Comparative CFD Analysis of Heat Transfer and Melting Characteristics of the PCM in Enclosures with Different Fin Configurations

Two-dimensional numerical simulation has been performed to investigate the heat transfer and melting characteristics of the Phase Change Materials (PCM) filled inside the square domain equipped with the different fins configurations. Accordingly, five different cases have been considered in the current work where each square domain holds equal fin surface area which is 30 mm2. For all the cases, paraffin wax is taken as a PCM. Left wall of the domain is maintained at a constant temperature of 350 K. This study primarily estimates the melting process of the PCM, besides, melting rate, enhancement ratio and impact natural convection current are also discussed. Findings of this study reveals that inclusion of fins in the domain certainly increased the melting rate as compared to case 1 (without fin). Further, case 3 (with two identical rectangular fins) is found to be the most efficient among all the considered cases. Melting rate of the PCM in this domain is 60.44% higher than case 1, it is attributed to rapid heat propagation in the finned domains followed by the evolution of favourable natural convection current.