Author
Xiao Cai
Bio: Xiao Cai is an academic researcher from China University of Mining and Technology. The author has contributed to research in topics: Natural convection & Metal foam. The author has an hindex of 2, co-authored 5 publications receiving 15 citations.
Papers
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TL;DR: In this article, a two-dimensional porosity gradient (MFTDPG) was proposed to further accelerate the melting process inside the rectangular cavity, which can reduce the total melting time by 7.65% and 3.37% respectively.
30 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the melting performance of porous-medium-enhanced phase change material (PCM) in a horizontal shell-and-tube latent-heat thermal energy storage unit (LHTESU) with eccentric structure is studied through a fixed-grid numerical method.
27 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed a structure with fins and graded metal foam to further enhance thermal performance, and the porosity of the metal foam increases gradually from the inner tube to the outer shell to reduce thermal resistance and improve thermal conduction globally.
26 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a two-dimensional porosity gradient structure was proposed for the problem of slow melting rate and non-uniform melting in the horizontal shell-and-tube LHTESU.
13 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a new combination mode of GA and CFD was proposed to solve optimization problems of fins for the enhancement of solid-liquid phase change heat transfer performance, and the optimization results showed that fin length should be as long as possible and the fins should be arranged uniformly if the fin thickness is free.
Abstract: A new combination mode of genetic algorithm (GA) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is proposed to solve optimization problems of fins for the enhancement of solid-liquid phase change heat transfer performance. In this optimization problem, some horizontal straight fins are installed on a vertical wall of a two-dimensional square cavity filled with PCM. The total cross-sectional area of fins is set as constraint, and the number, location and length/thickness of fins are selected as variables. The effect of natural convection on the melting characteristic of PCM is considered. The optimization results showed that fin length should be as long as possible and the fins should be arranged uniformly if the fin thickness is free. The existence of natural convection may slightly move fin downward to shorten the total melting time and increase the thermal energy storage rate. When the fin thickness is limited, the optimal number of fins depends on the total length of fins. One fin is suggested when the total length is smaller than 1.3, two fins when between 1.3 and 2.6, three fins when between 2.6 and 3.6, and four fins when greater than 3.6. Within the parameter range in this study, the thermal conductivity of fin material and fin thickness have ignorable effects on the critical values of total length, while the effects of natural convection should not be neglected. The critical length will increase with the increase of the Rayleigh number.
8 citations
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TL;DR: In this article , the latent heat thermal energy storage tubes packed with compressed metal foams under various compression ratios were designed and analyzed compared with uncompressed tubes, and the observations on the melting process including melting fraction, temperature response distribution and uniformity, velocity field, heat flux and energy storage were further discussed.
55 citations
TL;DR: In this paper , the effects of the metal foam-fin hybrid structure and the inclination angle on the phase change process were investigated by using the numerical simulation method, and the results demonstrated that the optimized heat transfer performance of the Metal Fo-Fin hybrid structure could reduce the melting time.
53 citations
TL;DR: In this article , a 3D numerical model is established and verified by visualization experiment to evaluate the effect of fin and metal foam on the internal melting process compared with pure paraffin structure.
28 citations
TL;DR: In this article , two principal thermal enhancement techniques (i.e., finned tubes and conductive metal foams) are numerically investigated for melting processes in a shell-and-tube latent heat thermal energy storage system.
27 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed a structure with fins and graded metal foam to further enhance thermal performance, and the porosity of the metal foam increases gradually from the inner tube to the outer shell to reduce thermal resistance and improve thermal conduction globally.
26 citations