This work investigates the solidification of phase change material (PCM) embedded with metal foam (MF) in a spherical capsule which its outer layer is exposed to convective heat transfer. The one-dimensional energy equation is resolved by performing finite volume method accompanied with temperature transforming technique. Four separate scenarios are developed for different porosity value of MF in order to analyze the thermal behavior of composite PCM with MF. The numerical model is validated by experimental data taken from the literature and substantially good agreement is demonstrated. The results show that at the case where the porosity ε =0.92, the elapsed time for complete solidification is decreases by 88% compared to the case without MF (ε =1.0).
The present study investigates the effects of different parameters on the performance of a cold energy storage system based on spherical capsules using twoand three-dimensional (2D and 3D) numerical analyses. The effect of different arrangements of the capsules is studied using a 2D model. The impact of using nanoparticles, diameter, and material of a spherical capsule and working parameters that affect the melting and solidification process are evaluated in a 3D model. The results revealed that the hexagonal arrangement compared to the triangular and rectangular arrangements, yields a lower charging time of 10.71% and 16.67%, respectively. Utilization of a 3% volume fraction of graphene nanoparticles in the phase change material reduces the charging and discharging process time by 11.11% and 22.22%, respectively. The diameter of the capsule is an effective parameter for the charging and discharging time, so the capsule with a diameter of 20 mm in comparison with a diameter of 40 mm reduces the charging and discharging time by 71.1% and 66.67%, respectively. Also, capsules made of graphite yield lower charging process time compared to plastic and glass capsules by 17.39% and 5%, respectively.
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