Method for estimating the temperature distribution in a phase change material with a broad phase-change-temperature range

摘要

We have conducted this study to find an equation that is capable of predicting the temperature distribution in a semi-infinite phase change material (PCM) that has broad phase-change-temperature range on the condition that the initial temperature distribution is uniform at a lower temperature than the phase-change-temperature, and the surface is kept at a higher temperature than the phase-change-temperature. We found that the temperature distribution in the PCM with broad phase-change-temperature range can be approximated by substituting the lower inflection point temperature of the Gaussian distribution of the apparent specific heat for the phase-change-temperature in the equations that express temperature distribution in the PCM with a specific phase-change-temperature.