This paper reviews the development of latent heat thermal energy storage systems studied detailing various phase change materials (PCMs) investigated over the last three decades, the heat transfer and enhancement techniques employed in PCMs to effectively charge and discharge latent heat energy and the formulation of the phase change problem. It also examines the geometry and configurations of PCM containers and a series of numerical and experimental tests undertaken to assess the effects of parameters such as the inlet temperature and the mass flow rate of the heat transfer fluid (HTF). It is concluded that most of the phase change problems have been carried out at temperature ranges between 0 °C and 60 °C suitable for domestic heating applications. In terms of problem formulation, the common approach has been the use of enthalpy formulation. Heat transfer in the phase change problem was previously formulated using pure conduction approach but the problem has moved to a different level of complexity with added convection in the melt being accounted for. There is no standard method (such as British Standards or EU standards) developed to test for PCMs, making it difficult for comparison to be made to assess the suitability of PCMs to particular applications. A unified platform such as British Standards, EU standards needs to be developed to ensure same or similar procedure and analysis (performance curves) to allow comparison and knowledge gained from one test to be applied to another.

A review of materials, heat transfer and phase change problem formulation for latent heat thermal energy storage systems (LHTESS)

The melting of pure gallium in a rectangular cavity has been numerically investigated using the enthalpy-porosity approach for modeling combined convection-diffusion phase change. The major advantage of this technique is that it allows a fixed-grid solution of the coupled momentum and energy equations to be undertaken without resorting to variable transformations. In this work, a two-dimensional dynamic model is used and the influence of laminar natural-convection flow on the melting process is considered. Excellent agreement exists between the numerical predictions and experimental results available in the literature. The enthalpy-porosity approach has been found to converge rapidly, and is capable of producing accurate results for both the position and morphology of the melt front at different times with relatively modest computational requirements. These results may be taken to be a sound validation of this technique for modeling isothermal phase changes in metallurgical systems.

Enthalpy-porosity technique for modeling convection-diffusion phase change: application to the melting of a pure metal

A critical synthesis of thermophysical characteristics of nanofluids

A continuum model for momentum, heat and species transport in binary solid-liquid phase change systems—I. Model formulation

Review on phase change materials (PCMs) for cold thermal energy storage applications

Natural convection heat transfer of alumina-water nanofluid in vertical square enclosures: An experimental study

Numerical simulation of natural convection of nanofluid in a square enclosure: Effects due to uncertainties of viscosity and thermal conductivity

An experimental investigation of forced convective cooling performance of a microchannel heat sink with Al2O3/water nanofluid

Preparation and thermophysical properties of nanoparticle-in-paraffin emulsion as phase change material

An experimental study on thermal performance of Al2O3/water nanofluid in a minichannel heat sink

Ching-Jenq Ho

Papers

Natural convection heat transfer of alumina-water nanofluid in vertical square enclosures: An experimental study

Numerical simulation of natural convection of nanofluid in a square enclosure: Effects due to uncertainties of viscosity and thermal conductivity

An experimental investigation of forced convective cooling performance of a microchannel heat sink with Al2O3/water nanofluid

Preparation and thermophysical properties of nanoparticle-in-paraffin emulsion as phase change material

An experimental study on thermal performance of Al2O3/water nanofluid in a minichannel heat sink