Experimental and numerical investigation of phase change materials with finned encapsulation for energy-efficient buildings

Abstract

This article investigates the phase change characteristics of finned encapsulations in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system for buildings. The effect of various fin configurations on moving interface position and complete solidification time was investigated for spherical and cylindrical geometries. Total solidification time was reduced by 65–72% on incorporating fins for different configurations. The slotted fin arrangement proves to be more effective with 72% reduction in charging time. Experiments were conducted and the results were found to be in good agreement with the numerical analysis. The proposed predictions are very helpful in developing improved latent heat thermal energy storage used in buildings with large storage capacities, thus improving the overall energy efficiency of the building.

Keywords:

• phase-change heat transfer
• phase change materials
• solidification
• melting
• finned encapsulation
• numerical solution

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge Anna University and DST – FIST for providing the facilities available to perform this study.