Phase Change Materials-Assisted Heat Flux Reduction: Experiment and Numerical Analysis

Hussein J. Akeiber, Seyed Ehsan Hosseini, Mazlan A. Wahid, Hasanen M. Hussen and Abdulrahman Th. Mohammad
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Hussein J. Akeiber: High-Speed Reacting Flow Laboratory, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor 81310, Malaysia
Seyed Ehsan Hosseini: High-Speed Reacting Flow Laboratory, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor 81310, Malaysia
Mazlan A. Wahid: High-Speed Reacting Flow Laboratory, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor 81310, Malaysia
Hasanen M. Hussen: Machine and Mechanical Department, University of Technology, Baghdad 35023, Iraq
Abdulrahman Th. Mohammad: Baqubah Technical Institute, Middle Technical University, Baghdad 06800, Iraq

Energies, 2016, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: Phase change materials (PCM) in the construction industry became attractive because of several interesting attributes, such as thermo-physical parameters, open air atmospheric condition usage, cost and the duty structure requirement. Thermal performance optimization of PCMs in terms of proficient storage of a large amount of heat or cold in a finite volume remains a challenging task. Implementation of PCMs in buildings to achieve thermal comfort for a specific climatic condition in Iraq is our main focus. From this standpoint, the present paper reports the experimental and numerical results on the lowering of heat flux inside a residential building using PCM, which is composed of oil (40%) and wax (60%). This PCM (paraffin), being plentiful and cost-effective, is extracted locally from waste petroleum products in Iraq. Experiments are performed with two rooms of identical internal dimensions in the presence and absence of PCM. A two-dimensional numerical transient heat transfer model is developed and solved using the finite difference method. A relatively simple geometry is chosen to initially verify the numerical solution procedure by incorporating in the computer program two-dimensional elliptic flows. It is demonstrated that the heat flux inside the room containing PCM is remarkably lower than the one devoid of PCM.

Keywords: phase change material (PCM); wax; melting temperature; heat flux (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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