This work presented experimental investigations on the thermal energy storage performance of the shell and tube unit with composite phase change materials (PCM). A cylindrical heat storage tank filled with open-cell copper foam was proposed and its melting process characteristics were studied. A designed test system was established to record the PCM real-time temperature data. The results showed that, compared with traditional smooth-tube phase-change heat exchangers, the composite PCM unit accelerated the bottom paraffin melting. The temperature disparity among different height reduced, which resulted in better internal temperature uniformity. Due to the expanded heat transfer area, improved heat transfer coefficient and weakened natural convection, the bottom phase-change materials in the composite-PCM heat-storage unit melt faster. 

Melting heat transfer in open-cell metal foams embedded in phase-change materials (PCMS) predicted by the volume-averaged method (VAM) was systematically compared with that calculated using direct numerical simulation (DNS), with particular attention placed upon the contribution of natural convection in the melt region to overall phase change heat transfer. The two-temperature model based on the assumption of local thermal non-equilibrium was employed to account for the large difference of thermal conductivity between metallic ligaments and PCM (paraffin). The Forchheimer extended Darcy model was employed to describe the additional flow resistance induced by metal foam. For the DNS, a geometric model of metal foam based on tetrakaidehedron cells was reconstructed. The DNS results demonstrated significant temperature difference between ligament surface and PCM, thus confirming the feasibility of local thermal non-equilibrium employed in VAM simulations. Relative to the DNS results, the VAM combined with the two-temperature model could satisfactorily predict transient solid-liquid interface evolution and local temperature distribution, although pore-scale features of phase change were lost. The presence of natural convection affected significantly the melting front shape, temperature distribution and full melting. The contribution of natural convection to overall phase change heat transfer should be qualitatively and quantitatively given sufficient consideration from both macroscopic (VAM) and microscopic (DNS) point of views. Besides, practical significance and economic prospective using metal foam in TES unit for WHR system to provide residential heating or hot water is discussed and analyzed.

Thermal energy storage (TES) can effectively recover thermal energy from low-temperature waste heat and it has now been received increasing attentions in practical engineering applications. Nevertheless, the relatively low thermal conductivity of engineering available phase change materials (PCMs) greatly limits the energy efficiency of TES applications. To enhance the phase change process, open-cell metal foam with a porosity of 0.94 and pore density of 15 PPI (pore per inch) was employed to be inserted either in heat transfer fluid (HTF) or in phase change material (PCM). A two-dimensional axis-symmetric problem was numerically solved and was validated through comparing temperature history at selected points. Results demonstrated that the involvement of open-cell metal foam can effectively enhance the phase change heat transfer, greatly reducing the full melting time. By comparing the four cases (without metal foam, inserting metal foam into HTF, PCM and both domains), the case that both HTF and PCM domains were embedded with porous media can provide the best heat transfer enhancement, from which practical applications with thermal engineering may benefit.

This study focused on the effect of inserting fins into metal foam on the solidification rate. To this aim, a well-designed experimental system with solid-liquid interface visualization was built. Metal foam samples with different fin intervals were prepared for experiments. Solidification process of water saturating in finned metal foam under bottom cooling was experimentally investigated. Results showed that inserting fins into metal foam can make a promotional improvement on solidification rate of water. The solid-liquid interface became curved after inserting fins, compared with metal foam sample without fins. Besides, changing the interval has little effect on the solidification rate.

This study presented experimental investigations on the thermal performance of a thermal energy storage (TES) unit with coil tubes. A designed test rig was built and the melting heat transfer characteristics (melting front and temperature distribution) inside the TES unit were examined. The effects of charging flow rate on the overall phase change process were examined. The results showed that natural convection accelerated the thermal energy transport in the melt phase in the top region, but weakened the heat transfer in the bottom region; this resulted in the unmelt PCM at the bottom. The melting heat transfer was overall enhanced by the increase in inlet flow rate, indicating that the full charging time can be shortened by a larger flow rate. 

This study presented an experimental investigation on solidification behavior of fluid saturated in highly porous open-cell copper foams. Particular attention has been made on the effect of pore parameters (pore density and porosity) on the solidification behavior. A purposely-designed apparatus was built for experimental observations. Results showed that the copper foam had a great effect on solidification and the full solidification time can be saved up to 50%, especially preventing the decrease in solidification rate during the later stage of phase change. The smaller the porosity is, the faster the solidification rate will be. Pore density was found to have little influence upon the solidification rate. In addition, the local natural convection does exist but it has a slight effect on solidification, leading to the slant of the solid-liquid interface.