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The article presents an alternative Spearman’s rank correlation pattern as an innovative method in detecting the edges of an image by defining characteristic points of the image. Edge detection methods can be counted as the image processing stage following the implementation of the “initial” image processing, which includes: use of filters such as low-pass or high-pass, wavelet transform, etc. In this article hitherto known edge detection algorithms will be replaced with image ranking method. The first chapter of this work contains an analysis of the current knowledge on the ranking of the image. The operation of the Spearman rho algorithm together with its various configurations and the comparison of the two methods studied are presented in turn. Next, the modification of the Spearman rho pattern is presented along with the justification for the use of such a transformation. The same chapter also presents the effects of the algorithm, comparing it with known image ranking methods. The next stage of works consisted in developing a method for the interpretation of the results obtained. In the last chapter of the work, the obtained test results were summarized and analysed.

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Phase Change Material (PCM) is mainly used in thermal energy storage. The addition of small PCM particles to the working fluid circulating in the heat exchange systems allowed to increase the amount of transported energy thanks to the use of latent heat—the heat of phase change. Encapsulating PCM in microcapsules avoids the disadvantages of PCM emulsions and makes the resulting slurry an attractive heat energy carrier. The paper presents the effect of the aggregate state of PCM enclosed in microcapsules on the flow resistance of the slurry through a rectilinear tubular channel. The tests were carried out with the use of a tube with an internal diameter of 4 mm and a measuring section length of 400 mm. A slurry of 21.5 wt.% PCM microcapsules (MPCM) was used as the working fluid in distilled water. A slurry with temperatures of 18.4 °C (PCM encapsulated in a solid state), 26.1 °C (PCM is in a phase change), and 30.5 °C (PCM in a liquid state) flowed through the measuring section. The mass flow rate of the MPCM slurry reached 70 kg/h (Remax = 2150). It was shown that the higher the Re number, the higher the value of the flow resistance, and the more clearly this value depended on the temperature of the slurry. Detailed analyses indicate that the observed changes were not the result of a change in the viscosity of the slurry, but its density depending on the state of the PCM. Significant changes in the density of the slurry in the range of the phase transition temperature are the result of significant changes in the volume of the microcapsule containing the phase change material in different aggregate states.