| 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. | 
Previous Article
Next Article
{{comment.DateTimeStampDisplay}}
{{comment.Comments}}