Melting behavior and heat transfer performance in a modified PCM-filled enclosure with fins under hypergravity conditions

Abstract

The latent heat energy storage (LHTES) system has been suggested for the thermal management of airborne equipment due to its superior thermal energy storage capability. The enthalpy-porosity method is used to investigate the melting heat transfer characteristics of phase change material (PCM) in embedded fin enclosures under hypergravity. The effects of different hypergravity values and directions on the melting process are analyzed. The results indicate that the melting is greatly accelerated by the fin due to its high thermal conductivity. Compared with the enclosure without fins, the addition of fins reduced the melting time by a maximum of 46.0%. Under the hypergravitational environment, natural convection is significantly enhanced, which leads to a more than 5 times increase in the maximum velocity of the liquid PCM as the gravity value increases from 1 g to 9 g. The direction of hypergravity also affects the heat transfer performance. Under hypergravity values of 5 g, the total melting time at θ = 0° is reduced by 60.24% compared to the case of θ = 90°. The findings of this study may contribute to the design of the LHTES system in aerospace applications.