Numerical study of PCM solidification in a finned tube thermal storage including natural convection

摘要

The use of Phase Change Material (PCM) improves the thermal storage capacity of Solar Thermal Accumulators because of its high energy storage density as latent heat, during Solid Liquid phase changes at constant temperature. The present work is interested in the PCM (Paraffin C-18) solidification in thermal storage coaxial tubes with internal and external horizontal fins for conditioning systems with two air passages. With this intention, the first stage includes the presentation of a numerical model based on the continuity, momentum and thermal energy equations handled by the finite volume method. This numerical approach aims to study the impact of natural convection, occurring in the liquid phase, on the solidification time of PCM and the temporal evolution of the solidification front. This paper also investigates the effect of fins number on heat transfer enhancement. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.