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Experimental investigation on heat transfer behavior of the novel ternary eutectic PCM embedded with MWCNT for thermal energy storage systems

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Abstract

In this paper, the variation of thermophysical properties such as the thermal conductivity, thermal energy storage capacity, viscosity, and phase change temperature of the novel ternary eutectic phase change material (PCM) with respect to multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) concentration are investigated. The novel ternary eutectic PCM was formed by the permutation of oleic acid, isopropyl palmitate, butyl stearate in a eutectic mole fraction of 0.44–0.33–0.23. The heat transfer analysis of the materials encapsulated in spherical ball was experimentally investigated. The results concluded that the ternary eutectic PCM with 0.10 mass percentage of MWCNT enhances the heat transfer rate by 34.45% with respect to the pure PCM. Furthermore, the thermal conductivity of the MWCNT dispersed ternary eutectic PCM shows an increasing trend and reaches the maximum enhancement of 67.28% for 0.10 mass percentage of MWCNT concentration. The crystallinity decrement of the composite PCM was increased linearly from 0.19 to 3.2% for the increasing MWCNT concentration along with the convergence of melting and solidification enthalpy at the maximum dispersion of MWCNT concentration. New correlations governing the variation of thermal conductivity, viscosity and thermal expandability of the ternary eutectic PCM with respect to MWCNT concentrations have also been developed and presented in this study. The novel ternary eutectic PCM with 0.10 mass percentage of MWCNT with good thermal reliability after 500 thermal cycles and compatibility with the spherical encapsulated high-density polyethylene ball could be an eminent candidate for low-temperature cold storage applications.

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Abbreviations

X :

Mole fraction

Y :

Mass percentage of MWCNT

T :

Temperature (°C)

R :

Universal gas constant = 8.314 (J mol−1 K−1)

∆ fus h :

Molar enthalpy of fusion (J mol−1)

T fus :

Melting temperature of pure components (°C)

T m :

Phase change temperature of ternary eutectic PCM (°C)

X OA :

Mole fraction of oleic acid

X IP :

Mole fraction of isopropyl palmitate

X BS :

Mole fraction of butyl stearate

H OA :

Latent heat of oleic acid (kJ kg−1)

H IP :

Latent heat of isopropyl palmitate (kJ kg−1)

H BS :

Latent heat of butyl stearate (kJ kg−1)

T OA :

Phase change temperature of oleic acid (°C)

T IP :

Phase change temperature of isopropyl palmitate (°C)

T BS :

Phase change temperature of butyl stearate (°C)

T W :

Temperature of working fluid (°C)

n :

Number of independent parameters

B m :

Mass percentage of ternary eutectic PCM over the MWCNT

∆H composite :

Latent heat of composite PCM (kJ kg−1)

∆H pure PCM :

Latent heat of pure ternary eutectic PCM (kJ kg−1)

H F :

Freezing enthalpy of pure ternary eutectic PCM (kJ kg−1)

H m :

Melting enthalpy of pure ternary eutectic PCM (kJ kg−1)

C p :

Specific heat capacity of the pure and composite ternary eutectic PCM (kJ kg−1K−1)

L :

Latent heat capacity of the pure and composite ternary eutectic PCM (kJ kg−1)

R :

Inner radius of the spherical high-density polyethylene ball (m)

t :

Time (s)

F c :

Crystallinity of the composite PCM

Nu:

Nusselt number

Ra:

Raleigh number

Ste:

Stefan number

Fo:

Fourier number

α :

Eutectic mole fraction point of OA–IP

β :

Eutectic mole fraction point of OA–IP

γ :

Eutectic mole fraction point of BS–OA

η :

Heat loss efficiency of ternary eutectic PCM

ω R :

Total uncertainty

ω xi :

Uncertainty of variables

\(\alpha_{\text{te}}\) :

Thermal expansion coefficient of PCM (°C−1)

Γ :

Liquid fraction of the PCM

Λ :

Thermal conductivity (W m−1 K−1)

ρ :

Density of the pure and composite ternary eutectic PCM (Kg m−3)

ν :

Kinematic viscosity (cSt)

OA:

Oleic acid

IP:

Isopropyl palmitate

BS:

Butyl stearate

MWCNT:

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes

PCM:

Phase change materials

DSC:

Differential scanning calorimeter

HTF:

Heat transfer fluid

HDPE:

High-density polyethylene

FESEM:

Field emission scanning electron microscopy

XRD:

X-ray diffraction

FTIR:

Fourier transform infrared spectrometer

TG/DTG:

Thermogravimetric/derivative thermogravimetric

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge DST, New Delhi for providing financial support to carry out this research work under DST-TDT scheme (DST-TDT File No. DST/TDT/LCCT-03/2017).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Science and Technology, AC Tech Campus, Anna University, Chennai, 600 025, India

    R. Dinesh, S. Imran Hussain & S. Kalaiselvam

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, CEG Campus, Anna University, Chennai, 600 025, India

    R. Dinesh & S. Kalaiselvam

  3. Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Panimalar Engineering College, Chennai, 600 123, India

    A. Ameelia Roseline

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  1. R. Dinesh
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  4. S. Kalaiselvam
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Correspondence to S. Kalaiselvam.

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Dinesh, R., Hussain, S.I., Roseline, A.A. et al. Experimental investigation on heat transfer behavior of the novel ternary eutectic PCM embedded with MWCNT for thermal energy storage systems. J Therm Anal Calorim 145, 2935–2949 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-020-09726-4

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