Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics of Emulsion Type Thermal Storage Material in Microchannel

Abstract

In this study, flow and heat transfer characteristics of emulsion type thermal storage material which a phase change material is emulsified and dispersed inside a water in a microchannel was investigated experimentally and numerically. It was found that mass fraction and state of dispersoild affected the rheology characteristics of emulsions and they tended to show pseudoplastic fluid behavior. Furthermore, the Nusselt number of emulsions reasonably agreed with that of single phase fluid when its dispersoid keep solid or liquid phase during heating, and was higher than the value when its dispersoid is melting because the apparent specific heat increased due to latent heat absorption of phase change materials. It was expected that an effect of existence of dispersoid on flow and heat transfer of emulsions in the microchannel because the relative size of dispersoid relative to flow path is comparatively large. However, obvious effects of dispersoid on flow and heat transfer of emulsions in the microchannel were not observed.