On the Melting Process of the Phase Change Material in Horizontal Rectangular Enclosures

Juan Duan, Yongliang Xiong and Dan Yang
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Juan Duan: Department of Mechanics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Yongliang Xiong: Department of Mechanics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Dan Yang: School of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 16, 1-21

Abstract: Phase change material (PCM) is one of the most important ways to store and manage energy. The melting process of PCM in a rectangular enclosure with the different aspect ratio is frequently related to some thermal energy storage devices. In this work, the melting of PCM in the horizontal rectangular enclosures heated from the different sides and the influence of aspect ratio of the rectangle are carefully studied. The enthalpy porosity technique and the finite volume method (FVM) are used to simulate the melting process numerically. The results show that the melting process of PCM can be dominated by conduction or natural convection due to the different heated sides. The melting of PCM in the enclosure heated from the bottom side is firstly affected by conduction and then mostly influenced by convection. In addition, the aspect ratio of the rectangular enclosure is found to play an important role in the melting process. Finally, a series of fitting correlations of the liquid fraction, Nusselt number and the energy storage are presented with the influence of aspect ratios in order to provide the reference for designing the rectangular container of PCM. This study is helpful for the selection of an appropriate aspect ratio and heating method to achieve the desired energy storage performance of encapsulated PCM.

Keywords: phase change material; rectangular enclosure; aspect ratio; conduction and convection (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: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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