Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Renewable Energy
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a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: In this paper, a nano-PCM filled enclosure, which is a representative geometry of a thermal energy
Received 6 October 2017 storage (TES) system, is investigated using scale analysis, numerical simulation, and experimental
Received in revised form analysis. The enclosure is assumed to be square in shape. It is also assumed that one vertical wall of the
18 February 2018
enclosure is actively participating in absorbing energy from a source while the remaining walls are
Accepted 26 February 2018
insulated. The thermal boundary condition at the active wall is treated as ‘constant heat flux boundary
Available online 19 March 2018
condition’ in this paper. The energy absorbing material, i.e., the nano-PCM, is CuO nanoparticles
dispersed in coconut oil PCM. The influence of the volume fraction of nanoparticles (0 4 5%) is
Keywords:
Thermal energy storage
investigated on the flow and thermal fields, heat transfer rate, energy stored and liquid fraction during
Nano-PCM the melting process of nano-PCM at different values of Rayleigh number based on base PCM
Solar thermal applications (104 Ra4¼0% 108 ). The Rayleigh number is adjusted by adjusting the size of the enclosure (i.e., higher
Volume fraction Ra represents the larger enclosure). In addition to the isothermal lines and velocity vectors, heatlines are
Constant heat flux utilized to exhibit the energy flow patterns inside the enclosure during the melting process. Besides the
numerical calculations, scale analysis is presented to demonstrate the different stages of melting process
of nano-PCM. The detailed scale analysis assists to identify relationship of Nusselt number and solid-
liquid interface location as a function of well established dimensionless numbers: Stefan number (Ste),
Fourier number (Fo), and Rayleigh number (Ra4¼0% ). Finally, an experimental setup is developed to
visualize the melting process of nano-PCM inside a prototype enclosure. Experiments are conducted to
illustrate the impact of adding nanoparticles into PCM on the melting process. The numerical and
experimental results show the significant improvement of the melting process by adding nanoparticles
to PCM.
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2018.02.119
0960-1481/© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
138 M. Al-Jethelah et al. / Renewable Energy 126 (2018) 137e155
analysis for the phase change processes involving nano-PCM is not a solid form of a nano-PCM. Constant heat flux thermal source is
reported in the literature, specifically for constant heat flux suddenly exposed to one of the vertical walls of the enclosure to
boundary condition, which is essential to establish functional initiate the melting process. The remaining three walls are assumed
relationship between important parameters with single correla- properly insulated by an insulation liner or surrounded by a pri-
tions covering the complex phase change processes in all regimes mary insulating material (e.g., glass fiber, polyurethane foam, and
of melting. This paper is the first one to report a detailed scale urethane rigid foam) having thermal conductivity much lower than
analysis on the melting process of nano-PCM inside an enclosed the conductivity of the PCM itself. The main focus of this paper is on
space under constant heat flux boundary condition. the unit enclosure (Fig. 1(b)). However, a detailed strength and
Kimura and Bejan [42] proposed the concept of heatlines as an structural analyses are required to perform on the entire system
effective technique to visualize the energy flow as isotherms and (Fig. 1(a)) to identify its structural integrity, which is beyond the
streamlines provide typically inadequate pictures of energy flow in scope of this paper.
convection heat transfer problems. Although the heatline tech- Once the melting process is initiated the liquid-solid interface of
nique [42] has been extensively used in the literature for single nano-PCM will advance as time increases. It is further assumed that
phase fluid, the use of this technique for melting/solidification the liquid nano-PCM is incompressible and Newtonian fluid so that
problems is extremely limited. For example, Dhar et al. [43] visu- the thermophysical properties will remain constant except the
alized the heatlines throughout the solidification of a eutectic so- density term in the vertical momentum equation. To approximate
lution. More recently, heatlines are used to describe a convection the density variation with temperature, the Boussinesq approxi-
problem involving single phase CuO-water nanofluid [44]. The mation is used.
present paper is the first one to incorporate a heat line visualization The conservation of mass, momentum, and energy can be
and analysis during melting of nano-PCM inside an enclosed space expressed by the following differential equations:
under constant heat flux boundary condition.
Furthermore, paraffin based PCMs are very popular among the vr vðruÞ vðrvÞ
Mass Conservation ðliquidÞ: þ þ ¼0 (1)
researchers. Specifically, a large number of research articles [e.g., vt vx vy
18,36] used research grade n-octadecane which is an ideal PCM
having melting temperature (z28 C) several degrees above a vu vu vu
usual room/lab temperature (22e23 C) and has excellent Momentum Conservation ðliquidÞ: þu þv
vt vx vy
temperature-time transition characteristics. Different types of " !#
2 2
nanoparticles were incorporated into n-octadecane to prepare 1 vp v u v u
¼ þ mnf þ (2)
nano-PCMs (e.g. [18]) and a moderate stability with sedimentation rnf vx vx2 vy2
was reported in the literature. The relatively inexpensive coconut
oil PCM (used in this work) is edible, having melting temperature " !
(z24 C) close to the typical room/lab temperature (22e23 C), and vv vv vv 1 vp v2 v v2 v
þu þv ¼ þ mnf þ
exhibits excellent stability and very small sedimentation for longer vt vx vy rnf vy vx2 vy2
uses once nanoparticles are incorporated (tested in the lab). #
However, the temperature-time transition characteristics of coco- þ gðrbÞnf ðT Tm Þ ; (3)
nut oil is not as ideal/smooth as n-octadecane, which probably
makes it less used PCM in research application.
In summary, in the present article the authors first time studied vT vT vT
the melting process of edible coconut oil PCM (Tm ¼ 24 C) with Energy Conservation ðliquidÞ: þu þv
vt vx vy
CuO nanoparticles inside a rectangular enclosure with one isoflux " #
2 2
wall and remaining adiabatic walls. Properties of the nano-PCM knf v T v T
¼ þ ; (4)
were measured and compared with the modeled equations, a rcp nf vx2 vy2
maximum discrepancy of ±5% was observed for the thermal con-
ductivity of nano-PCM. Furthermore, a detailed scale analysis is " #
reported and functional relationships between melt fraction, Nus- vT knf v2 T v2 T
Energy Conservation ðsolidÞ: ¼ þ ; (5)
selt number, and dimensionless time were established for nano- vt rcp nf vx2 vy2
PCM inside rectangular enclosure with isoflux boundary condi-
tion. Heatline visualization technique was successfully applied to where u, v, t, rnf , p, mnf , g, bnf , T, Tm , knf , and cpnf are the velocity
understand the energy flow pattern inside the enclosure with component in the x-direction, velocity component in the y-direc-
nano-PCM during the melting process. tion, time, density of the nano-PCM, pressure, dynamic viscosity of
nano-PCM, gravitational acceleration, coefficient of thermal
2. Problem description, physical model, and mathematical expansion of the liquid nano-PCM, temperature, melting temper-
approximation ature of the nano-PCM, thermal conductivity of the nano-PCM, and
specific heat at constant pressure of the nano-PCM, respectively.
Active wall thermal energy storage (AW-TES) systems are typi- The thermophysical properties of the liquid and solid forms of
cally structural components of energy efficient buildings [45]. Such nano-PCM, available in Eqs. (1)e(5), can be obtained from the
components are capable of storing energy from low potential following equations [26,46]:
sources (e.g., solar and waste heat) and releasing the stored energy
when required. A schematic diagram of an AW-TES system is shown density of nano PCM: rnf ¼ ð1 4Þrf þ 4rn ; (6)
in Fig. 1(a) which contains multiple PCM filled enclosures. In this
paper, the enclosures of the AW-TES system are assumed packed
with nano-PCM. heat capacity of nano PCM: rcp nf
One enclosure, which is further approximated by a two- ¼ ð1 4Þ rcp f þ 4 rcp n ; (7)
dimensional enclosure (Fig. 1(b)), is investigated under constant
heat flux boundary condition. The enclosure is initially occupied by
140 M. Al-Jethelah et al. / Renewable Energy 126 (2018) 137e155
Fig. 1. Schematic diagrams of the (a) active wall thermal energy storage (AW-TES) system, (b) enclosure, (c) conduction regime of melting, (d) transition (conduction þ convection)
regime of melting, (e) convection regime of melting, and (f) variable height (or shrinking solid) regime of melting.
Table 1
Thermophysical properties of CuO [47] and coconut oil.
expansion coefficient of nano PCM: ðrbÞnf Properties (units) CuO nanoparticles [47] Coconut Oil (Measured)
and
thermal conductivity of nano PCM: knf measured using KD2 Pro and TPS-500 which showed a maximum
kn þ 2kf 24 kf kn discrepancy of ±5% with the modeled equation. Viscosity was
¼ kf ; (11) measured using a Rotational Viscometer and a Vibration Viscom-
kn þ 2kf þ 4 kf kn eter which showed a maximum discrepancy of ±2.5% with the
modeled equation. The remaining properties (i.e., density, specific
In Eqs. (6)e(11), 4, rf , rn , kf , and kn the volume fraction of the heat, and heat of fusion) showed discrepancies within ±1% with the
nanoparticles, density of the base-PCM, density of the nano- modeled equations. Density was measured directly and using a
particles, thermal conductivity of the base-PCM, and thermal con- DMA 35 Density meter, while specific heat and heat of fusion were
ductivity of the nanoparticles, respectively. measured using a Differential Scanning Calorimeter. The stability of
The thermophysical properties of the coconut oil and CuO the nano-PCM was tested by periodically melting and solidifying
nanoparticles [47] are listed in Table 1 for some selected temper- some samples in a temperature controlled bath. Additionally,
atures. To validate the accuracy and uncertainty involved for using selected samples of the nano-PCM were stored and tested for
the thermophysical property models (Eqs. (6)e(11)), properties approximately six months in the lab environment and negligible
were directly measured in our facilities at the Advanced Energy sedimentation was identified.
Conversion and Control Lab, Bio-Innovation Research Lab, and Food In subsequent sections, scale analysis and numerical methods
Research Lab for a temperature range of 10e40 C. Measurements are applied to solve Eqs. (1)e(5) using the following boundary and
were executed for 4 ¼ 0e1% as well. The thermal conductivity was initial conditions:
M. Al-Jethelah et al. / Renewable Energy 126 (2018) 137e155 141
vTðx; 0; tÞ vTðx; L; tÞ
horizontal walls ðtop and bottomÞ: ¼ ¼ 0; u ¼ v ¼ 0;
vy vy
vTð0; y; tÞ 00
left wall vertical wall: knf ¼ q_ ;
vx
vTðL; y; tÞ
right wall vertical wall ¼ 0; u ¼ v ¼ 0; (12)
vx
00 vD
interface condition: TðD; y; tÞ ¼ Tm ; q_ ¼ rnf hfnf ;
vt
and
initial condition:Tðx; y; 0Þ ¼ T0 ; u ¼ v ¼ 0
3.2. The mixed (conduction þ convection) regime Equation (27) combines the conduction and convection heat
transfer in the mixed conduction-convection regime. At the
With the advancement of time during the melting process, the beginning of the mixed conduction-convection regime, conduction
upper part of the liquid nano-PCM region starts expanding due to is the dominant mode of heat transfer. Then as time progresses, the
the appearance of convection current, while the lower portion of effect of conduction inclines and the effect of convection
the liquid nano-PCM is still dominated by conduction. As a result, strengthens. The mixed (conduction þ convection) regime ends
the liquid-solid interface of the nano-PCM is deformed. The when z L. Eq. (25) suggests that end of the mixed regime occurs
deformation of the interface indicates ending the pure conduction at ðSte FoÞ1 such that
regime.
Applying scaling parameters to the continuity equation (Eq. (1)), knf
ðSte FoÞ1 Ra5 and Numin
1 1
Ra5 (28)
x db and y b, one can obtain the following relationship kf
u v
(20)
db b
Establishing a balance between the friction force and the 3.3. The convection regime
buoyancy force in the y-momentum equation and recalling that
when Pr>1 [41] (for coconut oil Pr ¼ 394.73, Table 1) for the liquid When the deformed interface touches the lower surface of the
nano-PCM, one obtains after re-arrangements enclosure, it indicates the beginning of pure convection regime. In
this stage, the convection currents occupied the whole melted
00
gðrbÞnf q_ b3 d3b nano-PCM region. The dimensionless Nusselt number in the con-
v (21) vection regime can be defined by the following equation assuming
knf mnf b3 Pr > 1
Similarly, applying the scale analysis to the energy equation in
hL
the liquid region of nano-PCM results in Nu ¼ : (29)
kf
b
v anf (22) By using a simple energy balance, the scale for the convection
d2b heat transfer coefficient (h) can be expressed in terms of thermal
conductivity and thermal boundary layer thickness (dT ) as
Combing Eqs. (21) and (22), the thermal boundary layer thick-
ness in the upper convection region can be expressed as knf
h ; (30)
1 dT
db bRab 5 (23)
which gives a scale for Nuin the convection regime
where Rab is the Rayleigh number based on the length scale b
00
(Rab ¼ gðrbÞnf q_ b4 =knf mnf anf ). knf 1
Nu Ra5 (31)
At the lower part of the convection region, the conduction- kf
convection transition level scales as
Next, we focus on the average interface distance (Dav ) in the
convection regime as the interface remains as a curvature
db D (24)
throughout this regime. The total heat transfer rate at the interface
At this level, the convection effect disappears and the conduc- is
tion effect starts. Combining Eqs. (15), (23) and (24) and knowing
00 dDav
that Rab ¼ ðb=LÞ4 Ra result in a scale for the vertical height (b) of the q_ rnf hfnf ; (32)
upper convection region dt
After using Eqs. (16), (31) and (32), the scale of the average
b LðSte FoÞ5 Ra (25) melted nano-PCM thickness (Dav ) becomes
1
where Ra is the Rayleigh number based on the length scale L (Ra ¼ Dav LðSte FoÞRa5 (33)
00
gðrbÞnf q_ L4 =knf mnf anf ).
When Dav L, the convection regime ends. This event occurs as
In the mixed regime, the total heat transfer rate per unit length suggested by Eq. (33) at time of order
can be calculated using the convection over the height b and the
conduction over L b as ðSte FoÞ2 Ra5
1
(34)
ðT Tm Þ ðT Tm Þ
Q_ ¼ knf ðL bÞ h þ knf b h : (26)
D db
Using Eq. (15) for the conduction region and Eq. (23) for the 3.4. The shrinking solid (or variable height) regime
convection region, a scale of Nu in the mixed regime can be
expressed as The fourth stage of melting (i.e., the shrinking solid or variable
height regime [41]) starts after the liquid-solid interface reaches
knf h i the top right corner of the enclosure, as shown in Fig. 2(d). The heat
Nu ðSte FoÞ1 þ ðSte FoÞ4 Ra : (27) transfer and melting rates affect the amount of remaining solid
kf
nano-PCM. It is assumed that the cross section (lz) of the remaining
The heat transfer behavior in the liquid nano-PCM region in the solid nano-PCM takes the form of a triangle. The hypotenuse of the
mixed conduction-convection regime is revealed in Eq. (27). triangle represents the liquid-solid interface of the nano-PCM. The
M. Al-Jethelah et al. / Renewable Energy 126 (2018) 137e155 143
Fig. 2. Time evolution of flow and thermal fields for the nano-PCM (CuO nanoparticles dispersed in coconut oil PCM) at Ra4¼0% ¼ 105 and f ¼ 2% for ðSte FoÞf¼2% ¼ (a) 0.045, (b)
0.13, (c) 0.22, (d) 0.37, (e) 0.42, and (f) 0.57.
l knf h 1 i23 1
ðSte FoÞ3 ðSte FoÞ2 Ra5
1
(36) Nu 1 Ra5 ðSte FoÞ ðSte FoÞ2 Ra5 (39)
L kf
During the fourth stage of the melting process in some stages, a Equation (39) suggests that Nu drops with increasing Ra as the
similar reduction rate of l and z is assumed. In this case, the liquid-solid interface touches the right wall.
dimensionless height of the remaining solid nano-PCM z is A summary of the equations, derived from the scale analysis, is
expressed as reported in Table 2.
144 M. Al-Jethelah et al. / Renewable Energy 126 (2018) 137e155
4. Results and discussion each individual image title. Initial and boundary conditions are
given in Equation (12). The phase change material used in this
In the previous sections, the dimensionless Nusselt numbers paper has a melting point of Tm ¼ 24 C with a temperature tran-
and interface distances are identified by applying scale analysis on sition of DTm ¼ ±1 C (approximately) during melting. Therefore, a
the governing mass, momentum, and energy equations. This sec- mushy zone has appeared for approximately a 2 C temperature
tion is devoted to present the results obtained from numerical difference (i.e., 23 Ce25 C). The liquid fraction (LF) in this paper is
solutions of the governing equations. Numerical technique is calculated by applying an area integration technique over the total
applied to investigate detail transport characteristics of nano-PCM domain of the enclosure using the following temperature
(CuO nanoparticles disperse in coconut oil PCM) during the melting constraint T ðTm þ DTm Þ. Therefore, the calculated areas will be
process inside an enclosed space. A detailed description of the zero for the elements where T < ðTm þ DTm Þ (i.e., area representing
numerical technique is presented in Mahmud and Pop [48]. solid or semi-solid) or non-zero where T ðTm þ DTm Þ (i.e., area
Constant heat flux boundary condition is applied to the left representing liquid).
vertical wall of the enclosed space, while the remaining walls are The solid nano-PCM is assumed initially at its melting temper-
kept thermally insulated. Numerical simulation is carried out for ature (i.e., no sub-cooling) inside the enclosure. Melting process
nanoparticle volume fraction range 0% 4 4% and Rayleigh starts after a constant heat flux thermal source is applied to the left
number range 104 Ra4¼0% 108 . wall of the enclosure. Shortly after the initiation of the melting
It should be noted that two definitions of ðSte FoÞ and Raare process, the liquid-solid interface appears, and it is parallel to the
used in the paper based on the thermophysical properties used for vertical wall of the enclosure as can be seen from Fig. 2(a) for
the definitions: ðSte FoÞ4¼2% ¼ 0.05. Such interface indicates that conduction is
the dominant mode of heat transfer within the liquid nano-PCM
(i) ðSte FoÞ4¼0% and Ra4¼0% are based on the thermophysical region. As time advances the liquid-solid interface starts to
properties of base-PCM (i.e., thermophysical properties deform and the liquid nano-PCM region becomes wider at its upper
when no nanoparticles are added to the PCM). part as can be seen in Fig. 2(b) for ðSte FoÞ4¼2% ¼ 0.13. The
(ii) ðSte FoÞ4 and Ra4 are based on the thermophysical prop- deformation of the interface at the top and the semi-straightness at
erties of nano-PCM. For example, the definition of Ra4¼2% the lower part of the liquid-solid interface reveal the existence of
includes the thermophysical properties of nano-PCM at the mixed conduction-convection regime. As energy transfer at the
4 ¼ 2% loading. left wall continued, the deformation of the liquid-solid interface
increases further as shown in Fig. 2(c). The relatively warm liquid
nano-PCM, adjacent to the hot vertical wall, moves upward direc-
tion and then it moves horizontally along the upper adiabatic wall
4.1. Progression of the melting process at Raf¼0% ¼ 105 and 4 ¼ 2%
of the enclosure. The thermal energy, carried by the hot liquid
nano-PCM, penetrates gradually into the solid nano-PCM through
The progression of the melting process of nano-PCM over the
the interface during the downward motion of the liquid nano-PCM.
time using flow and thermal fields plots at Ra4¼0% ¼ 105 and vol- Because of the thermal stratification effect, the warmest liquid
ume fraction of 2% is presented in Fig. 2(a)e(f). The flow field in the nano-PCM occupies the upper portion of the liquid nano-PCM re-
liquid nano-PCM region is represented by velocity vectors. While gion. Therefore, the interface energy transfer rate gradually de-
the thermal fields in liquid and solid regions are represented by creases towards the downwards direction along the interface.
isothermal flood-contour plots. The blue region represents solid Therefore, the melting rate is higher at the upper portion and
nano-PCM, while the colored region represents liquid nano-PCM. It gradually slows down along the downward direction of the inter-
should be noted that, a change in 4 alters the magnitudes of ther- face which results in a wider liquid region at the top of liquid nano-
mophysical properties (see Eqs. (6)e(11)) of nano-PCM. Such PCM region as shown in Fig. 2(c). As heating continued further, the
changes in the properties subsequently alter the values of Rayleigh liquid-solid interface moves until it reaches to the top right corner
numbers even the thermophysical properties of base-PCM remain of the enclosure as shown in Fig. 2(d). Beyond this point, the height
constants. It is observed that the value of Ra4¼0% reduces with of the solid nano-PCM will not remain fixed during subsequent
increasing 4. For example, Ra4¼0% ¼ 105 when 4 ¼ 0%, melting process. This last stage of melting is typically termed as
Ra4¼3% ¼ 78967 (21.03% reduction) when 4 ¼ 3%, and variable height or shrinking solid regime [41]. Fig. 2(e) reveals a
Ra4¼5% ¼ 67463 (32.54% reduction) when 4 ¼ 5%. Therefore, a case of variable height melting regime where the melting rate of
6.08% increase in the dimension of the enclosure when 4 ¼ 3% and a the remaining solid nano-PCM is higher at the top of the liquid-
10.34% increase in the dimension when 4 ¼ 5% are required to solid interface than at its bottom. At a particular time, the
maintain Ra4¼0% ¼ 105 . To handle this issue, dimension of the melting process will be entirely completed (see Fig. 2(f)) and the
enclosure is adjusted to achieve same Rayleigh number at higher remaining liquid nano-PCM will be heated up sensibly until it
values of 4. reaches to a thermal equilibrium.
Additionally, the magnitude of the liquid fraction is presented in The transient temperature variations at eleven specified
Table 2
Summary of the scale analysis equations for the four melting stages of the nano-PCM.
Melting stage Average interface distance and height Nusselt number (Nu)
locations in the hot vertical wall are plotted in Fig. 3 for adjustment, volume of the enclosure increases to 3.09% and 6.97%
Ra4¼0% ¼ 105 and 4 ¼ 2%. In the same graph, the average tem- for 4 ¼ 2% and 4 ¼ 4%, respectively.
perature of the hot vertical wall is plotted as a function of time. In At the early stage of the melting process (i.e., ðSte FoÞ4 ¼ 0.08),
the conduction regime, the magnitudes of the hot wall tempera- the appearance of the vertical liquid-solid interface indicates the
tures are same at all specified vertical locations and increase line- existence of the conduction regime of melting for three selected 4s .
arly with time as heat input continued. Gradual appearance of Temperature drops linearly from the isoflux wall to the solid-liquid
boundary layers alters this pattern in the transition regime of interface while maintaining a uniform heat transfer rate from the
melting where the linear variation in temperature with time is still top to the bottom of the enclosure. Dispersing more nanoparticles
visible however the magnitude of temperature is higher at higher has small impact on the melting process in this regime which can
locations at the hot wall. Throughout the convection regime, where be observed from the small improvement in the liquid fraction
boundary layers extend from the top wall to the bottom wall, available in Fig. 4(a). Such enhancement in the melting rate at this
insignificant variations in the hot wall temperatures with time are stage is due to the higher thermal conductivity and lower latent
observed. This trend continues in the shrinking solid regime. heat of fusion at higher 4.
Finally, temperatures at all locations at the hot wall increase line- At the middle stage of the melting process (i.e.,
arly when entire enclosure is occupied with liquid nano-PCM. ðSte FoÞ4 ¼ 0.27) convection dominates. Appearance of boundary
layers and circulatory motion of liquid nano-PCM is clearly visible
4.2. The effect of the volume fraction (4) on melting process at for all three selected 4s . A considerable improvement in the melting
Ra4¼0% ¼ 104 process is observed at higher 4. Dispersion of more nanoparticles
increases the viscosity, density, and specific heat while reduce the
The effect of the nanoparticles volume fractions on the melting thermal diffusivity of the nano-PCM. However, increase in viscosity
process of nano-PCM inside the enclosure is presented in is comparable to the increase in thermal conductivity. For example,
adding 2% nanoparticles increase the viscosity and thermal con-
Fig. 4(a)e(c) at Ra4¼0% ¼ 104 . Three arbitrarily selected volume
ductivity by 4.9% and 5.6%, respectively. Therefore, an increase in
fractions (4¼0%, 2%, and 4%) were studied for three selected
density, thermal conductivity, and a decrease in thermal diffusivity
dimensionless times ðSte FoÞ4 ¼ 0.08, 0.27, and 0.48. The idea
of nano-PCM enhance natural convection heat transfer during the
behind selecting these times is to cover all melting regimes. Again,
melting process of nano-PCM when melting is dominated by
velocity vectors are selected to present the flow filed inside the
convection.
liquid nano-PCM region, while isothermal floods are used to
Variable height (or shrinking solid) melting regime appears at
describe the thermal fields inside both liquid and solid nano-PCM
ðSte FoÞ4 ¼ 0.48 for all three selected 4s . A large amount of liquid
regions. The flow and thermal fields progression with time at a
nano-PCM, having temperature over its melting point, circulates
specific volume fraction are exhibited from left to right in the
over small amount of shrinking solid nano-PCM and transfer
graph, while the impact of the volume fraction at a specific time are
thermal energy to melt it further. Dispersing more nanoparticles
exhibited from the top to bottom of the graph in Fig. 4. The physics
has considerable impact on the melting process in this regime
behind melting process and developing different melting regimes is
which can be observed from the improvement in the liquid fraction
described elaborately in previous section and will not repeated
available in Fig. 4(c).
again while describing Fig. 4. Dimension of the enclosure is
adjusted to keep Ra4¼0% ¼ 104 at all considered 4s in Fig. 4 (see
discussion in the previous section). Due to this dimension 4.3. Heatlines
v2 H v2 H v vT v vT
þ ¼ r nf c p uT k nf r nf c p vT k nf
vx2 vy2 vy nf
vx vx nf
vy
|fflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl{zfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl} |fflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl{zfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl}
¼Ex ¼Ey
(40)
Fig. 4. flow and thermal fields for nano-PCM at different volume fractions (f ¼ 0%, 2%, and 4%) and Ra4¼0% ¼ 104 for ðSte FoÞf ¼ (a) 0.08, (b) 0.27, and (c) 0.48.
Fig. 5. Heatlines and thermal fields for nano-PCM for different times at Ra4¼0% ¼ 106 for three values of volume fractions (0%, 2%, and 4%) and ðSte FoÞf¼0% ¼ 0.03, 0.16, and 0.37.
selections of ðSte FoÞ4 , 4, and Ra4¼0% are arbitrary. At the begin- period of the melting process. Suspending metallic nanoparticles
ning of the melting process of the nano-PCM (i.e., into the PCM has small impact on the heatline pattern in the con-
ðSte FoÞ4 ¼ 0.03), the heatlines are originated from the left ver- duction regime, as observed from Fig. 5(a). The appearance of the
tical wall and remain as parallel horizontal lines pattern as convection regimes for all the studied volume fractions are
observed from Fig. 5(a) for all 3 4s , crossed the solid-liquid inter- observed from the appearance of both the non-horizontal and
face, and finally terminated in the solid nano-PCM region which closed loop the heatlines in Fig. 5(b) where heatlines are plotted at
acts as a sink in this case. Conduction energy fluxes significantly ðSte FoÞ4 ¼ 0.16. Note that heatlines can be termed as ‘free’ if they
dominate over the convection energy fluxes at ðSte FoÞ4 ¼ 0.03 are originated from a source and terminated in a sink, while it can
and, because of the three insulated walls other than the left vertical be termed as ‘trapped’ it thy form a closed lopped pattern inside
wall, knf vT=vx [ knf vT=vy. Therefore, the horizontal straight one or multiple regions. At ðSte FoÞ4 ¼ 0.16, dominance of con-
line patterns of heatline appear which reveal again that the con- vection energy fluxes is comparable to conduction fluxes inside
duction is the dominant mode of the heat transfer at the initial some parts of the enclosure and, in cases, this dominance can be
148 M. Al-Jethelah et al. / Renewable Energy 126 (2018) 137e155
significant. All free heatlines are originated from the left vertical
wall, curved upward direction inside or near the region where
boundary layer formation is distinct and vertical convection heat
flux (i.e., rnf cpnf vT) is dominant, passed horizontally through a
narrow corridor at the top of the liquid nano-PCM under the strong
influence of the horizontal convection flux (i.e.rnf cpnf uT), and
penetrated through the liquid-solid interface. From the interface,
the free heatlines further pass thorough the solid nano-PCM unit
they are terminated. Beyond the boundary layer regions inside the
liquid nano-PCM region, trapped heatlines are observed where
both conduction and convection energy fluxes are comparable.
Similar, pattern is observed also for ðSte FoÞ4 ¼ 0.37 where
melting process is inside its variable height (or shrinking solid)
regimes with a larger liquid nano-PCM region compared to the
solid nano-PCM region. The only characteristic difference at this
stage in comparison with the convection regime is the size of the
trapped heatlines which is much larger.
Fig. 7. The impact of f on liquid fraction at (a) Ra4¼0% ¼ 105 and (b) Ra4¼0% ¼ 105. For the limiting cases of ðSte FoÞ, the proposed correlation can be
reduced to forms already available in Table 2. For example, in the
upper limit, i.e., ðSte FoÞ/∞, Eq. (43) approaches to the scaling
relationship obtained for the third melting regime, i.e.,
knf knf h 1
Nu ¼ ðc0 Ste FoÞ1 þ c1 Ra54
kf kf
" ( )n #1n
i knf 1
1 4
ða Ste FoÞ 1 þ c2 Ra4 ð Ste FoÞ
5
knf 1
kf Nu ¼ c1 Ra54 (44)
kf
(43)
The constant c1 can be obtained by fitting Nuasymptotes in the
where c0 , c1 , c2 , and n are the correlation coefficients and can be convection regime with Ra4 . Similarly, in the lower limit, i.e., ðSte
identified by curve fitting. It should be noted that the exponent n FoÞ/0, Eq. (43) approaches to the scaling relationship obtained for
should be a negative number as discussed in Jany and Bejan [41]. the first melting regime, i.e.,
150 M. Al-Jethelah et al. / Renewable Energy 126 (2018) 137e155
knf
Nu ¼ ðc Ste FoÞ1 (45) ZL
kf 0 vTð0; y; tÞ
Q_ ðtÞ ¼ knf dy (47)
vx
The constant c0 can be obtained by fitting Nuasymptotes in the 0
conduction regime with ðSte FoÞ. Finally, in the limit of ðSte
1=5 In Fig. 9, a Rayleigh number of 106 is selected, while both defi-
FoÞ/ðSte FoÞ1 Ra4 , Eq. (43) approaches to the Numin scaling nitions of Rayleigh numbers (i.e., based on thermophysical prop-
relationship obtained in Eq. (28). The remaining task is to deter- erties of base PCM and nano-PCM, Ra4¼0% and Ra4 ) are used for
mine two unknown coefficients c2 and n from curve fitting.
further discussion. For the considered base Rayleigh number (i.e.,
Fig. 8(b) shows the liquid fraction as a function of time at 4 ¼ 2%
Ra4¼0% ¼ 106 ), transient variation in the stored energy is tested for
for six different values of Ra4¼0% (103, 104, 105, 106, 107, and 108).
three volume fractions (i.e., 4 ¼ 0, 3, and 5%). As discussed earlier,
Liquid fraction profiles at all Ra4¼0% s show a linear increase with
the size of the enclosure will remain the same with change in 4 as
time until the end of the melting process where some non-linearity
the Rayleigh number is defined based on the base properties. It is
appears. As expected, the magnitude of the liquid fraction is higher
observed from Fig. 9 that the amount of stored energy increases as
at higher values of Ra4¼0% due to the stronger convection effect
time advances during the melting process. As mentioned earlier,
except at Ra4¼0% ¼ 103, where melting is mostly dominated by
the boundary condition applied to the left vertical wall is an isoflux
conduction. boundary condition, while the remaining walls are insulated.
Therefore, the temperature of this wall will increase gradually from
4.5. Energy stored its initial value after the introduction of the constant heat flux at
t ¼ 0 s. As a result, a small amount of energy is stored at the very
The rate of energy stored per unit depth of the enclosure is beginning of melting. This can be observed clearly from the
calculated and presented in Fig. 9 for three different values of the magnified view of E t plot posted at the upper left corner of Fig. 9.
volume fractions of the nanoparticles. The energy stored, E, could Beyond this point, a gradual increase of energy storing rate is
be calculated as observed. The rate of energy stored is initially high in the con-
duction dominated melting zone which can be confirmed from the
Zt high slope of the profile at this stage. A slight change in the slope of
E¼ Q_ ðtÞdt (46) the E t curves is an indication of the transition (i.e., the
0 conduction þ convection) melting zone. Beyond this point, E t
curves exhibit an approximately linearly increasing trend as time
where Q_ ðtÞ could be found from advances further through subsequent regimes of melting (i.e.,
Fig. 9. Energy stored rate per unit depth of the enclosure at different values of the nanoparticles volume fractions at Ra4¼0% ¼ 106 and Ra4¼0% ¼ 106 .
M. Al-Jethelah et al. / Renewable Energy 126 (2018) 137e155 151
00
Fig. 12. Experimental and numerical results comparison of melting process between base-PCM and nano-PCM (0.4338 wt %, f ¼ 0.0615%) for q_ ¼ 1020 W/m2
(Raf¼0:0615% ¼3.59 108), 1814 W/m2 (Raf¼0:0615% ¼ 6.38 108), and 2835 W/m2 (Raf¼0:0615% ¼9.97 108). The images show the experimental results, while the dotted lines
represent the numerical results.
rate for both base-PCM and nano-PCM. For each case of applied melting rate is faster than the base-PCM fro an applied heat flux. An
heat flux, melting process of nano-PCM is faster than the base-PCM increase in the applied heat flux improves the melting rate further.
which qualitatively matches our findings in scale analysis and nu- The observed results confirm the positive impact of the nano-
merical simulation. The corresponding liquid fractions for both particles on improving the melting process. The melting process
base-PCM and nano-PCM are plotted in Fig. 13. The liquid fraction accelerates by enhancing the PCM with nanoparticles.
was calculated using a subsequent image analysis from the exper- Fig. 14 shows the temperature of the base-PCM and nano-PCM
imentally obtained images. The uncertainty of the liquid fraction inside the enclosure on the surface of the lid. Three different heat
calculation due to this process is ±0.5%. 00
flux rates were applied (q_ ¼ 1020, 1814, and 2835 W/m2). For
Results presented in Fig. 13 also confirm that for the nano-PCM 00
q_ ¼ 1020 and 1814 W/m2, the temperature of the PCM is higher
M. Al-Jethelah et al. / Renewable Energy 126 (2018) 137e155 153
Nomenclature
Thermal performance of active wall thermal energy storage Ste* Stefan number, Ste* ¼ Q_ cpnf L=knf hfnf
(AW-TES) system is investigated. Scale analysis and heatlines T temperature ( C)
techniques are performed to inspect different melting regimes DTm temperature transition in the mushy zone ( C)
154 M. Al-Jethelah et al. / Renewable Energy 126 (2018) 137e155
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