Abstract Phase change materials (PCM) have been widely used as latent energy storage media due to their useful high energy density with small storage volume at nearly constant temperatures throughout solidification and melting. In this paper, experimental evaluation of the melting of a paraffin wax (RT58) PCM inside a hemicylindrical storage cell is outlined. The cell is heated on its straight vertical wall by means of flowing hot water, while the curved side of the cell is thermally insulated. The temperatures of the PCM at various locations are measured using thermocouples, while a digital camera is used to visualise the melting process. A set of experiments is performed to examine the influence of variation of hot water temperature on various melting characteristics including the temperature field of the PCM, the progress of the melting front, the melt fraction, the stored energy, and the Nusselt number. The experimental findings reveal that increasing hot water temperature leads to a reduction of melting time and increases in the stored energy and the Nusselt number. The melting process is expedited by 15.4 and 16.5% when the temperature of hot water increases from 80 °C to 85 °C, and from 85 °C to 90 °C, respectively.

中文翻译：

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半圆柱形储能电池内石蜡熔化行为的实验评价

摘要 相变材料 (PCM) 因其有用的高能量密度和小的存储体积而在凝固和熔化过程中几乎恒定的温度下被广泛用作潜在的能量存储介质。在本文中，概述了半圆柱形存储电池内石蜡 (RT58) PCM 熔化的实验评估。电池通过流动的热水在其笔直的垂直壁上加热，而电池的弯曲侧是隔热的。PCM 在不同位置的温度使用热电偶测量，而数码相机用于可视化熔化过程。进行了一组实验来检查热水温度的变化对各种熔化特性的影响，包括 PCM 的温度场、熔化前沿的进展、熔体分数、储存能量和努塞尔数。实验结果表明，提高热水温度会导致熔化时间减少，并增加储存的能量和努塞尔数。当热水温度从 80°C 增加到 85°C 和从 85°C 增加到 90°C 时，熔化过程分别加快了 15.4% 和 16.5%。