Buoyancy-driven melting and solidification heat transfer in finned latent heat storage units
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer(2023)
Abstract
The thermal expansion and contraction property of phase change materials (PCMs) is a significant fac-tor in affecting the buoyancy-driven melting/solidification heat transfer performance in latent heat stor-age (LHS) units. To reveal the intrinsic mechanisms, a mathematical model of buoyancy-driven melt-ing/solidification processes in finned LHS units is constructed. The phase-change behaviors, thermal trans-port properties of different PCMs, and roles of heat transfer fluid (HTF) direction and fin layout in melt-ing/solidification performance are explored. The results indicated that when compared to conduction-dominated cases, the buoyancy-driven melting duration of gallium and n-octadecane increases by 1.8% and decreases by 32.6%, respectively, while the corresponding solidification times decrease by 8.4% and increase by 15.2%, respectively. The downward HTF enhances the melting rate of gallium with thermal -contraction properties and the solidification rate of n-octadecane with thermal-expansion properties. Conversely, the upward HTF enhances the melting rate of n-octadecane with thermal-expansion prop-erties and the solidification rate of gallium with thermal-contraction properties. For finned LHS units with upward HTF, the ladder-type and reverse ladder-type fins facilitate the melting performance of n-octadecane and gallium, respectively. Moreover, the ladder fins with non-uniform layouts weaken the solidification performance of PCMs with different thermal characteristics.& COPY; 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Key words
Thermal -expansion,Thermal -contraction,Latent heat storage,Buoyancy-driven
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