Numerical Analysis of Melting of Nano-Enhanced Phase Change Material (NePCM) in a Cavity with Different Positions of Two Heat Source-Sink Pairs

Thermal energy can be stored in the three forms of sensible heat, latent heat and thermo-chemical reactions. The latent heat, i.e. the heat that is stored during phase change process, plays an important role in melting process. In the Present work, melting of a NePCM in a square cavity with different horizontal angles with two heat source-sink pairs flush-mounted on the horizontal sidewalls is investigated numerically. Four different cases are studied: Case 1. Where the sources and sinks are separately placed on two horizontal sidewalls; Case 2. Where the sources and sinks are alternately placed on two horizontal sidewalls; Case 3. Where the sources are placed on the left sides of the sinks on the horizontal sidewalls; and Case 4 where the sources and sinks are placed on down horizontal sidewalls. It is found that Case 1 with 2% weight of Al2O3 nanoparticle has most liquid fraction ratio comparing to the other cases. In all the cases studied, the volumetric concentration of nanoparticles of 2% would result in the highest melting rate.

[1]  S. Y. Wu,et al.  An investigation of melting/freezing characteristics of nanoparticle-enhanced phase change materials , 2012, Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry.

[2]  J. Khodadadi,et al.  Numerical Simulation of the Effect of the Size of Suspensions on the Solidification Process of Nanoparticle-Enhanced Phase Change Materials , 2013 .

[3]  Ching-Jenq Ho,et al.  An experimental study on melting heat transfer of paraffin dispersed with Al2O3 nanoparticles in a vertical enclosure , 2013 .

[4]  Tarik Kousksou,et al.  Melting over a wavy surface in a rectangular cavity heated from below , 2014 .

[5]  J. Khodadadi,et al.  Experimental and numerical study of constrained melting of n-octadecane with CuO nanoparticle dispersions in a horizontal cylindrical capsule subjected to a constant heat flux , 2013 .

[6]  Ali Akbar Ranjbar,et al.  Solidification of nano-enhanced phase change material (NEPCM) in a wavy cavity , 2012 .

[7]  Yuwen Zhang,et al.  Melting in an enclosure with discrete heating at a constant rate , 1993 .

[8]  A. Mujumdar,et al.  Numerical evaluation of laminar heat transfer enhancement in nanofluid flow in coiled square tubes , 2011, Nanoscale research letters.

[9]  Yu-Qi Xiao,et al.  An experimental investigation of melting of nanoparticle-enhanced phase change materials (NePCMs) in a bottom-heated vertical cylindrical cavity , 2013 .

[10]  F. L. Tan,et al.  Numerical investigations of unconstrained melting of nano-enhanced phase change material (NEPCM) inside a spherical container , 2012 .

[11]  Hang Yu,et al.  Experimental and numerical study of the thermal performance of a new type of phase change material room , 2013 .

[12]  Arun S. Mujumdar,et al.  Transient cooling of electronics using phase change material (PCM)-based heat sinks , 2008 .

[13]  J. Khodadadi,et al.  Experimental and numerical investigation of melting of NePCM inside an annular container under a constant heat flux including the effect of eccentricity , 2013 .

[14]  D. Das,et al.  Numerical study of fluid dynamic and heat transfer performance of Al2O3 and CuO nanofluids in the flat tubes of a radiator , 2010 .

[15]  Mustapha Faraji,et al.  Numerical study of melting in an enclosure with discrete protruding heat sources , 2010 .

[16]  Abdolrahman Dadvand,et al.  Numerical study of the melting of nano-enhanced phase change material in a square cavity , 2013 .

[17]  Arun S. Mujumdar,et al.  Numerical study on melting of paraffin wax with Al2O3 in a square enclosure , 2012 .

[18]  Nabeel S. Dhaidan,et al.  Experimental and numerical investigation of melting of phase change material/nanoparticle suspensions in a square container subjected to a constant heat flux , 2013 .

[19]  Mousa Farhadi,et al.  On the expedited melting of phase change material (PCM) through dispersion of nanoparticles in the thermal storage unit , 2014, Comput. Math. Appl..

[20]  Arun S. Mujumdar,et al.  NUMERICAL PERFORMANCE STUDY OF PARAFFIN WAX DISPERSED WITH ALUMINA IN A CONCENTRIC PIPE LATENT HEAT STORAGE SYSTEM , 2013 .