Numerical investigation of the freezing of a phase change material in a thermal storage device with an embedded evaporator

H. Ezzat Khalifa, Mustafa Koz

Research output: Chapter in Book/Entry/PoemConference contribution

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Two time-dependent mathematical and numerical models with different levels of complexity and fidelity were developed to investigate the freezing of a PCM configured as a slab with an embedded serpentine microchannel evaporator of a vapor compression refrigeration system. The time-dependent PCM freezing process was first analyzed using finite-element modeling (FEM) of a representative 2-D domain. This model incorporates 2-D conduction and natural convection within the molten PCM. The FEM revealed that natural convection is negligible and that the freezing front advances in essentially 1-D fashion. However, the long execution time of FEM makes it unsuitable for repetitive design optimization of thermal storage devices. Consequently, a fast-executing quasi 2-D reducedorder model (ROM) was developed. The ROM is then utilized to study the freezing process in a multi-slab thermal storage device that is designed to store ∼500 W-h of "cooling" during ∼8 h of freezing operation at night, to be subsequently released for local cooling of room air during the day. The results show that (1) freezing rate is strongly affected by the frozen PCM thermal conductivity; (2) freezing almost ceases once the refrigerant is fully evaporated; (3) refrigerant exit quality drops precipitously toward the end of the freezing cycle.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationHeat Transfer in Multiphase Systems; Gas Turbine Heat Transfer; Manufacturing and Materials Processing; Heat Transfer in Electronic Equipment; Heat and Mass Transfer in Biotechnology; Heat Transfer Under Extreme Conditions; Computational Heat Transfer; Heat Transfer Visualization Gallery; General Papers on Heat Transfer; Multiphase Flow and Heat Transfer; Transport Phenomena in Manufacturing and Materials Processing
PublisherAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers
ISBN (Electronic)9780791850336
DOIs
StatePublished - 2016
EventASME 2016 Heat Transfer Summer Conference, HT 2016, collocated with the ASME 2016 Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting and the ASME 2016 14th International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels, and Minichannels - Washington, United States
Duration: Jul 10 2016Jul 14 2016

Publication series

NameASME 2016 Heat Transfer Summer Conference, HT 2016, collocated with the ASME 2016 Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting and the ASME 2016 14th International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels, and Minichannels
Volume2

Other

OtherASME 2016 Heat Transfer Summer Conference, HT 2016, collocated with the ASME 2016 Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting and the ASME 2016 14th International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels, and Minichannels
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityWashington
Period7/10/167/14/16

Keywords

  • Phase-change materials
  • Thermal energy storage

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes

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