Active Enhancement of PCM Charging for Cold Energy Storage

Active methods have proven to be efficient for upgrading the thermal reactivity of latent heat storage systems. This article presents a numerical study of cavity rotation during the cold energy charging of a phase change material. The computations are carried out using the commercial software FLUENT. The results reveal that the rotation has a dramatic impact on the phase transition. The solidification grows radially from all the cavity walls, and the charging time is reduced by up to 69%. The results also show that relatively high rotational speeds create flow stagnation areas that decrease the effect of the rotation on the cold energy charging.