Vol.:(0123456789) International Journal of Thermophysics (2022) 43:61 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10765-022-02989-z 1 3 Single and Multi‑phase Change Materials Used in Cooling Systems Leila Abdolmaleki 1  · Umberto Berardi 1 Received: 19 January 2022 / Accepted: 28 January 2022 © Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022 Abstract The use of refrigerators and air conditioners has been increasing in domestic and commercial buildings constantly over the last century, resulting in a signifcant increase in energy demand. Thermal energy storage (TES) system may be able to reduce energy and temperature fuctuations and enhance the overall need or the per- formance of cooling systems. Application of phase change materials (PCMs) in TES systems can be benefcial for balancing supply and demand in energy, minimizing and shifting the peak cooling loads, reducing the temperature fuctuations. This arti- cle presents an overview of TES systems incorporating PCMs for air conditioning, refrigerators, and freezers. Literature shows diferent ways to incorporate PCMs in air conditioning systems. PCM use in compartments and evaporators and PCM as a heat storage medium in condensers prevail in the present review. Organic-based PCMs are the most widely used materials in air conditioning systems. Then, this study compares the applications of single and multi-PCMs in cooling systems. The results showed that, compared to a single PCM confguration, multi-PCM confg- urations improved heat transfer rates, reduced the gap between peak and of-peak loads of electricity demand, and shifted electricity consumption from peak to of- peak times. In conclusion, this study indicates that the potential for using PCM in refrigerators and air conditioners still requires further investigation on improving the PCMs properties and the PCM container materials and developing analytical meth- ods for accurately predicting the PCM behavior. Keywords Phase change materials · Cooling systems · Air-conditioning systems · Refrigerators and freezers · Thermal energy storage Abbreviations PCM Phase change material m-PCMs Multi-phase change materials MEPCM Microencapsulated PCM * Umberto Berardi uberardi@ryerson.ca 1 Ryerson University, 350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada