5350 Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.

2004, 43, 5350-5357

Heat Transfer Characteristics during Melting and Solidification of

Phase Change Energy Storage Process
Hisham Ettouney,*,† Hisham El-Dessouky,† and Eman Al-Kandari‡
Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering and Petroleum, Kuwait University,
P.O. Box 5969, Safat, 13060, Kuwait, and Environment Public Authority, Kuwait

This study focuses on heat transfer characteristics of phase change material (PCM) during energy
storage and release in vertical double pipe configuration. Paraffin wax with an average melting
temperature of 52 °C is used as the energy storage material and water is used as the heat transfer
fluid (HTF). The heat transfer fluid flows in the inner tube and the wax is stored on the shell
side. Eighteen thermocouple wires are placed in the wax to provide a detailed measurement for
the temperature field during energy storage and release. Measurements are made as a function
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of the flow direction, flow rate, and inlet temperature of the heat transfer fluid. Results indicate
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that natural convection dominates the melting process for upward flow of the heat transfer fluid.
On the other hand, the solidification process is dominated by conduction. During melting and
upward flow of the HTF, the density difference of hotter and cooler molten wax layers initiates
natural convection cells. Further mixing within the melt is also caused by descent of the higher
density solid wax.

Introduction
Endeavors of researchers to secure clean and envi-
ronmentally friendly energy sources include use of
energy storage systems. These systems can be used to
store energy for household and industrial applications.
Also, energy storage units can be combined with non-
fossil and sustainable energy sources, such as solar,
ocean thermal, tidal, wind, and geothermal energies.
Irrespective of the attractive features of the energy
storage systems its use remains to be found on a very
limited scale. This is caused in part by the lower prices
of fossil fuels and the huge field of experience in design,
construction, and operation of fossil fuel power plants.
Studies of energy storage systems were motivated in
part by the rising energy costs during the second half
of the twentieth century and the need for these con-
figurations in space applications. Earlier studies focused
on development of full-scale household devices, i.e., solar
ovens,1 water heaters,2 etc. Results of these studies
indicated the need for better understanding of various
aspects of the melting and solidification through de-
tailed modeling and experimental investigations. Ex-
amples for mathematical modeling and analysis include
the studies by Sparrow et al.,3,4 Green et al.,5 Zhang et
al.,6 and Chen.7 Results of these studies show a limited
role of natural convection during the solidification
process. On the other hand, natural convection is found
to drastically enhance the melting process.8,9 Experi-
mental investigations focused on development of the
heat exchange configuration. These developments in-
cluded shell and tube,10 double pipe,11 plate,12 or spheri-
cal shells.13,14 The study by Esen et al.10 was conducted
for energy storage and release in shell and tube heat
exchange units. Results indicate shorter energy storage
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.:
965-481-1188, ext. 5619. Fax: 965-483-9498. E-mail: hisham@
kuc01.kuniv.edu.kw.
†
Kuwait University.
‡
Environment Public Authority.
10.1021/ie030495b CCC: $27.50 © 2004 American Chemical Society
Published on Web 07/15/2004
and release times upon storing the PCM on the shell
side. The study by Choi and Kim11 focused on heat
transfer by use of finned tubes. The results show 4-fold
enhancement upon the use of finned tubes. This is
caused by the increase in the effective thermal conduc-
tivity of the phase change material due to high thermal
conductivity of the metal fins. Plate heat exchangers
provide higher heat transfer coefficients than regular
shell and tube heat exchangers.12 This should reduce
drastically the required system volume for the same
thermal capacity. Also, charge and release times are
reduced considerably. However, use of plate heat ex-
changers remains to be found on a limited scale. This
is because of the lack of field experience and industrial
standards. Also, the number of manufacturers and
selection choices are quite limited for the shell and tube
configuration. Use of spherical capsules to store the
PCM is motivated by the fact that spheres provide the
highest specific surface area. Spherical shells are used
for ice formation in large tanks during off-peak load
hours.13 Ice melting during the daytime would provide
lower cost air conditioning and cooling applications.
Experimental evaluation of the natural convection role
inside the spherical capsules14 show a stronger role
during melting than solidification. Also, the natural
convection role is enhanced by the increase in the
diameter of the spherical capsule.
Use of paraffin wax as PCM has a major drawback of
low thermal conductivity, which would increase the
melting and solidification times. This problem is ad-
dressed through the use of finned tubes15 as well as
metal fiber,16 metal matrix inserts,17 or metal beads and
screens.18 These attempts resulted in higher effective
thermal conductivity and heat transfer enhancement of
1- to 5-fold. This is achieved with replacement of less
than 5% in volume of the wax with the tube fins or
various forms of metal structures.16-18
The focus of this study is to evaluate natural convec-
tion effects during melting and solidification of paraffin
wax in double pipe heat exchange systems. The main
 Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 43, No. 17, 2004 5351

Table 1. Physical Properties of PCM and HTF

water paraffin wax
physical property (HTF)a (PCM)
melting temperature, °C N/A 52
latent heat, kJ/kg N/A 210
solid density, kg/m3 N/A 860
liquid density, kg/m3 998 780
specific heat, kJ/kg K 4.18 2.9 (s)
2.1 (L)
thermal conductivity, W/m K 0.626 0.24 (s)
0.15 (L)
viscosity, Ns/m2 6.62 × 10-4 0.205
a Water properties are for a temperature range of 5-97 °C. N/A

(not applicable).

Figure 2. Dimensions of PCM and HTF tubes.

and a PC for data analysis. The PCM tube is made of

Figure 1. Schematic of experimental system.
feature of this study is the detailed measurement of the
temperature field within the PCM. This is quiet distin-
guishable among literature studies, where the majority
of these studies have used a small number of thermo-
couples and on one side only of the heat exchanger
tubes. Accordingly, analysis in these studies must
assume symmetry and neglect radial temperature varia-
tions. The detailed temperature fields measured in this
study are quiet valuable, since they provide the litera-
ture with the actual picture for the temperature field
during melting and solidification. This facilitates as-
sessment of the heat transfer characteristics during the
melting and solidification cycles, which is made in part
by calculating the Nusselt and Fourier numbers for
melting and solidification.
Experimental System
A summary of the physical properties of the PCM
(paraffin wax) and HTF (water) is given in Table 1. The
experimental system, Figure 1, includes constant-tem-
perature water bath, circulation pump, the PCM and
HTF tubes, thermocouples wiring, data acquisition unit,
Plexiglas with an inner diameter of 69.4 mm. The HTF
tube is made of copper with inner and outer diameters
of 9.7 mm and 12.7 mm, respectively. The PCM is kept
in the annular space between the Plexiglas and copper
tubes. The HTF connections to the copper tube allow
for upward and downward flow of the HTF. Thermo-
couple wires are used to measure the temperature field
in the PCM and at the inlet/outlet of the HTF tube. The
wires have a measuring range of -10 to 150 °C and an
accuracy of +0.2 °C. A total of eighteen thermocouples
are equally distributed in the PCM over three axial
locations along the column length, Figure 2. These axial
locations are 170, 510, and 850 mm, which are measured
from the tube base. Each axial location contains six
thermocouples, which are equally spaced over a distance
of 30 mm; therefore, each two thermocouples are spaced
by 5 mm. A 40-channel data logger is used to collect
the temperature measurements. The logger stores the
temperature measurements at an interval of 5 min. The
logged data are transferred to the PC unit, where they
can be processed and analyzed. A needle valve and a
flow meter are used to adjust the flow rate of the HTF
over a range of 0.238-0.37 kg/s. The outlet HTF stream
is recycled back to the constant temperature water bath.
The water bath keeps the water temperature constant
at the desired value, which can be changed over a range
of 5-98 °C. This allows for heating and cooling modes.
Therefore, in the heating mode the HTF temperature
is changed over a range of 65-85 °C and in the cooling
mode the temperature is changed over a range of 10-
20 °C.
Error Analysis. To estimate the uncertainties in the
results presented in this work, the approach described
by Barford19 was applied. The overall uncertainty as-
signed to a given measurement is defined as the root-
sum-square combination of the fixed error due to the
instrumentation and the random error observed during
5352 Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 43, No. 17, 2004
measurements. The measured experimental errors are
(0.2 °C for temperatures, (0.02 kg/s for water flow rate,
2.5 × 10-6 m for inner and outer diameter of the tubes,
and (1 s for melting or freezing times. Accordingly, the
resulting errors are (6.37% and (5.43% in the calcu-
lated Nusselt and Fourier numbers, respectively.
Melting and Solidification Fourier Number. The
correlations for melting and solidification Fourier num-
ber are expressed in terms of the Biot and Stefan
numbers, or
Fo ) aBibStc (1)
where a, b, and c are fitting constants, and Fo, Bi, and
St are Fourier, Biot, and Stefan numbers, respectively.
It should be noted that (TP) in Stefan number is set
equal to the PCM melting temperature for melting, and
for solidification (TP) is set equal to the PCM temper-
ature at the start of the solidification cycle.
Melting and Solidification Nusselt Number. The
model equations for solidification are similar for those
of melting; however, the temperature differences in eqs
3 and 4 must be reversed for solidification to take into
consideration heat transfer from the PCM into the HTF.
The heat transfer coefficient of the PCM during melting/
solidification is obtained from the definition of the heat
transfer resistance between the PCM and the HTF,
which is given by
1 20 °C.
hP ) (2)
1 DoHln(DoH/DiH) DoH
- -
U 2kw DiHhH
The overall heat transfer coefficient (U) used in eq 2
is obtained from the heat transfer rate equation for the
energy storage system, which is given by
U ) MHCpH (TiH - ToH)/(AH × LMTD) (3)
The logarithmic mean temperature difference for melt-
ing, LMTD, is defined by
(TiH - T1) - (ToH - T13)
LMTD ) (4)
ln((TiH - T1)/(ToH - T13))
In eq 4 T1 and T13 are the PCM temperatures at the
same level of the inlet and outlet HTF, respectively. In
eq 2, the heat transfer coefficient for the HTF is
calculated from the Dittus and Boelter equation.
hH ) 0.023 Re0.8PrakH/DiH (5)
where a ) 0.3 (for cooling) and a ) 0.4 (for heating). Re
and Pr are the Reynolds and Prandtl numbers. The heat
transfer coefficient for the PCM given by eq 2 is used
to obtain the Nusselt number correlation. For solidifica-
tion the Nusselt number is found to have negligible
dependence on natural convection. Therefore, the cor-
relation for Nuseelt number during solidification is
defined in terms of the Stefan (St) and Fourier numbers,
where
Nu ) aStbFoc (6)
Equation 6 is valid for both cases of upward or down-
ward flow of the HTF. Also, it is valid during melting
Figure 3. Transient temperature profiles in PCM, surrounding
air, and HTF for downward HTF flow, TiH (hot) ) 85 °C, TiH (cold)
) 15 °C, MH ) 0.303 kg/s.
for downward flow of the HTF. In presence of natural
convection, or upward flow of the HTF, the Nusselt
number correlation is expressed in terms of Rayleigh
(Ra), Stefan (St), and Fourier (Fo) numbers
Nu ) aRabStcFod (7)
Results and Discussion
The experimental system is operated for the following
set of conditions: (a) flow rates of HTF are 0.238-0.37
kg/s; (b) inlet temperatures of heating HTF are 65-85
°C; and (c) inlet temperatures of cooling HTF are 10-
In addition, the system is operated at the following
modes: (a) melting (energy storage) and solidification
(energy release); and (b) upward and downward HTF
flow.
The following points should be mentioned regarding
the discussion and the developed correlations. The
correlations developed in the following sections are valid
for the above experimental ranges as well as the type
of PCM and HTF used in the measurements and the
geometry of the energy storage unit. A limited number
of illustrations is given in the following sections. How-
ever, the discussion covers all experimental conditions
considered in the measurements.
Transients of Axial and Radial Temperature
Profiles. The measured data for the axial temperature
profiles at the outer surface of the HTF tube are shown
in Figure 3. The data set includes the melting and
solidification modes. Also, the temperature profiles for
the inlet and outlet HTF and the surrounding air are
shown in the figure. Analysis of the measured axial
temperature profiles shows the following: (a) The
temperature difference of the inlet and outlet HTF for
cooling or heating vary over a range of 0.5-2 °C. (b)
Downward flow of the HTF results in a higher temper-
ature for the PCM located at the top of the tube than
the PCM located at the bottom of the tube. This behavior
remains unaltered throughout the experiment even
after melting of the PCM. This is because the molten
wax has lower density than the solid wax. Also, the melt
density decreases with temperature increase. This
implies that for downward HTF flow the system will be
stable with no natural convection effects. (c) Upward
flow of the HTF results in higher temperature for the
PCM located at the bottom of the tube. This behavior
is altered as the PCM starts to melt. This is because
the hotter melt with lower density moves to the top part
of the tube. Consequently, unmelted solid wax and
cooler molten wax would descend to lower part of the

Figure 4. Transient variations in the PCM radial temperature
profiles at three axial locations for melting, downward HTF flow,
TiH ) 65 °C, and MH ) 0.238 kg/s.
PCM tube. The upper motion of the hotter molten and
the downward motion of the cooler molten wax would
forms natural convection cells. This would enhance
mixing within the PCM melt. (d) The PCM approaches
the HTF temperature more rapidly as the HTF tem-
perature is increased. This is because of the increase
in the driving force for heating. Increasing the HTF flow
rate gives a similar but less pronounced effect. This is
because of the increase in the system thermal load.
The transients of the radial temperature profiles
during melting and solidification are shown in Figures
4 and 5, respectively. Examining the data shown in
these figures confirms the findings for the transient data
for the axial temperature profiles along the outer
surface of the HTF tube. However, the transients of the
radial temperature profile at three axial locations give
a more detailed picture for the melting and solidification
processes, where: (a) the radial temperature profiles
indicate higher temperature near the HTF tube during
the melting process and lower temperature during
solidification, (b) at the outer surface of the PCM tube,
the temperature profile has zero gradient because of the
effect of the insulation layer,. (c) melting and solidifica-
tion rates are high at small times. However, these rates
diminish at larger times. The high rates are caused by
Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 43, No. 17, 2004 5353
Figure 5. Transient variations in PCM radial temperature
profiles at three axial locations for solidification, downward HTF
flow, TiH ) 15 °C, and MH ) 0.238 kg/s.
the large temperature differences between the PCM and
the HTF at small times. However, for large times the
PCM temperature approaches the HTF temperature.
Transient Temperature Contours. Transient tem-
perature contours are shown in Figures 6 and 7. Figure
6 corresponds to large operating times, where the entire
PCM has changed to the molten phase. As is shown in
Figure 6, the melt is formed of several horizontal layers
of hotter melt on top of colder melt. The lowest temper-
ature is found in the lower outer perimeter of the PCM
tube.
The temperature contours during solidification show
radial progression from the outer surface of the HTF
tube. As is shown in Figure 7 the coldest zone is found
near the HTF tube and hottest zone is found near the
outer surface of the PCM tube. The solidification
isotherms are almost vertical and the solid layers have
a shape similar to that of the HTF tube. Natural
convection effects during solidification are negligible
because of the continuous decrease in the melt volume
5354 Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 43, No. 17, 2004
Figure 6. Temperature field in PCM for melting, downward HTF
flow, TiH ) 65 °C, MH ) 0.238 kg/s.
Figure 7. Temperature field in PCM for solidification, downward
HTF flow, TiH ) 15 °C, and MH ) 0.238 kg/s.
Figure 8. Variation in PCM Nusselt number during melting,
upward HTF flow, and as a function of the HTF temperature.
and the small temperature gradient found within the
melt in the vertical direction.
Variations in the PCM Nusselt Number. Varia-
tions in the PCM Nusselt number for melting are shown
in Figures 8-11. Results are shown for upward HTF
flow. The data for the downward HTF flow are not
displayed because of similarities in their dependence on
the system parameters. However, the Nusselt number
is higher for the upward HTF flow because of natural
convection effects. Analysis of the Nusselt number for
both types of flow shows the following behavior. (a)
Nusselt number increases with the increase in the
system temperature or the HTF temperature, Figure
8. This is because at higher temperatures the viscosity
of the melt decreases and results in the increase of
natural convection within the melt. (b) Nusselt number
decreases with the increase in Fourier number, Figure
9. This is because Fourier number is proportional to the
melting time. Therefore, increase in the melting time
Figure 9. Variation in PCM Nusselt number during melting,
upward HTF flow, and as a function of Fourier number.
Figure 10. Variation in PCM Nusselt number during melting,
upward HTF flow, and as a function of Stefan number.
Figure 11. Variation in PCM Nusselt number during melting,
upward HTF flow, and as a function of Rayleigh number.
implies lower HTF temperature. (c) Nusselt number
increases with the increase in the Stefan number,
Figure 10. This is because Stefan number is proportional
to the temperature difference of the HTF and the
melting point of the PCM. Therefore, higher Stefan
number implies higher HTF temperature. (d) For up-
ward HTF flow, the decrease of Nusselt number with
the increase in Rayleigh number is caused by the
assumptions used to calculate Rayleigh number. The
only parameters that vary in Rayleigh number upon the
increase of the HTF temperature are (∆TH) and (βP).
Rayleigh number is proportional to ∆TH, which is
defined as TH - Tm. Also, it is proportional to the
thermal expansion coefficient of the PCM, which is
defined by βP ) 1/FP ∆FP/∆TP. In this definition, ∆Tp is
the temperature difference between the bottom and top
of the PCM melt. This implies that Rayleigh is propor-
tional to the ratio (∆TH/∆TP). This ratio is found to

Figure 12. Variation in PCM Nusselt number during solidifica-
tion, downward HTF flow, and as a function of the HTF temper-
ature.
Figure 13. Variation in PCM Nusselt number during solidifica-
tion, downward HTF flow, and as a function of Fourier number.
Figure 14. Variation in PCM Nusselt number during solidifica-
tion, downward HTF flow, and as a function of Stefan number.
decrease at higher HTF temperatures, which results in
lower Rayleigh number at higher HTF temperatures.
Variations in the Nusselt number for solidification are
shown in Figures 12-14. Results are shown for down-
ward HTF flow. The data for the upward HTF flow are
not shown because of similarities. Features of the
solidification Nusselt number include the following. (a)
The Nusselt number decreases with the increase in the
HTF temperature, Figure 12. This is because increase
in the cold water temperature reduces the driving force
for heat transfer and in turn reduces the heat transfer
coefficient. (b) The Nusselt number has relatively small
dependence on Fourier number, Figure 13. This implies
limited variations of Nusselt number during solidifica-
tion. (c) The Nusselt number increases with the increase
in the Stefan number, Figure 14. This is because Stefan
and Nusselt numbers are proportional to the tempera-
Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 43, No. 17, 2004 5355
Figure 15. Variation in PCM Fourier number during melting,
upward HTF flow, and as a function of the HTF temperature.
ture driving force in the system. Therefore, decrease in
the cold water temperature increases in the tempera-
ture driving force and the values of the Nusselt and
Stefan numbers.
Correlation for the PCM Nusselt Number. The
heat transfer coefficient data, for all inlet HTF temper-
atures and flow rates, are used to develop the Nusselt
number correlations for melting and solidification. As
discussed before, the heat transfer process for melting
with upward HTF flow involves natural convection cells.
This phenomenon is taken into consideration for the
development of the Nusselt number. On the other hand,
the heat transfer process for the other three sets of data
is dominated by conduction. These include downward
HTF flow for solidification or melting and upward HTF
flow for solidification.
The Nusselt number correlations include the follow-
ing: (a) melting with downward HTF flow
Nu ) 1.2565 St-10.0318 Fo-8.0612 (8)
with a coefficient of determination equal to 0.88; (b)
melting with upward HTF flow
Nu ) 8.5692 × 1020 St-1.5541 Fo-1.2317 Ra-3.0311 (9)
with a coefficient of determination equal to 0.91; (c)
solidification with downward HTF flow
Nu ) 105.0247 St1.3552 Fo-0.8718 (10)
with a coefficient of determination equal to 0.93; and
(d) solidification with upward HTF flow
Nu ) 121.6519 St1.3019 Fo-0.6351 (11)
with a coefficient of determination equal to 0.93.
Variations in Fourier Number. Variations in Fou-
rier number for melting and solidification as a function
of temperature are shown in Figures 15 and 16, respec-
tively. As is shown in Figure 15 the melting Fourier
number varies over a range of 6 to 1. Also, Fourier
number for melting decreases with temperature in-
crease. This is because at higher HTF temperatures the
driving force for heat transfer increases and as a result,
the melting time decreases.
The solidification Fourier number varies over a lower
range of 0.6-0.4. This is because the solidification time
is 1 order of magnitude lower than the melting time.
As shown in Figure 16 the increase in the solidification
Fourier number with the increase in the temperature
5356 Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 43, No. 17, 2004
Figure 16. Variation in PCM Fourier number during solidifica-
tion, upward HTF flow, and as a function of the HTF temperature.
of the cooling HTF is caused by the decrease in the
driving force for heat transfer. As a result the solidifica-
tion time increases with the increase in the HTF
temperature. Scatter of the data at constant HTF is
caused by variations in the initial PCM temperature,
where higher Fourier numbers correspond to higher
initial PCM temperatures. Also, part of the scatter is
caused by variations in the HTF flow rate.
Correlation of Fourier Number. The Fourier num-
ber gives a measure of the melting or solidification
times. Fourier number is proportional to the Biot and
Stefan numbers in the PCM. The Biot number is the
ratio of the heat transfer rate by convection to conduc-
tion, while the Stefan number gives the ratio of the
sensible heat to the latent heat. In the Stefan number,
∆T depends on the phase change process, i.e., melting
or solidification. For melting, ∆T is equal to the differ-
ence between the hot HTF and the PCM melting
temperature. For solidification, ∆T is equal to the
temperature difference of the PCM at the start of the
cooling cycle and the cold HTF temperature.
The Fourier number correlations include the follow-
ing: (a) melting with downward HTF flow
Fo ) 0.5848 St-1.3196 Bi -0.0457
with a coefficient of determination equal to 0.99; (b)
melting with upward HTF flow
Fo ) 0.8118 St-1.2928 Bi -0.0957
with a coefficient of determination equal to 0.98; (c)
solidification with downward HTF flow
Fo ) 50.956 St1.3199 Bi -0.8737
with a coefficient of determination equal to 0.89; and
(d) solidification with upward HTF flow
Fo ) 262.285 St1.7196 Bi -1.1884
with a coefficient of determination equal to 0.89.
The above results show higher coefficient of determi-
nation for the melting process. This is because time
measurements for all experiments cover the same
temperature range, i.e., room temperature to melting
temperature. On the other hand, measuring the solidi-
fication time is not as accurate. This is because switch-
ing between the hot and cold HTF is made as all
thermocouple readings exceed the melting point. As
mentioned before, the measuring cycle for all thermo-
couples is 5 min. Therefore, exceeding the melting
temperature might occur within the same cycle or it
might occur over two cycles. If reaching the melting
temperature takes two measuring cycles then some of
the molten wax would have acquired a larger amount
of sensible heat. This would increase the solidification
time.
Conclusions
Experimental measurements are performed for phase
change energy storage in paraffin wax. The system is
formed of a vertically aligned double pipe configuration.
In this system, the heat transfer fluid is routed in the
inner tube. On the other hand, the PCM is kept in
annulus of the two pipes. The experiments included
measurements of melting and solidification times as
well as the temperature field within the PCM. These
data were used to calculate the system thermal load,
the heat transfer coefficients within the PCM and HTF.
The results of the experimental measurements were
then used to calculate a number of dimensionless groups
that include Nusselt number, Fourier number, Biot
number, Stefan number, and Rayleigh number. The
dimensionless groups were then correlated to develop
empirical relations for the Nusselt and Fourier num-
bers.
The measured temperature field during melting and
solidification is a new addition to the literature of phase
change energy storage systems. Measured data and
analysis show the presence of natural convection during
melting for the case of upward HTF flow. On the other
hand, natural convection effects are negligible during
melting for the case of downward HTF flow. Similarly,
solidification is dominated by condition and has negli-
gible dependence on the HTF flow direction.
Acknowledgment
This research was supported by the Research Admin-
istration of Kuwait University, projectELC-012.
(12)
Nomenclature
A ) Heat transfer area, m2
Bi ) Biot number, Bi ) hH req/kP
Cp ) Specific heat at constant pressure, kJ/kg K
(13) D ) Tube diameter, m
Fo ) Fourier Number, dimensionless, Fo ) (RPt)/(req)2
g ) Gravitational acceleration, m/s2
h ) Heat transfer coefficient, kW/m2 °C
k ) Thermal conductivity, kW/m K
(14)
LMTD ) Logarithmic mean temperature difference, °C
M ) Mass flow rate, kg/s
Nu ) Nusselt Number, dimensionless, Nu ) hP req/kP
Pr ) Prandtl number, dimensionless, Pr ) CpH µH/kH
(15) req ) Equivalent tube radius, req ) (DoH - DoP)/2, m
Ra ) Rayleigh number, dimensionless, Ra ) gβP CpP
F2P req3∆TH/µPkP
Re ) Reynolds number, dimensionless, Re ) 4MH/πDiHµH
St ) Stefan number, dimensionless, St ) CpP ∆TH/λP
t ) Time, s
T ) Temperature, °C
∆TH ) Temperature scale in Rayleigh and Stefan numbers,
∆TH ) TiH - Tm, °C
∆TP ) Temperature difference between bottom and top of
molten PCM, °C
U ) Overall heat transfer coefficient, kW/m2 °C

Greek Symbols
βP ) Thermal expansion coefficient of PCM, βP ) 1/FP ∆FP/
∆TP, 1/K
RP ) Thermal diffusivity of PCM, RP ) kP/(FP CpP), m2/s
µ ) Dynamic viscosity, kg/m s
F ) Density, kg/m3
∆FP ) Density difference of the PCM over a temperature
range of ∆TP, kg/m3
λP ) Latent heat of melting/solidification of PCM, kJ/kg
Subscripts
1 to 18 ) Location of thermocouple in PCM, at HTF wall
and the PCM tube
H ) Heat transfer fluid
i ) Inlet HTF stream or inner HTF tube
m ) Melting point
o ) Outlet HTF stream or outer HTF tube
P ) Phase change material
w ) Wall
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Received for review June 13, 2003
Revised manuscript received March 24, 2004
Accepted May 26, 2004
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