Enhanced Melting Behavior of Phase Change Material (PCM) in a Rectangular Cavity: Effect of Fin

This work attempts to investigate the enhanced heat transfer performance of phase change materials (PCMs) utilizing a rectangular fin placed vertically in a rectangular cavity filled with paraffin wax (RT-45). The top wall is considered an isothermally heated wall and all other walls are insulated. A rectangular thin conducting fin is vertically attached to the top heated surface. The total cross-sectional area of the fin is kept constant so that the volume of the PCM remains the same for every case. The evolved transport equations are solved numerically using the finite volume-based solver. For analyzing the enhanced performance of the PCM, the fin is divided into multiple fins keeping the same surface area. Thus, the number of fins on the total melting time is keenly observed with the help of stream trace lines. The analysis revealed that the melting time of PCM decreases by 48.36% when the heated surface increases from 78 to 120 mm adopting fin. With a further increase in the heated surface from 120 to 160 mm, the melting time decreases by 17.73%. The formation of the circulation loops affects the average melting time. The results also show that as the amount of heated surfaces increases, the rate of reduction in the total melting time reduces. Consequently, an optimum length of the heated surface could be obtained.