The effect of the lower fin position on the PCM solidification process in a finned rectangular enclosure

Abstract

This study focuses on the heat transfer enhancement during solidification process of a phase change material (PCM) inside internally finned rectangular heat storage. Initially, the PCM (paraffin n-Octadecane) is in the liquid state at a temperature above the melting point. The solidification process occurs when the finned wall is abruptly cooled at a temperature below the melting point. To resolve the 2D transient problem heat transfer, the mass, momentum and energy conservation equations were integrated using the finite volume method. The enthalpy method was adopted to formulate the energy equation. To investigate the effect of fins on the thermal performance of the system during the discharging operational mode, a comparative study of finned and unfinned enclosures containing the same mass of PCM has been conducted. A parametric study was performed to evaluate how the storage performance is affected by the fins position. Numerical results show that the addition of fins in the PCM is an effective way to improve the heat transfer in the latent heat storage systems (LHSS).