Use of Nano-Encapsulated phase change material mixed with water for natural convection cooling in combination with nickel foam

Abstract

This study investigated the potential benefits of using free convection mechanisms to cool parts, as opposed to forced convection mechanisms that require energy to transfer heat and mass. The research team cooled a hot plate, which had a uniform heat flux, by utilizing the free convection flow inside a square cavity. They also installed a partial nickel porous media with different porosities on the hot plate and injected nano-encapsulated phase change material (NEPCM) particles into water to form a cooling fluid mixture. For the NEPCM particles, the researchers selected n-docosane with a melting temperature of 317.65 K for the core and polyurethane for the shell. The researchers used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to simulate the cooling process with varying parameters, including porosity, deflection angles, and NEPCM volume fraction. The results showed that the cooling performance of nickel foam was significantly better than that of NEPCM. For example, when the porosity of the nickel foam decreased from 0.98 to 0.93, the average Nusselt number increased by 142 %, indicating a considerable improvement in cooling efficiency. In comparison, increasing the NEPCM volume fraction from 0 to 6 % only resulted in a modest 5.6 % increase in the average Nusselt number.