Thermal Energy Storage in Metal Foams filled with Paraffin Wax

• Main Author: Vadwala, Pathik
• Other Authors: Chandra, Sanjeev
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Mechanical; Engineering; 0548
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/31621

Phase change materials (PCM) such as paraffin wax are known to exhibit slow thermal response due to their relatively low thermal conductivity. In this study, experiments were carried out to investigate a method of enhancing thermal conductivity of paraffin wax by making use of high porosity open cell metal foams. By adding metal foam, thermal conductivity of PCM’s was shown to increase by 16-18 times that of pure paraffin wax. The use of open cell metal foam material for thermal energy storage application was also investigated by designing and testing different thermal energy storage systems (TESS) - with and without metal foam. The effect of copper metal foam on heat transfer during melting and solidification was analysed by determining the convective heat transfer coefficient. Lastly, a numerical code was developed to predict the temperature field within PCM while melting.