Abstract
Experiments were carried out in an environmental chamber with the aim to monitor the melting front propagation in a rectangular cavity filled with a paraffin-based Phase Change Material (PCM). The PCM was contained in transparent containers with the heat flux introduced by means of an electric heating element. The stabilized power source was used to maintain the constant heat output of the heating elements. The experiments were performed for the heat flux introduced at the side wall of the container and at the upper surface of the PCM. The paraffin-based PCM RT28HC with the phase change temperature of 28 °C was used in the experiments. The temperature in the environmental chamber was maintained at the melting temperature of the PCM. The propagation of the melting front was monitored with a digital camera and temperatures at several locations were monitored with RTDs and thermocouples. Significant natural convection was observed for the heat flux introduced at the side wall of the container. As a result the melting front propagated much faster at the top of the container than at its bottom. The heat flux introduced at the upper-surface of the PCM resulted in almost one-dimensional propagation of the melting front. The acquired data are to be used for validation of an in-house developed numerical model based on the front-tracking method.
Highlights
Thermal energy storage makes it possible to balance supply and demand of thermal energy over certain periods of time
It was assumed that the heat flux introduced on one side of the Phase Change Material (PCM) block would lead to the quasi-2D propagation of the melting front
The liquid PCM was poured into the container and the container was placed in the environmental chamber where the ambient temperature was kept below the melting temperature
Summary
Thermal energy storage makes it possible to balance supply and demand of thermal energy over certain periods of time. Latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES), which employs phase change of matter in order to store thermal energy, is much less commonly used. Unconstrained melting means that the solid PCM is not held in place and it can freely move within the enclosure or container due to gravity force or other forces. In case of the constrained melting some measures are taken to prevent solid PCM from moving freely in the enclosure or container. Kamkari et al [2] reported experimental investigation of the effect of inclination angle on convection-driven melting of phase change material in a rectangular enclosure. Fan et al [4] reported experimental and numerical investigation of constrained melting heat transfer of a PCM in a circumferentially finned spherical capsule. The goal of the experiments was to obtain experimental data for validation of numerical models
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