Heat batteries receive top grade international quality mark

The company’s UniQ range of thermal stores use PCM chemical compounds that store large amounts of energy when it is available from renewable and other sources, and release it as heat to deliver hot water and space heating when required. UniQ heat batteries are already replacing hot water cylinders and cutting fuel costs and carbon emissions in thousands of homes across the UK.

RAL Certification provides an audited test for long term performance of PCM.  Sunamp’s award follows a rigorous test programme, which involved heating and cooling the batteries for 10,000 cycles to demonstrate the material’s performance levels and working life. Sunamp’s own laboratory testing of UniQ batteries has so far reached 40,000 cycles, the equivalent of fifty years full use, with minimum signs of PCM degradation.

Kate Fisher, Sunamp’s materials integration scientist, said: “We are delighted that our thermally charged UniQ product range of heat batteries has been awarded a globally recognised mark of quality.  RAL certification is a huge accolade and cements Sunamp’s position as world leaders at the forefront of the technology. It also recognises our success in developing household products that people can rely on and will give our customers extra confidence to know they have put their trust in an independently verified reliable and very durable product.

“By selling quality assured PCM products into the market, we hope to influence the British Standards Institution (BSI) to include PCM products in building standards and acknowledge the level of contribution our heat batteries can make towards CO₂ emission reduction in buildings.”

The RAL Quality Mark PCM is reserved for products which continuously comply with the requirements for stored heat, phase transition temperature and stability.