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Effect of sinusoidal cylindrical surface of PCM on melting performance

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Abstract

A numerical analysis was conducted to examine the effect of capsule shape on phase change material (PCM) melting speed. The surface parameters of the irregular capsule shape were amplitude a and the number of sinusoidal undulations n. Case studies were conducted: (1) with the same number of sinusoids but variable amplitude, (2) with the same amplitude but variable number of sinusoids, and (3) same PCM volume, i.e., the same irregular cylindrical capsule perimeter. Unlike observations with a convection-only inside capsule, the amplitude of irregularity in capsule shape a, rather than capsule area, was found to be the dominant factor in heat transfer enhancement. The capsule area was important only during the initial conduction-dominant period. The opposing influences of amplitude a and number of sinusoidal undulations n on the intensity of natural convection was observed. The result shows that only increasing the area does not increase the melting performance, it is the amplitude a which enhance the melting performance.

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Abbreviations

a :

Amplitude (m)

b :

Constant (10−4)

C :

Porosity constant (108)

C p :

Specific heat (J/kgºK)

e :

Ratio of the perimeter of regular to irregular cylinder

F o :

Fourier number (dimensionless time)

g :

Gravitational acceleration (m/s2)

h :

Sensible enthalpy (J/kg)

H :

Total enthalpy (J/kg)

k :

Thermal, conductivity (W/m·K)

L :

Latent heat of vaporization (J/kg)

m f :

Molten fraction (-)

n :

Number of sinusoidal

p :

Pressure (N/m2)

R :

Radius (m)

S :

Source term

S b :

Momentum source term in gravitational direction

T :

Temperature, K

T w :

Wall temperature, K

T 0 :

Initial temperature, K

t :

Time, s

u :

Velocity, m/s

β :

Thermal expansion coefficient (1/K)

γ :

Liquid fraction (-)

μ :

Dynamic viscosity (Pa-s)

ρ :

Density, kg/m3

avg :

Average of bulk fluid

l :

Liquid phase

m :

Melting

p :

PCM

ref :

Reference

s :

Solid phase

w :

Wall

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (No. 2017R1D1 A1B05030422).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Sejong University, Seoul, 05006, Korea

    Abhishek Awasthi, Binit Kumar, Huy Hai Nguyen, Seung Soo Lee & Jae Dong Chung

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  1. Abhishek Awasthi
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  2. Binit Kumar
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  3. Huy Hai Nguyen
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  4. Seung Soo Lee
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  5. Jae Dong Chung
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Correspondence to Jae Dong Chung.

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Recommended by Editor Yong Tae Kang

Abhishek Awasthi received his B.Tech. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kalasalingam University, Tamil Nadu, India in 2014. He is currently in M.S. & Ph.D. course in Sejong University. His research interests include latent thermal energy storage system and supercooling phenomena in PCM.

Binit Kumar received his M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sejong University, Seoul, Korea in 2020. His research interests include energy storage system such as latent heat energy storage.

Huy Hai Nguyen received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sejong University, Seoul, Korea in 2019. He is currently in M.S. course in Sejong University. His research interests include energy storage system such as latent heat energy storage and battery thermal management system.

Seung Soo Lee received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sejong University, Seoul, Korea in 2019. He is currently in M.S. course in Sejong University. His research interests include energy storage system such as latent heat energy storage and battery thermal management system.

Jae Dong Chung is a Professor in Mechanical Engineering, Sejong University. He received Ph.D. from Seoul National University in 1996. His research interests include sensible, latent and thermoschemical energy storage system and heat-driven refrigeration system such as desiccant and adsorp-tion cooling. On those topics, he published about 130 refereed papers.

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Awasthi, A., Kumar, B., Nguyen, H.H. et al. Effect of sinusoidal cylindrical surface of PCM on melting performance. J Mech Sci Technol 34, 3395–3402 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-0732-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-0732-0

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