Melting of nanoprticle-enhanced phase change material inside shell and tube heat exchanger

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical study of melting of Nanoprticle-Enhanced phase change material (NEPCM) inside a shell and tube heat exchanger using RT50 and copper particles as base material and nanoparticle, respectively. In this study, the effects of nanoparticles dispersion (φ = 0, 0.03, and 0.05) on melting time, liquid fraction, and penetration length are investigated. The results show that the melting time decreases to 14.6% and the penetration length increases to 146% with increasing volume fraction of nanoparticle up to φ = 0.05.