Experimental Study on Heat Storage Properties Comparison of Paraffin/Metal Foams Phase Change Material Composites

• Published in: Journal of thermal science Vol. 33; no. 2; pp. 469 - 478
• Main Authors: Ahmed, Waqar, Hussain, Abid, Shahid, Hanzla, Ali, Imran, Ali, Hafiz Muhammad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.03.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Classical and Continuum Physics; Composite materials; Copper; Energy storage; Engineering Fluid Dynamics; Engineering Thermodynamics; Foamed metals; Heat and Mass Transfer; Heat flux; Heat storage; Heat transfer; Iron; Metal foams; Nickel; Paraffins; Phase change materials; Phase transitions; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Special Column: Recent Advances in PCMs as Thermal Energy Storage in Energy Systems; Storage systems; Temperature distribution; Thermal conductivity; Thermodynamic properties; paraffin/metal foam composite; temperature uniformity; heat storage rate; heat storage capacity; phase transition process
• ISSN: 1003-2169; 1993-033X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11630-023-1828-5

Heat storage properties of phase change materials (PCMs) are essential characteristics that perform a key role in thermal heat energy storage systems. The thermal properties of PCMs can be improved by developing metal foam/PCM composites. The addition of metal foam in PCMs has a significant effect on the thermal characteristics of PCMs. In this paper, the heat storage properties of two different metal foam/PCM composites were experimentally examined. The behavior of paraffin in metal foam (copper and iron-nickel)/paraffin composites concerning pure paraffin at a constant heat flux of 1000 W/m 2 in three directions simultaneously ( x , y , and z ) was studied. Paraffin was infiltrated into copper and iron-nickel foams to develop composite materials which resulted in enhancing the thermal conductivity of the paraffin. A comparative analysis is made on the heat storage properties of paraffin in copper and iron-nickel foams/paraffin composites. Inner temperature distribution during the phase transition process is experimentally evaluated. This comparison indicates that temperature uniformity in copper foam/paraffin composite is better than in iron-nickel foam/paraffin composite and pure paraffin at the same heat flux. Experimental results show that at heat flux of 1000 W/m 2 , the heat storage time for copper foam/paraffin composite is 20.63% of that of iron-nickel foam/paraffin composite.