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Numerical Study on Melting of Al2O3 Nanoparticles Dispersed Paraffin Wax in a Copper Foam

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Innovations in Energy, Power and Thermal Engineering

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering ((LNME))

Abstract

Thermal energy storage using phase change materials (PCM) has gained considerable attention since it can eliminate the gap between supply and demand of energy. Paraffin wax is a promising PCM for energy storage from low temperature sources. However, its application is limited due to low thermal conductivity which reduces the rate of melting/solidification. Current work investigates the performance of paraffin wax dispersed with Al2O3 nanoparticle during melting in a copper foam. The solid-liquid interface, isotherms, and stream functions are presented using non-equilibrium computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study. The effect of natural convection inside the porous zone is studied for three heating conditions viz. heating from side wall, top wall, and bottom wall. Results showed that the use of nanoparticles and copper foam reduced melting time through improvement in the effective thermal conductivity of the paraffin wax. Also, natural convection played a significant role in the melting process and could not be ignored. Fastest rate of melting was observed for the case of heating from the bottom wall due to natural convection. The results from the study demonstrate the ability of metal foams and nanoparticles in enhancing the heat storage rate by enhancing the effective conductivity of PCMs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Mizoram, Aizawl, 796012, India

    Laxman Mishra, Abhijit Sinha, Dipankar Saha & Rajat Gupta

Authors
  1. Laxman Mishra
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  2. Abhijit Sinha
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  3. Dipankar Saha
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  4. Rajat Gupta
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, India

    Muthukumar Palanisamy

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Puducherry, Puducherry, India

    Sendhil Kumar Natarajan

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Calicut, Kozhikode, India

    Simon Jayaraj

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Rourkela, Rourkela, India

    Murugan Sivalingam

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Mishra, L., Sinha, A., Saha, D., Gupta, R. (2022). Numerical Study on Melting of Al2O3 Nanoparticles Dispersed Paraffin Wax in a Copper Foam. In: Palanisamy, M., Natarajan, S.K., Jayaraj, S., Sivalingam, M. (eds) Innovations in Energy, Power and Thermal Engineering . Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4489-4_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4489-4_16

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-16-4488-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-16-4489-4

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