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Study on the efficiency of effective thermal conductivities on the melting characteristics of latent heat storage capsules.

Author(s) : SHIINA Y., INAGAKI T.

Type of article: Article

Summary

Improvement of the thermal conductivity of a phase change materials (PCM) is one effective technique to reduce phase-change time in latent heat storage technology. Thermal conductivity is improved by saturating porous metals with phase-change materials. The influence of effective thermal conductivity on melting time was studied by analysing the melting characteristics of a heat storage circular capsule in which porous metal saturated with PCM was inserted. Numerical and approximate analyses were made under conditions where there are uniform or non-uniform heat transfer coefficients around the cylindrical surface. Four PCMs and three metals (copper, aluminium and carbon steel) were selected as specific materials. The porosities of the metals were restricted to be larger than 0.9 in order to keep high capacity of latent heat storage. The results showed that a considerable reduction in melting time was obtained, especially for low-conductivity PCMs and for high heat transfer coefficient. The melting time obtained by approximate analysis agreed well with numerical analysis. A trial estimation of optimum porosity was made by balancing the desirable conditions of high latent heat capacity and reduction in melting time. The optimum porosity decreases with increase in the heat transfer coefficient.

Details

  • Original title: Study on the efficiency of effective thermal conductivities on the melting characteristics of latent heat storage capsules.
  • Record ID : 2005-1704
  • Languages: English
  • Source: International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer - vol. 48 - n. 2
  • Publication date: 2005/01

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