Numerical phase change model considering crystal growth under supercooling

The supercooling of phase change material (PCM) significantly affects the heat release characteristics of heat storage systems. Therefore, accurate numerical modeling of the solidification process is key for studying heat storage. Few models considering the crystal growth of supercooling PCMs have been established; however, their accuracy under slight supercooling conditions is unsatisfactory. In this study, the implicit finite difference method was used to establish a two-dimensional PCM heat transfer model that considers the crystal growth process in detail. The growth rate of the crystallization front was used to control the crystallization start time at each node, and the solidification speed was used to manage the heating process once the crystallization was triggered. The accuracy of the model was verified by the experimental results obtained by melting, cooling, and triggering crystallization in a stable supercooled state and during cooling. Based on the simulations of a concentric tube PCM heat exchanger, the effects of several parameters on the heat release rate were investigated, such as the supercooling degree, the PCM initial temperature, and the inlet temperature of Heat transfer fluid (HTF). The results show that a large supercooling degree will accelerate the heat release rate of the PCM heat exchanger after the crystallization is triggered. An increase in the initial PCM temperature reduces the sharp increase in HTF outlet temperature caused by crystallization; a decrease in HTF inlet temperature also has the same effect. A comparison of various models demonstrated that the use of the crystallization front to calculate the PCM temperature directly causes up to 3% of the heat to be released earlier or later. Moreover, ignoring the crystal growth process causes up to 9% of the heat to be released in advance, and ignoring the supercooling causes an even greater error.

Automated summary

This study used the implicit finite difference method to establish a two-dimensional PCM heat transfer model that considers the crystal growth process in detail. The results show that a large supercooling degree will accelerate the heat release rate of the PCM heat exchanger after the crystallization is triggered, while increasing the initial PCM temperature will reduce the sharp increase in the outlet temperature of the heat transfer fluid caused by crystallization.