Influence of model inclination on the melting behavior of graded metal foam composite phase change material: A pore-scale study

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 103537
Author(s):  
Hongyang Li ◽  
Chengzhi Hu ◽  
Yichuan He ◽  
Dawei Tang ◽  
Kuiming Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phase Change ◽  
Phase Change Material ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Melting Behavior ◽  
Pore Scale ◽  
Foam Composite ◽  
Composite Phase Change Material ◽  
Change Material

Thermal energy discharging performance of metal foam/paraffin composite phase change material at pore scale

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Yuanpeng Yao ◽  
Huiying Wu
Keyword(s):  
Phase Change ◽  
Phase Change Material ◽  
Latent Heat ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Transport ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Volume Shrinkage ◽  
Pore Scale ◽  
Composite Phase Change Material ◽  
Change Material

Abstract In this research, thermal energy discharging performance of metal foam/paraffin composite phase change material (MFPC) is investigated at pore scale through direct simulation. A thermal transport model is first developed for heat discharging of MFPC by incorporating the involved effects of solidification phase transition, foam structure and paraffin volume shrinkage. With this model, the detailed phase interface evolutions, temperature fields and heat flux distributions of MFPC are numerically obtained and analyzed. It is found that once phase change heat discharging of MFPC begins, the solidification front of paraffin quickly forms and extends along the foam skeleton, which results in remarkably extended thermal transport interface to release latent heat as well as improved spatial synergy in phase change. The effect of local thermal non-equilibrium between porous metal foam and paraffin proves to be intrinsic and significant, providing an efficient inner driving force for enhancing latent heat discharging within MFPC. The overall energy discharging performance of MFPC unit is remarkably improved as compared with pure paraffin unit, evidenced by a large enhancement in latent heat release rate (more than 3 times) with only small reduction (2.6 %) in heat capacity. Simultaneously, it is found that the paraffin-air interface for MFPC unit descends much faster due to accelerated volume shrinkage of paraffin in metal foam, resulting in a threefold enhancement in thermally-driven dynamic response rate. This study can help more deeply understanding the energy discharging performance of MFPC and providing fundamental guidance for its application in miniaturized thermal systems.

Numerical Simulation of Melting in Metal Foam/Paraffin Composite Phase Change Material Using a Physically More Reasonable Macroscale Model

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanpeng Yao ◽  
Huiying Wu
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Phase Change ◽  
Phase Change Material ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Phase Interface ◽  
Change Model ◽  
Composite Phase Change Material ◽  
Convection Dominated ◽  
Change Material ◽  
Change Problem

Abstract In this work, a macroscale model for melting phase change of metal foam/paraffin composite phase change material (MFPC) is developed by employing the enthalpy-porosity method and volume averaging technique. Both cases of varied and unvaried paraffin density during phase change are investigated in the model, and diffusion dominated interstitial heat exchange between paraffin and metal foam is considered along with the convection dominated interstitial heat transfer. The visualization experiments on melting phase change of copper foam/paraffin composite are carried out to validate the developed phase change model. It is found that with consideration of varied density of paraffin, the developed model can effectively solve the real melting problem of MFPC when metal foam is initially filled with solid paraffin. If the Boussinesq approximation is employed (i.e., unvaried paraffin density is considered during phase change), the model is more appropriate for the phase change problem on condition that metal foam can just be filled with liquid paraffin in the end of the melting process. Hence according to different treatments of paraffin density, the application of the phase change model needs to consider the influence of real paraffin filling condition of MFPC. The phase change model considering diffusion dominated interstitial heat transfer between stationary paraffin and metal foam can more accurately capture the solid-liquid phase interface positions as compared with the model only considering the convection dominated interstitial heat transfer. The present study can provide guidance for physically more reasonable simulation of the practical phase change problem of MFPC.

A composite phase change material thermal buffer based on porous metal foam and low-melting-temperature metal alloy

2020 ◽  
Vol 116 (7) ◽  
pp. 071901 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianyu Yang ◽  
Jin Gu Kang ◽  
Patricia B. Weisensee ◽  
Beomjin Kwon ◽  
Paul V. Braun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phase Change ◽  
Melting Temperature ◽  
Phase Change Material ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Porous Metal ◽  
Metal Alloy ◽  
Composite Phase Change Material ◽  
Change Material
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