Latent heat storage can be achieved through liquid–>solid, solid–>liquid, solid–>gas and liquid–>gas phase changes. However, only solid–>liquid and liquid–>solid phase changes are practical for PCMs. Although liquid–gas transitions have a higher heat of transformation than solid–liquid transitions, liquid->gas phase changes are impractical for thermal storage because large volumes or high pressures are required to store the materials in their gas phase. Solid–solid phase changes are typically very slow and have a relatively low heat of transformation.
Initially, solid–liquid PCMs behave like sensible heat storage (SHS) materials; their temperature rises as they absorb heat. Unlike conventional SHS materials, however, when PCMs reach the temperature at which they change phase (their melting temperature) they absorb large amounts of heat at an almost constant temperature. The PCM continues to absorb heat without a significant rise in temperature until all the material is transformed to the liquid phase. When the ambient temperature around a liquid material falls, the PCM solidifies, releasing its stored latent heat. A large number of PCMs are available in any required temperature range from −5 up to 190 °C.[1] Within the human comfort range between 20–30 °C, some PCMs are very effective. They store 5 to 14 times more heat per unit volume than conventional storage materials such as water, masonry or rock.[2]