An analytical technique of transient phase-change material melting calculation for different phase-change material containers cases

Abstract

An analytical model earlier developed for calculation of transient phase-change material (PCM) melting (Dubovsky et al. [1]) proved to be a useful tool for use in the analysis of various structures. As shown in our subsequent studies, despite the serious assumptions in its development, the model is effective in optimization of the design and parameters of systems, including the case of transition from analytical methods to numerical calculations. The present work shows that the use of the analytical technique and its modifications for the analyzed PCM arrangements is beneficial. Proper application of the technique makes it possible to obtain the parameters of the real PCM melting process in the form of algebraic formulas, both for the transient values of variables over time, and for the overall process characteristics. Our analysis is performed for the commonly used PCM containers where we use classifications in terms of the geometry and configuration as defined in the literature. A comparison with the results of numerical calculations of transient melting by CFD FLUENT, confirms the validity of algebraic formulas and allows to assess the nature and value of the introduced error in the results of our analytical method, for each analyzed case.