Integral Solution of Two-Region Solid–Liquid Phase Change in Annular Geometries and Application to Phase Change Materials–Air Heat Exchangers

Hamidreza Shabgard, Weiwei Zhu and Amir Faghri
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Hamidreza Shabgard: School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Oklahoma, 865 Asp Ave., Norman, OK 73019, USA
Weiwei Zhu: School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Oklahoma, 865 Asp Ave., Norman, OK 73019, USA
Amir Faghri: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Connecticut, 191 Auditorium Road, Storrs, CT 06269-3139, USA

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 23, 1-20

Abstract: A mathematical model based on the integral method is developed to solve the problem of conduction-controlled solid–liquid phase change in annular geometries with temperature gradients in both phases. The inner and outer boundaries of the annulus were subject to convective, constant temperature or adiabatic boundary conditions. The developed model was validated by comparison with control volume-based computational results using the temperature-transforming phase change model, and an excellent agreement was achieved. The model was used to conduct parametric studies on the effect of annuli geometry, thermophysical properties of the phase change materials (PCM), and thermal boundary conditions on the dynamics of phase change. For an initially liquid PCM, it was found that increasing the radii ratio increased the total solidification time. Also, increasing the Biot number at the cooled (heated) boundary and Stefan number of the solid (liquid) PCM, decreased (increased) the solidification time and resulted in a greater (smaller) solid volume fraction at steady state. The application of the developed method was demonstrated by design and analysis of a PCM–air heat exchanger for HVAC systems. The model can also be easily employed for design and optimization of annular PCM systems for all associated applications in a fraction of time needed for computational simulations.

Keywords: integral method; phase change materials; two-region phase change (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 (1)

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