Melting Process of PCM in Cylindrical Ceramic Capsule for Solar Thermal Storage

Abstract

Heat transfer between the high temperature fluid and the cylindrical ceramic capsule and the melting process of the PCM inside the capsule were experimented and simulated. Realizable k-ε turbulence model is used in this simulation. Numerically solved results showed trends consistent with the experiment. In the down flow, it was confirmed that the melting front is like a conical shape because the near-wall-fluid temperature on the upstream side was high. It is found that the heat transfer coefficient between the hot air and the ceramic capsule depends on capsule height.