Effects of aspect ratio and mushy-zone parameter on melting performance of a thermal energy storage unit filled with phase change material
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Azim Memon
Abstract
An intermittent supply of energy from renewable or unconventional resources has resulted in the use of phase change materials (PCM) in thermal energy storage (TES) systems. In this work, melting and heat transfer characteristics in a rectangular enclosure of different aspect ratios (width to height) filled with a phase change material (PCM) have been studied numerically. The n-octadecane has been selected as the PCM (melting temp = 301.35 K, Prandtl number ∼ 60). We considered five different aspect ratios (AR) of the enclosure to delineate the effects of 9-fold variation in the aspect ratio. The simulations were carried out using ANSYS Fluent 19.2. In particular, extensive results have been presented and discussed in terms of the temperature contours, rate of melting and energy storage, and total time required to reach the fully melt condition. Additionally, the effect of the mushy zone parameter (A mush ) on the melting performance has also been investigated. Low values of the A mush were seen to predict the higher rate of melting. At a fixed value of A mush , ∼ 3 times faster melting rate was observed as the value of AR was reduced from 3 to 1/3. Finally, it can be concluded that melting and energy storage rate largely depends on the aspect ratio of the enclosure and the optimal choice of the value of the A mush .
Acknowledgements
Anoop K. Gupta (corresponding author) gratefully acknowledges the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of INDIA for the INSPIRE Faculty Research Grant for the period 2018–2023 to carry out this work.
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Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
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Research funding: None declared.
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Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding this article.
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Articles in the same Issue
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- Editorial
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- 10.1515/ijcre-2021-0153
- Special Issue Articles
- Kinetics studies on free radical scavenging property of ceria in polysulfone–ceria radiation resistant mixed-matrix membrane
- Dynamics of dust particles in a conducting water-based kerosene nanomaterials: a computational approach
- Calculations of activation energy and frequency factors for corn leafs pyrolysis using excel solver: new concept
- Removal of organic matter from wastewater coming from fruit juice production using solar photo-Fenton process
- Effects of aspect ratio and mushy-zone parameter on melting performance of a thermal energy storage unit filled with phase change material
- Simulation studies of n-heptane/toluene separation by extractive distillation using sulfolane, phenol, and NMP
- Kinetic-invariant analysis of dye degradation in an annular slurry bubble-column photo reactor
- Process intensification for enzyme assisted turmeric starch hydrolysis in hydrotropic and supercritical conditions
- Investigation on crystallization phenomena with supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) as the antisolvent
