Experimental Investigation on Heat Transfer Enhancement of Phase Change Materials by Fractal Fins
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Experimental Apparatus and Procedure
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Solid–Liquid Interface
3.2. Liquid Fraction
3.3. Temperature Distribution
3.4. Heat Transfer Characteristics
4. Summary
- The tree-like fins significantly improve the heating performance of LHTES. Among the one-fin units, compared with the rectangular fin, the full melting time of the unit with tree-like fin 1 is reduced by 9.76% because the improvement of the heat conduction of the tree-like fins is greater than the inhibition of natural convection.
- The tree-like fins are beneficial to controlling the heating surface temperature. At the end of the melting process, the bottom surface temperatures of the two units with tree-like fins were 14.42% and 13.19% lower than that of the unit with rectangular fin 1. The branched structure facilitates the conduction of heat from point to surface, making the temperature distribution more uniform during the melting process.
- The structure and number of fins are two key factors that affect the heat transfer performance of the LHTES unit. Increasing the number of fins can enhance heat transfer within the phase change unit. Compared with the unit with one rectangular fin, the full melting time of the unit with three rectangular fins and the unit with three tree-like fins are reduced by 21.95% and 17.07%, respectively, and the temperature distribution within the unit is more uniform. However, as the number of fins increases, the suppression of natural convection by the tree-like fin may exceed the enhancement of heat conduction, which results in a lower heat transfer performance of the unit with tree-like fin 3 compared to the unit with rectangular fin 2.
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Unit | Lauric Acid | Plexiglass | Aluminum Alloy | EPDM | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Density ρ | kg/m3 | Solid: 940 | 1180 | 2700 | 210.7 |
Liquid: 885 | |||||
Thermal conductivity k | W/m/K | Solid: 0.16 | 0.19 | 130 | 0.027 |
Liquid: 0.14 | |||||
Specific heat capacity cp | J/kg/K | Solid: 2180 | 1464 | 900 | 2300 |
Liquid: 2390 | |||||
Melting range Ts–Tl | °C | 43.5–48.2 | - | - | - |
Latent heat of fusion L | J/kg | 187,210 | - | - | - |
Rectangular Fin 1 | Rectangular Fin 2 | Tree-like Fin 1 | Tree-like Fin 2 | Tree-like Fin 3 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
L0 | 35 mm | 35 mm | 14.22 mm | 9.56 mm | 6.08 mm |
L0′ | - | - | - | 10 mm | 20 mm |
L1 | - | - | 10.05 mm | 6.76 mm | 4.30 mm |
L2 | - | - | 7.11 mm | 4.78 mm | 3.04 mm |
L3 | - | - | 5.03 mm | 3.38 mm | 2.15 mm |
w0 | 7 mm | 2.28 mm | 4 mm | 4.64 mm | 1.75 mm |
w1 | - | - | 2.84 mm | 3.28 mm | 1.24 mm |
w2 | - | - | 2 mm | 2.32 mm | 0.88 mm |
w3 | - | - | 1.42 mm | 1.64 mm | 0.62 mm |
Maximum height of a fin Lmax | 35 mm | 35 mm | 35 mm | 35 mm | 35 mm |
Maximum width of a fin wmax | 7 mm | 2.28 mm | 41.56 mm | 30.87 mm | 17.84 mm |
Fin surface area Afin | 4620 mm2 | 13,010.4 mm2 | 13,041.6 mm2 | 10,776 mm2 | 23,947.2 mm2 |
Total area Aw | 7800 mm2 | 16,200 mm2 | 16,401.6 mm2 | 14,097.6 mm2 | 27,237.6 mm2 |
Rectangular Fin 1 | Rectangular Fin 2 | Tree-like Fin 1 | Tree-like Fin 2 | Tree-like Fin 3 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
full melting time tall (min) | 41 | 32 | 37 | 39 | 34 |
melting time ratio rt | 1 | 0.78 | 0.90 | 0.95 | 0.83 |
full melting time reduction percentage | - | 21.95% | 9.76% | 4.88% | 17.07% |
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Guo, Z.; Xu, L.; Sun, F.; Sun, S. Experimental Investigation on Heat Transfer Enhancement of Phase Change Materials by Fractal Fins. Energies 2024, 17, 2657. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17112657
Guo Z, Xu L, Sun F, Sun S. Experimental Investigation on Heat Transfer Enhancement of Phase Change Materials by Fractal Fins. Energies. 2024; 17(11):2657. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17112657
Chicago/Turabian StyleGuo, Zishuo, Li Xu, Feihu Sun, and Si Sun. 2024. "Experimental Investigation on Heat Transfer Enhancement of Phase Change Materials by Fractal Fins" Energies 17, no. 11: 2657. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17112657