Effect of Porous-Fin on Performance Enhancement of Shell-Tube Latent Heat Thermal Storage System

Nowadays Phase Change Materials (PCM) have been utilized for different thermal applications and thermal management of electronic systems. However, the poor thermal conductivity in PCM reduces the heat transfer results in a poor performance. Therefore, heat transfer augmentation methods have to be employed for improving the heat transfer in PCM based systems. In the present study, a novel heat transfer enhancement technique, that is, copper porous-fin has been introduced for improving the melting performance of the PCM. In order to perform a numerical study, a 2-D axisymmetric numerical model has been developed. Further, liquid fraction and thermal behaviour of porous-fin TES was evaluated and compared with the without-fin TES system. Based on the studies, it was found that porous-fin TES has uniform temperature distribution and shorter melting time than the without-fin TES. This shows that porous-fin TES can be recommended for thermal management of electronic systems which needs uniform and faster cooling.