Heat transfer enhancement for thermal energy storage using metal foams embedded within phase change materials (PCMs)

• Published in: Solar energy Vol. 84; no. 8; pp. 1402 - 1412
• Main Authors: Zhao, C.Y., Lu, W., Tian, Y.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2010; Elsevier; Pergamon Press Inc
• Subjects: Applied sciences; AUGMENTATION; Charging process; COOLING; DENSITY; Energy; ENERGY STORAGE; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; EXPERIMENTAL DATA; FOAMS; FORCED CONVECTION; HEAT FLUX; Heat transfer; LATENT HEAT STORAGE; LIQUIDS; Materials science; MELTING; Metal foams; METALS; NATURAL CONVECTION; Non-thermal equilibrium; NUMERICAL ANALYSIS; PARAFFIN; PCMs; PHASE CHANGE MATERIALS; Phase transitions; Pore size; POROSITY; Solar energy; SOLIDIFICATION; SOLIDS; TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS; Theoretical studies. Data and constants. Metering; Thermal energy; THERMAL EQUILIBRIUM; Transport and storage of energy; TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS; WALLS; ZONES; Metal foams; Pore size; Charging process; Porosity; PCMs; Non-thermal equilibrium; Metal foam; Thermal energy storage; PCM material; Thermal equilibrium; Porous material; Heat transfer
• ISSN: 0038-092X; 1471-1257
• DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2010.04.022

In this paper the experimental investigation on the solid/liquid phase change (melting and solidification) processes have been carried out. Paraffin wax RT58 is used as phase change material (PCM), in which metal foams are embedded to enhance the heat transfer. During the melting process, the test samples are electrically heated on the bottom surface with a constant heat flux. The PCM with metal foams has been heated from the solid state to the pure liquid phase. The temperature differences between the heated wall and PCM have been analysed to examine the effects of heat flux and metal foam structure (pore size and relative density). Compared to the results of the pure PCM sample, the effect of metal foam on solid/liquid phase change heat transfer is very significant, particularly at the solid zone of PCMs. When the PCM starts melting, natural convection can improve the heat transfer performance, thereby reducing the temperature difference between the wall and PCM. The addition of metal foam can increase the overall heat transfer rate by 3–10 times (depending on the metal foam structures and materials) during the melting process (two-phase zone) and the pure liquid zone. The tests for investigating the solidification process under different cooling conditions (e.g. natural convection and forced convection) have been carried out. The results show that the use of metal foams can make the sample solidified much faster than pure PCM samples, evidenced by the solidification time being reduced by more than half. In addition, a two-dimensional numerical analysis has been carried out for heat transfer enhancement in PCMs by using metal foams, and the prediction results agree reasonably well with the experimental data.