Bédécarrats et al. [64,65] measured the thermal performance of
an encapsulated PCM (water with a nucleation agent) in spherical
capsules. Fig. 7 shows the scheme of the tank and the spherical
capsules of PCM used. They developed a test plant that permitted
to study the behavior of the tank during the charge mode taking
into account the subcooling and the discharge mode. A simplified
mathematical model, taking the nodules as heat exchangers, confirmed
the experimental results and permitted the detailed analysis
of the charge and the discharge mode. Furthermore, in more
recent studies, they concluded that there was a significant influence
of the subcooling phenomenon during the charging process.