A two-dimensional melting of a technical-grade phase-change material is modeled. The phase-change material is placed in the annular space formed by an outer regular hexagonal tube and an inner tube. A nonorthogonal boundary fitted coordinate method is implemented on a staggered grid arrangement. The mushy region of the impure phase-change material has been accommodated through the enthalpy-porosity scheme. A set of parametric studies is carried out. Selected results are presented as a function of time for the velocity and temperature fields, the cumulatively stored energy, the total melt fraction, and the average Nusselt number on the inner tube. The oblate-shaped inner tube results in the highest melting rate and stores the maximum energy among the studied units irrespective of the shape and vertical position of the inner tube. Among the three vertical positions of the inner circular tube, when the center of the inner tube is placed at one-third height from the base of the outer tube, it shows the greatest thermal efficiency, and the worst performance is obtained for the upper position of the inner tube at the two-thirds height of the outer tube. With the increase in the Rayleigh number (wall temperature), the amount of energy storage is enhanced.
Energy Storage by Melting Commercial Change Phase Materials in Hexagonal-Shaped Heat Exchangers
Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer ; 32 , 4 ; 1013-1030
2018-03-12
18 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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