scholarly journals Numerical Investigations on Melting Behavior of Phase Change Material in a Rectangular Cavity at Different Inclination Angles

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 1627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Wang ◽  
Jingmin Dai ◽  
Dongyang An

This paper investigates the melting process of phase change material in a rectangular cavity at different inclination angles. Paraffin is used as a phase change material in this study. One side of the cavity is heated while the other sides are considered to be adiabatic. The investigated angles of inclination include 0° (bottom horizontal heating), 30°, 60°, 90° (vertical heating), 120°, 150° and 180° (top horizontal heating). Shapes of the solid liquid interface and temperature variations during the melting process were discussed for all the inclination angles. The results reveal that the inclination angles have a significant impact on the melting behavior of paraffin. As the angle increases from 0° to 180°, the complete melting time increases non-linearly.

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4.5) ◽  
pp. 587
Author(s):  
Jay R. Patel ◽  
Manish K. Rathod

Latent heat energy storage using macro encapsulated phase change material is an emerging technique for thermal energy storage applica- tions. The main aim of the present investigation is to investigate the melting process of phase change material filled in different shaped configurations. The selected different cavities are square, circular and triangular. A mathematical model based on convection dominated melting is required to be developed, especially in view of the complex flow geometries encountered in such problems. Thus, an attempt has been made to develop a model using ANSYS Fluent 16.2 to investigate the heat transfer rate and solid-liquid interface visualization of PCM filled in different shapes of cavity. It is found that triangular shaped macro encapsulated PCM melts faster than square and circu- lar shaped encapsulated PCM.   


Author(s):  
Horacio Ramos-Aboites ◽  
Abel Hernandez-Guerrero ◽  
Salvador M. Aceves ◽  
Raul Lesso-Arroyo

This paper presents the results of a -numerical transient model for phase change in a storage cell filled with a phase change material (PCM). Phase change occurs under the presence of natural convection. The PCM is encapsulated in a cylindrical energy storage cell. Two cases of PCM melting are analyzed, (1) the surface temperature of the bottom half of the cylindrical cell is kept at a constant temperature, which is higher than the melting temperature of the PCM, and (2) a fluid flows under the cell with an inlet temperature that is higher than the melting point of the PCM. The results show the evolution of the solid-liquid interface, isotherms and flow lines during the melting process.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamid El Qarnia ◽  
Fayssal El Adnani ◽  
El Khadir Lakhal

This work reports an analytical solution for the solidification of a superheating phase change material (PCM) contained in a rectangular enclosure with a finite height. The analytical solution has been obtained by solving nondimensional energy equations by using the perturbation method for a small perturbation parameter: the Stefan number,ε. This analytical solution, which takes into account the effects of the superheating of PCM, finite height of the enclosure, thickness of the wall, and wall-solid shell interfacial thermal resistances, was expressed in terms of nondimensional temperature distributions of the bottom wall of the enclosure and both PCM phases, and the dimensionless solid-liquid interface position and its dimensionless speed. The developed solution was firstly compared with that existing in the literature for the case of nonsuperheating PCM. The predicted results agreed well with those published in the literature. Next, a parametric study was carried out in order to study the impacts of the dimensionless control parameters on the dimensionless temperature distributions of the wall, the solid shell, and liquid phase of the PCM, as well as the solid-liquid interface position and its dimensionless speed.


2020 ◽  
pp. 329-329
Author(s):  
Mohsen Talebzadegan ◽  
Mojtaba Moravej ◽  
Ehsanolah Assareh ◽  
Mohsen Izadi

In this paper a numerical simulation of the melting process of Carreau non- Newtonian phase-change material (PCM) inside two porous vertical concentric cylinders included constant temperatures of the inner and outer walls, represented by Th and Tc respectively. Half of the void between the two pipes is filled with copper porous media and paraffin wax as a phase change material. The governing equations are converted into a dimentionless form and are solved using the finite element method. The enthalpy- porosity theory is applied to simulate the phase change of PCM while the porous media follow to the Darcy law. Outcomes are shown and compared in terms of the streamline, isotherm, melting fraction and mean Nusselt numbers. The solid- liquid interface location and the temperature distribution are predicted to describe the melting process. The effects of the Carreau index, porosity and non-dimensional parameters such as Stefan number, Darcy number and Rayleigh number are analyzed. Our results indicate a good agreement between this study and the previous investigations. The results show that an increase in Rayleigh number, Stefan number and Darcy number increases the melting volume fraction and reduces the melting time. Also, the time of melting non-Newtonian phase change material decreases when Carreau index and porosity decrease.


2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (10-11) ◽  
pp. 2897-2915 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soumaya Kadri ◽  
Belgacem Dhifaoui ◽  
Yvan Dutil ◽  
Sadok Ben Jabrallah ◽  
Daniel R. Rousse

1989 ◽  
Vol 111 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Sasaguchi ◽  
R. Viskanta

Melting and resolidification of a phase change material around two cylindrical heat exchangers spaced vertically have been investigated experimentally. Experiments have been performed to examine the effects of the cylinder surface temperatures on heat transfer during the melting and freezing cycle. The processes have been clarified on the basis of observations of timewise variations in the solid/liquid interface and of temperature distribution measurements in the phase change material. The results show that the solid/liquid interface contour during the melting and resolidification of the liquid from the upper cylinder is greatly affected by the surface temperature of the lower cylinder. The results show that multiple liquid regions may develop in the phase change material around the embedded heat sources/sinks, and the temperature swings and melting and freezing periods need to be selected properly in order to effectively utilize the phase change material in a latent heat energy storage unit.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 4377-4393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sana Ben Salah ◽  
Mohamed Bechir Ben Hamida

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to optimize the configuration of a heat sink with phase change material for improving the cooling performance of light emitting diodes (LED). Design/methodology/approach A numerical three-dimensional time-dependent model is developed with COMSOL Multiphysics to simulate the phase change material melting process during both the charging and discharging period. Findings The model is validated with previously published works. It found a good agreement. The difference between filled cavities with phase change materials (PCM) and alternate cavities air-PCM is discussed. The last-mentioned showed a good ability for reducing the junction temperature during the melting time. Three cases of this configuration having the same total volume of PCM but a different number of cavities are compared. The case of ten fins with five PCM cavities is preferred because it permit a reduction of 21 per cent of the junction temperature with an enhancement ratio of 2:4. The performance of this case under different power input is verified. Originality/value The use of alternate air-PCM cavities of the heat sink. The use of PCM in LED to delay the peak temperature in the case of thermal shock (for example, damage of fan) An amount of energy is stored in the LED and it is evacuated to the ambient of the accommodation by the cycle of charging and discharging established (1,765 Joule stored and released each 13 min with 1 LED chip of 5 W).


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 1439-1452
Author(s):  
Mohamed L. Benlekkam ◽  
Driss Nehari ◽  
Habib Y. Madani

AbstractThe temperature rise of photovoltaic’s cells deteriorates its conversion efficiency. The use of a phase change material (PCM) layer linked to a curved photovoltaic PV panel so-called PV-mirror to control its temperature elevation has been numerically studied. This numerical study was carried out to explore the effect of inner fins length on the thermal and electrical improvement of curved PV panel. So a numerical model of heat transfer with solid-liquid phase change has been developed to solve the Navier–Stokes and energy equations. The predicted results are validated with an available experimental and numerical data. Results shows that the use of fins improve the thermal load distribution presented on the upper front of PV/PCM system and maintained it under 42°C compared with another without fins and enhance the PV cells efficiency by more than 2%.


Author(s):  
Tonny Tabassum Mainul Hasan ◽  
Latifa Begum

This study reports on the unsteady two-dimensional numerical investigations of melting of a paraffin wax (phase change material, PCM) which melts over a temperature range of 8.7oC. The PCM is placed inside a circular concentric horizontal-finned annulus for the storage of thermal energy. The inner tube is fitted with three radially diverging longitudinal fins strategically placed near the bottom part of the annulus to accelerate the melting process there. The developed CFD code used in Tabassum et al., 2018 is extended to incorporate the presence of fins. The numerical results show that the average Nusselt number over the inner tube surface, the total melt fraction, the total stored energy all increased at every time instant in the finned annulus compared to the annulus without fins. This is due to the fact that in the finned annulus, the fins at the lower part of the annulus promotes buoyancy-driven convection as opposed to the slow conduction melting that prevails at the bottom part of the plain annulus. Fins with two different heights have been considered. It is found that by extending the height of the fin to 50% of the annular gap about 33.05% more energy could be stored compared to the bare annulus at the melting time of 82.37 min for the identical operating conditions. The effects of fins with different heights on the temperature and streamfunction distributions are found to be different. The present study can provide some useful guidelines for achieving a better thermal energy storage system.


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