Numerical investigation of heat transfer and melting process in a PCM capsule: Effects of inner tube position and Stefan number

Case Studies in Thermal Engineering

Farid Mechighel¹  Kaouther Ghachem¹  Lioua Kolsi²  Abdelkader Filali³  Tarek Bouzennada³ 

[1] Plant Maintenance Research Laboratory. (LR3MI), Mechanical Engineering. Department., Faculty of Engineering, Badji Mokhtar University, P.O. Box 12, Annaba, 23052, Algeria;Laboratoire de Mécanique et Systèmes énergétiques Avancés, Ecole Nationale Polytechnique de Constantine, BP75, A, Nouvelle Ville Ali Mendjli, 25000, Constantine, Algeria;;Mechanics of Materials &

关键词: PCM;    Heat transfer;    Melting;    Stefan number;    Phase change;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The present paper presents a 2D-symmetric numerical study within a new-suggested configuration of a PCM's capsule aimed to investigate the heat distribution and the melting time under the effect of different factors including the position of the inner-tube and its temperature wall that is presented by Stefan number. This capsule involves an inner-tube allowing a heat transfer fluid (HTF) to flow through it and surrounded by a phase change material PCM (n-Octadecane). The governing equations are solved by using Comsol-Multiphysics commercial code. The results reveal that both heat-transfer/melting rates are improved when the inner-tube moving downward or with increasing the Ste number. whereas with the same Ste value (Ste = 0.06), the melting rate and the stored energy are better by 15.29 % and 25.77 % for the central and bottom position cases respectively than the top position. on other hand the lowest results are found in the case of Ste = 0.06 and when the HTF-tube is located in the top position, besides the case of Ste = 0.15 and when the HTF-tube is located in the bottom position provides the best results by 28 %.

【 授权许可】

Unknown