Solidification Characteristics Modeling of Phase Change Material in Plate Capsule of Cool Storage System

Abstract

The analytical solutions to solidification characteristics of a phase change material in the plate capsule of a cool storage system are presented. The influence of the Stefan number (the ratio of sensible heat to latent heat of a cool storage material) on phase change solidification thickness and temperature distribution in the solid region is analyzed. The phase change solidification thickness and temperature distribution in the solid region with second-order accuracy solutions are compared with those with first-order accuracy solutions for different Stefan numbers. It is found that the difference in temperature distribution in the solid region between second-order accuracy solutions and first-order accuracy solutions is very small as the Stefan number is small (i.e., Ste ≤ 0.1). In addition, the results present that the difference in phase change solidification thickness between second-order accuracy solutions and first-order accuracy solutions is small as the Stefan number is small (i.e., Ste ≤ 0.1). The phase change solidification thickness can be calculated using second-order accuracy solutions to obtain accurate calculation results as the Stefan number is large (i.e., Ste ≥ 0.1).

Keywords:

• Solidification characteristics
• Heat transfer
• Phase change material
• Plate capsule
• Cool storage

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This project is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 50776043), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant no. 1114020401), and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.