Experimental study of the effect of high humidity on the phase change plate thermal storage under natural convection

Abstract

Phase change materials (PCMs) play a significant role in energy storage and temperature regulating, but the traditional researches failed to accurately consider the influence of high humidity on the thermal performance of phase change-unit, leading to a fallible guide, especially in humid region. This research fills in an important research gap by designing a novel experiment to clarify the influence of high humidity environment on the melting process of phase change plate (PCP). Further, the improved momentum equation and the similarity number Grd caused by humidity ratio difference are derived in theoretical method. Finally, the heat and mass transfer criterion equations of PCP under natural convection are fitted. The results show that the melting process of PCP is significantly affected by high temperature and humidity environment in different ways. Under the experimental condition, the melting rate of PCP can be increased by more than 60%, and the proportion of latent heat transfer can reach more than 80%. The heat and mass transfer criterion equations adopt the same form but different coefficients. The results would provide valuable design guidelines for engineers regarding the estimation of the energy release process of phase change-unit used in a humid climate zone at the design stage.