Numerical Simulation of Phase Change Material Melting in Inclined Enclosure

Abstract : Latent energy storage is required to ensure the continuity of a thermal process in energy systems where a temporal difference exists between the supply of energy and its utilization. Good understanding of heat transfer during melting process is crucial for predicting the storage system performance with accuracy and avoiding costly system overdesign. Natural convection heat transfer during melting process has various practical applications: space heating, heat exchangers, solar systems, energy storage systems, and electronic devices. During the solidification process, conduction is the sole transport mechanism but in the case of melting, natural convection occurs in the melt region and this generally enhances the heat transfer rate compared to the solidification process. Recently, various technics are proposed to enhance the melting rate inside PCM enclosures. The aim of this paper is to point out some of the natural convection characteristics during the melting process of Phase Change Material (PCM) inside an inclined cavity. The contribution of the present study to the actual knowledge lies in the fact that the problem of the melting process is formulated using the enthalpy-porosity based method.