Moving boundary problem: heat conduction in the solid phase of a phase-change material during melting driven by natural convection in the liquid

The melting flow and heat transfer of copper-oxide coconut oil in thermal energy storage filled with a nonlinear copper metal foam are addressed. The porosity of the copper foam changes linearly from bottom to top. The phase change material (PCM) is filled into the metal foam pores, which form a composite PCM. The natural convection effect is also taken into account. The effect of average porosity; porosity distribution; pore size density; the inclination angle of enclosure; and nanoparticles’ concentration on the isotherms, melting maps, and the melting rate are investigated. The results show that the average porosity is the most important parameter on the melting behavior. The variation in porosity from 0.825 to 0.9 changes the melting time by about 116%. The natural convection flows are weak in the metal foam, and hence, the impact of each of the other parameters on the melting time is insignificant (less than 5%).

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A Novel Solid-Solid Phase Change Material Based on Poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) Grafting With Palmitic Acid Copolymers

Journal of Macromolecular Science Part A ◽

10.1080/10601325.2015.1050633 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 52 (8) ◽

pp. 617-624 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Siyang Mu ◽

Jing Guo ◽

Chunfang Yu ◽

Yuanfa Liu ◽

Yumei Gong ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Palmitic Acid ◽

Phase Change ◽

Phase Change Material ◽

Solid Phase ◽

Change Material

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Green’s function solution for transient heat conduction in annular fin during solidification of phase change material

Applied Mathematics and Mechanics ◽

10.1007/s10483-012-1620-x ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 33 (10) ◽

pp. 1265-1274 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

A. H. Mosaffa ◽

F. Talati ◽

M. A. Rosen ◽

H. Basirat-Tabrizi

Keyword(s):

Heat Conduction ◽

Phase Change ◽

Green’S Function ◽

Phase Change Material ◽

Green's Function ◽

Transient Heat Conduction ◽

Function Solution ◽

Annular Fin ◽

Change Material

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Numerical Solution of Melting Processes for Fixed and Unfixed Phase Change Material in the Presence of Magnetic Field: Simulation of Low Gravity Environment

10.1115/imece2001/htd-24290 ◽

2001 ◽

Author(s):

Y. Asako ◽

E. Gonçalves ◽

M. Faghri ◽

M. Charmchi

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Natural Convection ◽

Phase Change ◽

Phase Change Material ◽

Flow Patterns ◽

Transport Processes ◽

Low Gravity ◽

Horizontal Magnetic Field ◽

Wall Heating ◽

Change Material

Abstract Transport processes associated with melting of an electrically conducting Phase Change Material (PCM), placed inside a rectangular enclosure, under low-gravity environment, and in the presence of a magnetic field is simulated numerically. Electromagnetic forces damp the natural convection as well as the flow induced by sedimentation and/or floatation, and thereby simulating the low gravity environment of outer space. Computational experiments are conducted for both side-wall heating and top-wall heating under horizontal magnetic field. The governing equations are discretized using a control-volume-based finite difference scheme. Numerical solutions are obtained for true low-gravity environment as well as for the simulated-low-gravity conditions resulted by the presence of a horizontal magnetic field. The effects of magnetic field on the natural convection, solid phase floatation/sedimentation, liquid-solid interface location, solid melting rate, and flow patterns are investigated. It is found that the melting under low-gravity environment can reasonably be simulated on earth via applying a strong horizontal magnetic field. However, the flow patterns obtained for the true low-gravity cases are not similar to the corresponding cases solved for the simulated-low-gravity environment.

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