Melting of Phase Change Materials With Volume Change in Metal Foams

2010 ◽  
Vol 132 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhen Yang ◽  
Suresh V. Garimella
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Nusselt Number ◽  
Phase Change ◽  
Volume Change ◽  
Phase Change Materials ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Melting Process ◽  
Metal Foams ◽  
Volume Shrinkage ◽  
Two Temperature

Melting of phase change materials (PCMs) embedded in metal foams is investigated. The two-temperature model developed accounts for volume change in the PCM upon melting. Volume-averaged mass and momentum equations are solved, with the Brinkman–Forchheimer extension to Darcy’s law employed to model the porous-medium resistance. Local thermal equilibrium does not hold due to the large difference in thermal diffusivity between the metal foam and the PCM. Therefore, a two-temperature approach is adopted, with the heat transfer between the metal foam and the PCM being coupled by means of an interstitial Nusselt number. The enthalpy method is applied to account for phase change. The governing equations are solved using a finite-volume approach. Effects of volume shrinkage/expansion are considered for different interstitial heat transfer rates between the foam and PCM. The detailed behavior of the melting region as a function of buoyancy-driven convection and interstitial Nusselt number is analyzed. For strong interstitial heat transfer, the melting region is significantly reduced in extent and the melting process is greatly enhanced as is heat transfer from the wall; the converse applies for weak interstitial heat transfer. The melting process at a low interstitial Nusselt number is significantly influenced by melt convection, while the behavior is dominated by conduction at high interstitial Nusselt numbers. Volume shrinkage/expansion due to phase change induces an added flow, which affects the PCM melting rate.

scholarly journals Experimental thermal performance comparison of pure and metal foam-loaded PCMs

2021 ◽  
Vol 2116 (1) ◽  
pp. 012058
Author(s):  
M Silvestrini ◽  
M Falcone ◽  
F Salvi ◽  
C Naldi ◽  
M Dongellini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Phase Change ◽  
Thermal Performance ◽  
Phase Change Materials ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Melting Process ◽  
Metal Foams ◽  
Performance Comparison ◽  
Melting Time ◽  
Porous Metals

Abstract The thermal performance of latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) systems considerably depends on thermal conductivity of adopted phase change materials (PCMs). To increase the low thermal conductivity of these materials, pure PCMs can be loaded with metal foams. In this study, the melting process of pure and metal-foam loaded phase change materials placed in a rectangular shape case is experimentally investigated by imposing a constant heat flux at the top. Two different paraffin waxes with melting point of about 35°C are tested. The results obtained with pure PCM are compared with those achieved from the use of PCM combined with two different porous metals: a 10 PPI aluminum foam with 96% porosity and a 20 PPI copper foam with 95% porosity. The results demonstrate how metal foams lead to a significant improvement of conduction heat transfer reducing significantly the melting time and the temperature difference between the heater and PCM.

Solid/Liquid Phase Change Heat Transfer in Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Zhou ◽  
C. Y. Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Energy Storage ◽  
Phase Change ◽  
Calcium Chloride ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Phase Change Materials ◽  
Metal Foams ◽  
Chloride Hexahydrate

Phase change materials (PCMs) have been widely used for thermal energy storage systems due to their capability of storing and releasing large amounts of energy with a small volume and a moderate temperature variation. Most PCMs suffer the common problem of low thermal conductivity, being around 0.2 and 0.5 for paraffin and inorganic salts, respectively, which prolongs the charging and discharging period. In an attempt to improve the thermal conductivity of phase change materials, the graphite or metallic matrix is often embedded within PCMs to enhance the heat transfer. This paper presents an experimental study on heat transfer characteristics of PCMs embedded with open-celled metal foams. In this study both paraffin wax and calcium chloride hexahydrate are employed as the heat storage media. The transient heat transfer behavior is measured. Compared to the results of pure PCMs samples, the investigation shows that the additions of metal foams can double the overall heat transfer rate during the melting process. The results of calcium chloride hexahydrate are also compared with those of paraffin wax.

Heat Transfer Enhancement of Finned Copper Foam/Paraffin Composite Phase Change Material

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tingting Wu ◽  
Yanxin Hu ◽  
Xianqing Liu ◽  
Changhong Wang ◽  
Zijin Zeng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Phase Change ◽  
Transfer Rate ◽  
Flow Resistance ◽  
Phase Change Materials ◽  
Heat Transfer Performance ◽  
Melting Process ◽  
Copper Foam ◽  
Composite Phase Change Material ◽  
Change Material

Background: The employment of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) provides a potential selection for heat dissipation and energy storage. The main reason that hinders the wide application is the low thermal conductivity of PCMs. Combining the proper metal fin and copper foam, the fin/composite phase change material (Fin-CPCM) structure with good performance could be obtained. However, the flow resistance of liquid paraffin among the porous structure has seldom been reported, which will significantly affect the thermal performance inside the metal foam. Furthermore, the presence of porous metal foam is primarily helpful for enhancing the heat transfer process from the bottom heat source. The heat transfer rate is slow due to the one-dimensional heat transfer from the bottom. It should be beneficial for improving the heat transfer performance by adding external fins. Therefore, in the present study, a modified structure by combining the metal fin and copper foam is proposed to further accelerate the melting process and improve the temperature uniformity of the composite. Objective: The purpose of this study is to research the differences in the heat transfer performance among pure paraffin, Composite Phase Change Materials (CPCM) and fin/Composite Phase Change Material (Fin-CPCM) under different heating conditions, and the flow resistance of melting paraffin in copper foam. Methods: To experimentally research the differences in the heat transfer performance among pure paraffin, CPCM and Fin-CPCM under different heating conditions, a visual experimental platform was set up, and the flow resistance of melting paraffin in copper foam was also analyzed. In order to probe into the limits of the heat transfer capability of composite phase change materials, the temperature distribution of PCMs under constant heat fluxes and constant temperature conditions was studied. In addition, the evolution of the temperature distributions was visualized by using the infrared thermal imager at specific points during the melting process. Results: The experimental results showed that the maximum temperature of Fin-CPCM decreased by 21°C under the heat flux of 1500W/m2 compared with pure paraffin. At constant temperature heating conditions, the melting time of Fin-CPCM at a temperature of 75°C is about 2600s, which is 65% less than that of pure paraffin. Due to the presence of the external fins, which brings the advantage of improving the heat transfer rate, the experimental result exhibited the most uniform temperature distribution. Conclusion: The addition of copper foam can accelerate the melting process. The addition of external fins brings the advantage of improving the heat transfer rate, and can make the temperature distribution more uniform.

Heat Transfer Enhancement of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) in Low and High Temperature Thermal Storage by Using Porous Materials

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Y. Zhao ◽  
D. Zhou ◽  
Z. G. Wu
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
High Temperature ◽  
Phase Change ◽  
Porous Materials ◽  
Phase Change Materials ◽  
Heat Transfer Performance ◽  
Expanded Graphite ◽  
Metal Foams ◽  
Transfer Performance ◽  
Solid Liquid

In this paper the solid/liquid phase change heat transfer in porous materials (metal foams and expanded graphite) at low and high temperatures is experimentally investigated, in an attempt to examine the feasibility of using metal foams to enhance the heat transfer capability of phase change materials for use with both the low and high temperature thermal energy storage systems. In this research, the organic commercial paraffin wax and inorganic hydrate calcium chloride hydrate salts were employed as the low-temperature materials, while the sodium nitrate is used as the high-temperature PCM in the experiment. The heat transfer characteristics of these PCMs embedded with open-cell metal foams were studied experimentally. The composites of paraffin and expanded graphite with different graphite mass ratios, namely, 3%, 6% and 9%, were also made and the heat transfer performances of these composites were tested and compared with metal foams. Overall metal foams can provide better heat transfer performance than expanded graphite due to their continuous inter-connected structures. But the porous materials can suppress the natural convection effect in liquid zone, particularly for the PCMs with low viscosities, thereby leading to the different heat transfer performance at different regimes (solid, solid/liquid and liquid regions). This implies that the porous materials don’t necessarily mean they can always enhance heat transfer in every regime.

Heat Transfer Characteristics of Oscillating Flow Through Highly Porous Medium

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. W. Jin ◽  
K. C. Leong
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Nusselt Number ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Metal Foams ◽  
Porous Channel ◽  
Oscillating Flow ◽  
Transient Temperature ◽  
Heat Transfer Characteristics ◽  
Flow Through ◽  
Highly Porous

Heat transfer in porous media has been investigated extensively with the motivation of enhancing heat removal in electronics cooling applications. Many investigations have been conducted on heat transfer in a channel filled with porous media. However, steady flow through a porous channel still yield a higher temperature difference along the flow direction. It is conceivable that oscillating flow through a porous channel will produce a more uniform temperature distribution due to the two thermal entrance regions of oscillating flow. As compared to a porous channel packed with metal particles, spheres or woven-screens, the highly porous open-cell metal foam possesses a different configuration. The polyhedral pore and reticulated ligament structures provide the extremely large fluid-to-solid contact surface area and tortuous coolant flow path inside the metal foam, which could increase dramatically the overall heat transfer rate. A survey of the literature shows that heat transfer in open-cell metal foam were mostly investigated under steady flow condition. Published literature on heat transfer in metal foams subjected to oscillating flow is scarce. This paper presents both experimental and numerical investigations on the heat transfer characteristics for oscillating flow through highly porous medium. Experiments were carried out to study the effect of the oscillatory frequency on the heat transfer in metal foams with various pore densities. The results show that the local Nusselt number increases with the kinetic Reynolds number. Higher total heat transfer rates for oscillating flow can be obtained by using high pore density metal foam. The numerical simulation is focused on the study of the variations of the transient temperature and Nusselt number at different locations in the porous channel during a complete cycle. The numerical results show that the profile of the transient temperature decreases with the increase of the distance along the vertical direction and the variation of the instantaneous Nusselt number at entrance region is more significant than that at the location close to the center of the porous channel. It is also found that the two-dimensional temperature distributions in the numerical domain are symmetric about the center of the channel at the cycle-steady state. The comparison shows that the results obtained by the simulation are in reasonably good agreement with the experimental data.

scholarly journals Flow and Heat Transfer in Micro Pin Fin Heat Sinks With Nano-Encapsulated Phase Change Materials

2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bahram Rajabifar ◽  
Hamid Reza Seyf ◽  
Yuwen Zhang ◽  
Sanjeev K. Khanna
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Nusselt Number ◽  
Phase Change ◽  
Wall Temperature ◽  
Phase Change Materials ◽  
Euler Number ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Inlet Velocity ◽  
Pin Fin ◽  
Flow And Heat Transfer

In this paper, a 3D-conjugated heat transfer model for nano-encapsulated phase change materials (NEPCMs) cooled micro pin fin heat sink (MPFHS) is presented. The governing equations of flow and heat transfer are solved using a finite volume method based on collocated grid and the results are validated with the available data reported in the literature. The effect of nanoparticles volume fraction (C = 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3), inlet velocity (Vin = 0.015, 0.030, and 0.045 m/s), and bottom wall temperature (Twall = 299.15, 303.15, 315.15, and 350.15 K) is studied on Nusselt and Euler numbers as well as temperature contours in the system. The results indicate that significant heat transfer enhancement is achieved when using the NEPCM slurry as an advanced coolant. The maximum Nusselt number when NEPCM slurry (C = 0.3) with Vin = 0.015, 0.030, and 0.045 (m/s) is employed is 2.27, 1.81, and 1.56 times higher than the ones with base fluid, respectively. However, with increasing bottom wall temperature, the Nusselt number first increases then decreases. The former is due to higher heat transfer capability of coolant at temperatures over the melting range of phase change material (PCM) particles due to partial melting of nanoparticles in this range. However, the latter phenomenon is due to the lower capability of the NEPCM particles and consequently coolant in absorbing heat at coolant temperatures is higher than the temperature correspond to fully melted NEPCM. It was observed that the NEPCM slurry has a drastic effect on the Euler number, and with increasing volume fraction and decreasing inlet velocity, the Euler number increases accordingly.

scholarly journals Effect of Inclined Magnetic Field on the Entropy Generation in an Annulus Filled with NEPCM Suspension

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Seyyed Masoud Seyyedi ◽  
M. Hashemi-Tilehnoee ◽  
M. Sharifpur
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Phase Change ◽  
Entropy Generation ◽  
Phase Change Materials ◽  
Transfer Problem ◽  
Mass Conservation ◽  
Melting Process ◽  
Industrial Applications ◽  
Inclined Magnetic Field

The encapsulation technique of phase change materials in the nanodimension is an innovative approach to improve the heat transfer capability and solve the issues of corrosion during the melting process. This new type of nanoparticle is suspended in base fluids call NEPCMs, nanoencapsulated phase change materials. The goal of this work is to analyze the impacts of pertinent parameters on the free convection and entropy generation in an elliptical-shaped enclosure filled with NEPCMs by considering the effect of an inclined magnetic field. To reach the goal, the governing equations (energy, momentum, and mass conservation) are solved numerically by CVFEM. Currently, to overcome the low heat transfer problem of phase change material, the NEPCM suspension is used for industrial applications. Validation of results shows that they are acceptable. The results reveal that the values of N u ave descend with ascending Ha while N gen has a maximum at Ha = 16 . Also, the value of N T , MF increases with ascending Ha . The values of N u ave and N gen depend on nondimensional fusion temperature where good performance is seen in the range of 0.35 < θ f < 0.6 . Also, Nu ave increases 19.9% and ECOP increases 28.8% whereas N gen descends 6.9% when ϕ ascends from 0 to 0.06 at θ f = 0.5 . Nu ave decreases 4.95% while N gen increases by 8.65% when Ste increases from 0.2 to 0.7 at θ f = 0.35 .

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