Study on phase change interface for erythritol with nano-copper in spherical container during heat transport. (January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Xuelai; Chen, Xudong; Han, Zhong; Xu, Weiwen
• Is Part Of: International journal of heat and mass transfer. Volume 92(2016:Jan.)
• Page Start: 490
• Page End: 496
• Publication Date: 2016-01
• Subjects: PCM -- Thermal storage system -- Interface -- Thermal storage -- Encapsulation; Heat -- Transmission -- Periodicals; Mass transfer -- Periodicals; Chaleur -- Transmission -- Périodiques; Transfert de masse -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 621.4022
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2015.08.095
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0017-9310

Abstract

Highlights: The paper established a novel heat transport system, which arranged the spherical encapsulation in the thermal storage tank. A new kind of PCM (0.4% nano-copper+ 99.6% erythritol) was proposed, enhancing thermal conductivity up to 3.3 times, compared with pure erythritol. Experiment and theoretical model for single encapsulated sphere were built in terms of the spinning and move during heat transport. The parameters influencing the interface of phase change were obtained. Abstract: Compared with the conventional portable heat transport, this paper proposes the spherical encapsulation arranged in the thermal storage tank. A new kind of PCM (0.4% nanocopper+ 99.6% erythritol) with latent heat of 362.2 kJ/kg was encapsulated in stainless steel ball. The validity of various models developed and complexity required for a given problem is not suitable for spherical encapsulation during heat transport. Take the spinning during heat transport into consideration, the heat transfer process was analyzed for an encapsulated phase change material and its theoretic model for the PCM interface was established. In order to validate the model, the experiment was conducted for the temperature distribution change. During the heat release, the solid–liquid interface moved from the spherical shell to ball center, and it was found that interface moving speed increases when the ambient temperature reduces. The research is also investigated for effect of the ball size on the interface moving, which has an equally agreement with the theoretical model.