conditioning, solar applications, thermal wear, building cooling and heating and in fact any industry looking to exploit off peak electricity tariffs for heating or cooling or capturing freely available energy. Conventionally, PCMs have been in the form of liquid which are encapsulated in drums, pouches, or plastic panels. PCMs in liquid bears the risk of leaking out in case of packaging defects or mishandling. These PCMs are made using polymers in combination with PCMs. The blends formed using polymers act as shape stabilisers and do not allow the PCM to flow from its matrix and it is therefore called form stable PCM. Phase change material is entrapped in the polymer matrix because of mechanical interaction with the polymer chains. These innovative materials for storing energy over conventional PCMs bear the advantage that any mishandling or packaging defect will not lead to leakage of the PCMs at application site. These materials are nontoxic in nature, flexible, have high latent heat (above 200 kJ/kg, and is the most desirable property for any PCM in any application), high tensile or tearing strength both above and below the melting point of the PCM. Further, it is so stable that it can easily be heated and cooled without leaking out its phase change material. The form stable PCM provide stored heat that has improved safety and handling ability. |
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