Thermal analysis of pure and nanoparticle-enhanced PCM—application in concentric tube heat exchanger

Abstract

In this paper, organic phase change materials are modeled and studied both numerically and computationally. The results are compared with those of other research available in the international literature. Regardless of their heat storing capacity, the low heat conductivity of PCMs constitutes a significant obstacle to the further advancement of technologies pertaining to latent heat energy storage, as it hampers the immediate response of systems both at heat storage and at heat recovery. In this work, two types of nanoparticles are used as enhancing media, and the calculations are repeated in terms of melting front and stored energy enhancement. The results show that a 6.5% value for the melt percentage enhancement and a 5.5% value for the heat stored enhancement are exhibited when copper nanoparticles are utilized.