INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH

Int. J. Energy Res. 2009; 33:513–525

Published online 12 December 2008 in Wiley InterScience
(www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/er.1498

Theoretical and experimental study of volumetric change rate during

phase change process

Qiaoling Kong, Jie Ma,y and Chidong Che

State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200030, China

SUMMARY

The solid-to-liquid phase change material can be used to convert the thermal energy of low quality into mechanical
energy. Its volumetric change rate has a great effect on the converting efficiency. The mathematical model of the
volumetric change rate for the phase change processes of hexadecane within a cylindrical container was presented. A
special experimental device was designed and constructed to verify the numerical model. The results at different Stefan
numbers of the experiments matched well with those from the numerical simulations. The influences of Stefan number,
Biot number and radius of cylinder on the volumetric change rate were studied and analyzed. The results showed that
the volumetric change rate depends on the mass fraction of liquid phase and the difference between liquid and solid
density of the materials. All the factors affecting the phase change rate will influence the volumetric change rate. The
volumetric expansion rate is less than theoretical value under an external pressure. While a high-pressure situation is
taken into consideration, the numerical model should also be modified by adding a function calculating density varying
with pressure to ensure that the model operates properly. The power output can be enhanced by reducing the total time
of melting. It can also be improved when the phase change material is partly melted at a volumetric expansion rate less
than 100% of the total value. Copyright r 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

KEY WORDS: volumetric change rate; phase change process; hexadecane; numerical simulation; experimental study

1. INTRODUCTION microactuator and microvalve. Wang et al. [1]

Phase change materials absorb or release large
quantity of latent heat in melting or solidifying
while it expands or contracts at the same time. The
solid-to-liquid phase change material (PCM) bears
a larger pressure than the liquid-to-gas PCM.
PCM is therefore applied in a new domain of the
developed a thermal-expansion type of microac-
tuator actuated by induction heating. Four types
of actuators were experimentally studied. The
results showed that paraffin has a great volumetric
expansion rate and a good pressure-bearing
capability when it is melted. Liu et al. [2]
developed a type of thermal-expansion valve using

*Correspondence to: Jie Ma, State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
y
E-mail: jma@sjtu.edu.cn

Contract/grant sponsor: School of Naval architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering of Shanghai Jiaotong University

Received 10 June 2008

Revised 1 November 2008
Copyright r 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Accepted 1 November 2008
514 Q. KONG, J. MA AND C. CHE
paraffin as PCM. It has a zero leakage and can
hold pressure up to 40 MPa. Carlen and
Mastrangelo [3] and Klintberg et al. [4] fabricated
an actuator that uses the volume expansion related
to the solid-to-liquid phase transition of paraffin
wax. It showed that 9% volumetric expansion rate
is still retained at the pressure of 60 MPa.
Webb and Simonetti [5] and Webb et al. [6]
developed an underwater glider propelled by the
ocean thermal energy, which made use of the
energy-storage and volume expansion feature of
PCM. The volume of the PCM expands or
contracts while it absorbs heat from the warm
water of ocean surface and rejects heat into cold
water of the deep ocean. The volume change drives
the transfer fluid flow between the internal and
external bladder, which causes the volume change
of the glider. The variation of net buoyancy causes
the glider to move up and down in the ocean. The
system of phase change energy storage is the core
device of the underwater glider, which changes the
sustainable ocean thermal energy into mechanical
energy and realizes the long-term and low-noise
ocean monitoring and surveying. Volumetric
change rate during phase changing process is the
key factor of transfer fluid flow, which governs the
valve control and gliding path optimization.
Lastly, the underwater glider’s power output and
gliding stability will be determined.
PCM has been widely used in the energy-
storage field. Dincer et al. [7] described that the
use of latent heat TES using PCMs is an effective
way to store thermal energy (solar energy,
industrial waste heat, off-peak electricity) and
has the advantages of high storage capacity and
recovery for almost constant temperature heat.
During the last 20 years, PCM storing energy have
developed rapidly. Their thermal and physical
properties such as long-term stability and
durability have been improved a lot [8]. There is
a lot of literature about the phase change energy
storage. However, volumetric change rate during
phase change process has not been studied so far.
The displacement of the microactuator and the
power output of the glider have a lot to do with the
volumetric change rate. The previous studies on
microactuators are mainly on design and
optimization of the actuator. Lee and Lucyszyn
Copyright r 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
[9] used a numerical method to simulate the phase
changing process of the electro-thermal actuator
for the first time. They arrived at the location of
the melting front (interface) at a given melting time
and temperature profiles in the paraffin wax
during melting. It is necessary to study the
volumetric change rate during the phase change
process.
The main purpose of this study is to establish a
numerical model to simulate the volumetric
change rate of cylindrical container during phase
change process. In this study a simplified transient
one-dimensional model based on equivalent
specific heat method was raised. The differential
equations were discretized by fully implicit finite
differencing method and then the numerical and
experimental results were compared and analyzed.
The influences of Stefan number, Biot number and
radius of cylinder on the volumetric change rate
were discussed. Lastly, the way to improve the
output power was also presented in this paper.
2 .NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
2.1. Numerical models
Solid-to-liquid phase change problem is known as
Stefan problem. One dimension infinite region
problem with constant thermal properties, simple
boundary and initial condition can be solved by
using the Neumann solution. For complicated and
multi-dimensional problems, numerical solution is
nearly the only feasible method. The general
governing equation for phase change and heat
transfer is as follows:
Continuity equation:
Hy¼0 ð1Þ
Momentum equation:
@y
r þ rðy  HÞy ¼ Hp þ mH2 y þ f ð2Þ
@t
Temperature-energy equation:
 
@H k
þ y  HH ¼ H HT þ Q_ ð3Þ
@t r
The energy-storage device of an underwater glider
is a long cylindrical container [6]. The equation
Int. J. Energy Res. 2009; 33:513–525
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 THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF VOLUMETRIC CHANGE RATE 515

transformation is based on the following effect is approximated by a large effective heat

assumptions: capacity over a small temperature range. This
method is simple in concept and easy to
(1) The PCM is homogeneous and isentropic. implement. @H=@t is replaced by cp;eq @T=@t, then
The specific capacity, thermal conductivity Equation (4) can be written as
 
and density are constant and independent of @T k @2 T 1 @T
temperature. They are different for liquid or cp;eq ¼ þ ð6Þ
@t r @r2 r @r
solid PCM.
(2) The PCM behaves ideally, such phenomena where the equivalent specific heat is
8
as property degradation and subcooling are > cp;s ; ToTs
>
>
not accounted for. <
L cp;s þ cp;l
(3) Thermal conductivity of the PCM in the axis cp;eq ¼ þ ; Ts oToTl ð7Þ
>
> T l  Ts 2
direction is ignored. >
:
(4) The melting point of PCM varies within a cp;l ; T4Tl
range. where Ts is the temperature at which melting or
(5) The effects of natural convection during solidification begins and Tl is the temperature at
the melting processes are considered by which the material is totally melted or solidified.
inducing the effective conductivity. Heat The effective conductivity is
transfer process is mainly controlled by 8
> ks ; ToTs
conduction. >
>
< keff  ks
k ¼ ks þ ; Ts oToTl ð8Þ
The main issues of this paper are the phase >
> Tl  Ts
>
:
change rate and the law of volume change keff ; T4Tl
during phase change process. The velocity profile
of liquid phase is unimportant, but it will influence For the wall of the container, energy equation is
 2 
the phase change process. The effective @T kw @ T 1 @T
¼ þ ð9Þ
conductivity keff is induced to express the @t rw cp;w @r2 r @r
influence of natural convection of the liquid
The boundary conditions are
phase during the melting process [10]. The above
governing equations can be simplified as one @Tð0; tÞ
¼0
energy equation @r
 
@H keff @TðR; tÞ @TðR; tÞ
¼H HT ð4Þ k ¼hc ½TðR; tÞ  Tf  or ¼ Tf
@t r @r @r
where ð10Þ
 1=4
dðtÞ The initial condition is
keff ðtÞ ¼ 0:228RaL ðtÞ1=4 1  ð5Þ
D @Tðr; 0Þ
¼ T0 ð11Þ
Generally, the phase change of hexadecane @t
happens in a non-isothermal temperature range.
Lamberg et al. [11] numerically investigated the 2.2. Calculation of volumetric change rate
melting and freezing processes with enthalpy
The cylinder is divided into n nodes in radial
method and effective heat capacity method. The
direction. The right side of the equation is discretized
results showed that the latter using a narrower
by fully implicit finite difference method, while the
temperature range of 21C was the most precise
left side uses backward differencing method. After
numerical method when the numerical results were
rearranging, Equation (6) can be written as
compared with the experimental results. In the
effective heat capacity method the latent heat ai1 Ti1 þ ai Ti þ aiþ1 Tiþ1 ¼ bi ð12Þ

Copyright r 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Energy Res. 2009; 33:513–525
DOI: 10.1002/er
516 Q. KONG, J. MA AND C. CHE

where The above discretized algebraic equations are

  solved by the Gauss–Seidel iteration method. The
Dr
ai1 ¼ Fo 1 þ ; ai ¼ 1 þ 2Fo program is written in Matlab. The number of grids
2ri
  was checked to ensure accuracy and to eliminate
Dr initial errors.
aiþ1 ¼ Fo 1  ; bi ¼ Tiold
2ri
Superscript ‘old’ refers to the previous time step and
Fo is a finite difference form Fourier number. 3. EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION
The liquid fraction of node ‘i’ at time step ‘j’ is
defined as [12]: 3.1. The materials for experiment
Ti;j  Ts According to the working principle of the under-
flði; jÞ ¼ ð13Þ water glider, the glider works between the warm
Tl  Ts
and cold water layer of ocean thermocline [6].
The value of flði; jÞ is between 0 and 1. When Generally, the temperature of the thermocline
Tði; jÞ4Tl , flði; jÞ ¼ 0; when Ts oTði; jÞoTl , varies from 5 to 301C. The phase transition
0oflði; jÞo1; and when Tði; jÞ4Tl , flði; jÞ ¼ 1. temperature of hexadecane is between 16 and
The volumetric change rate relative to the 181C [13]. Hexadecane is chosen as the PCM
volume of liquid PCM of volume ‘i’ at time step because of the suitable melting point, low cost
‘j’ is and stable performance. The thermophysical
DVi;j properties of hexadecane are given in Table I
fi;j ¼
Vl [14].
  
Mi  flði; jÞ Mi  ð1  flði; jÞÞ Mi M 3.2. Experimental apparatus
¼ þ 
rl rs rs rl
A simple experimental method is put forward to
 
1 1 Mi test the volumetric change rate during the phase
¼ flði; jÞ    rl  ð14Þ change process. The experimental apparatus con-
rl rs M
sists of two insulated sections, namely test tank
where DVi;j is the volume change of volume ‘i’ at and auxiliary unit. At the center of the tank a
time step ‘j’; Mi is the mass of volume ‘i’, M is the cylinder is filled with PCM as shown in Figure 1.
total mass of PCM, Mi ¼ ððr2i  r2iþ1 Þ=r2 Þ  M; Vl is Both tanks are made of 8 mm thick PVC material.
the volume of liquid PCM. The main tank is well insulated. There are four
Equation (17) can be simplified as: temperature sensors at each corner of the tank to
  ensure the consistency of the temperature in the
0 1 1 r2  r2
fi;j ¼ fl ði; jÞ    rl  i 2 iþ1 ð15Þ aforementioned tank. The auxiliary unit is
rl rs r
equipped with a high-precision temperature con-
Total volumetric change rate in time step ‘j’ is: trolling heater to provide water at a temperature of
Xn     5–301C. The cylindrical container is made of
0 1 1 r2  r2
fj ¼ fj1 þ fl ði; jÞ    rl  i 2 iþ1 polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) to allow visua-
i¼1
rl rs r
lization of the solidification and melting process.
ð16Þ The PMMA tubes length is 500 mm with an inner

Table I. Thermal physical properties of hexadecane [14].

Melting point Latent heat Specific heat cp;s 000=cp;l Density rs/rl Conductivity ks/kl
Material (1C) (kJ kg1) (kJ kg1 K1) (kg m3) (wm1 K1)
Hexadecane 16–18 [13] 236 1.64/2.09 864/773 0.313/0.14

Copyright r 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Energy Res. 2009; 33:513–525
DOI: 10.1002/er
 THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF VOLUMETRIC CHANGE RATE
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the test apparatus.
diameter of 30 mm and a thickness of 5 mm. The
heat capacity of PMMA is 1.47 kJ kg1, the
thermal conductivity is 0.25 W(m1K1) and the
density is 1190 kg m3 [15]. Both ends of the
container are well insulated. Initially, the container
is filled with 300 ml of liquid hexadecane. If there is
a piston to separate the hexadecane from the
water, the volume change of PCM cannot be
measured accurately, because the piston will be
blocked up by the solidified hexadecane that
adheres to the wall of the cylindrical container
during the solidification process. After PCM is
solidified, the bottom of the container is filled with
water. Hexadecane cannot dissolve in water, and
the density of water is heavier than hexadecane.
During the whole phase change process, water is at
the lower part of the container while hexadecane is
at the upper part. A glass tube with a calibration
to indicate the water volume is connected with the
bottom of the PMMA container by a rubber hose.
So the volume change of hexadecane is equal to the
volume change of water in the glass tube. The
precision of the glass tube is 0.02 ml. In order to
prevent hexadecane from escaping out the PMMA
container, the water level of the glass tube is higher
than the location of the top of the PMMA container.
Since hexadecane mixture contains air, during
preparation, sample air component is removed by
repeating solidification and melting. The experiment
is completed, when the water level of the glass tube
remains the same after several repetitions.
Copyright r 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
517
3.3. Experimental procedure
Regin et al. [16] show that thermal sensors used to
measure the temperature profile will disturb the
actual process of melting. Visualization technique
was applied to acquire the time of complete
melting. In this paper, when there is no more
change on the water level in the glass tube, it is
considered that the phase change process has
finished. The time of complete melting or solidi-
fication can be attained. However, the initial
temperature field must be measured in order to
investigate the influences of temperature on the
volumetric change rate. Before the experiment is
performed, the temperature of the water in the
tank is adjusted to a certain value that is lower or
higher than the phase transition temperature. The
container is then filled with the solid hexadecane
and placed in the water tank until the hexadecane
is on a thermal equilibrium with the water. So the
initial temperature of the hexadecane is equal to
the temperature of the water. Six sets of experi-
ments were performed with varying sidewall
temperatures as shown in Table II, where cases I,
II, III were for the melting processes and cases IV,
V, VI were for the solidification processes.
The initial volume of water in the glass tube is
V1 . After the test begins the water volume Vj ðj ¼
2 . . . mÞ is recorded once every 5 min. Here j is the
number of time interval, while m is the total
number of time interval. So the volume change
between every time interval is
DVj ¼ Vjþ1  Vj ðj ¼ 1 . . . m  1Þ. In the jth time
interval the total volume change is
X
j
DVðtj Þ ¼ DVk tj ¼ j  Dt
k¼1
j ¼ 1...m where DV1 ¼ 0; DVðt1 Þ ¼ 0
The volumetric change rate relative to volume of
liquid hexadecane is
jDVðtj Þ  Vl j
fj ¼  100%; j ¼ 1 . . . m
Vl
where Vl is the volume of liquid hexadecane.
Int. J. Energy Res. 2009; 33:513–525
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518 Q. KONG, J. MA AND C. CHE
Table II. Experimental conditions for the six cases investigated.
Initial temperature, Ti (1C)
Water temperature, Tf (1C)
Stefan number, Stel =Stes
The degree of subcooling or superheating, Sc/Sh
Figure 2. Comparison of experimental and numerical
results for volumetric contraction rate of with different
Stefan numbers in solidification process.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The numerical results help to analyze and interpret
the experimental results. The model is validated
and the assumed boundary conditions are evalu-
ated. Several factors that influenced the volumetric
change rate were analyzed in this section.
4.1. Experimental results and validation of the
model
4.1.1. Solidification process. Figure 2 shows the
curve of the volumetric contraction rate during the
solidification processes with different Stephan
numbers. It shows that the numerical values match
well with the experimental results. The variation
rules of the volumetric contraction rate are similar
with different Stefan numbers. The variation of
volumetric contraction rate at the initial stage is
greater than that at the later stage. That is, the
slope of the curves is steep at the beginning. Then
the growth rate slows down. The PCM is
Copyright r 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Case I Case II Case III Case IV Case V Case VI
7 10 11 22 24 24
25 22.5 21 11 8 5
0.0708 0.0487 0.0354 0.0417 0.0625 0.0834
1.25 1.27 1.5 0.833 0.778 0.583
superheated and the liquid PCM is cooled through
conduction until the melting temperature is
reached. While the hexadecane is solidifying,
liquid hexadecane is covered by a layer of solid
hexadecane. The solid layer becomes thicker and
thicker during the solidification process, which
increases the thermal resistance and reduces the
heat transfer rate. So the speed of phase transition
slows down gradually. In addition, the mass
fraction of liquid hexadecane becomes less during
the solidification process, and so does the solidified
hexadecane in each time interval. Until all the
hexadecane is solidified, the volume does not
change any more. The total volumetric contraction
rate reaches the maximum value.
The deviation between numerical and experi-
mental values of total volumetric contraction rate
is less than 3%. Another experiment is performed
with only liquid hexadecane in the cylindrical
container. After the liquid hexadecane solidifies,
the volumetric contraction is only half of the total
volumetric contraction because of the air pockets
formed in the solid hexadecane during the
solidification process. Benjamin et al. [17] experi-
mentally and numerically studied the melting
process of n-eicosane. They found that while an
18% expansion of the material would be expected
during the melting process based on the volumetric
expansion of n-eicosane during solid/liquid phase
change [18], only about 8% expansion actually
occurred during the experiment, as estimated from
the amount of wax withdrawn. This difference is
attributed to air pockets formed in the solid wax
during the solidification process. In this paper,
there is no piston or membrane between the
hexadecane and the water. When hexadecane
solidifies and volume contracts, a gap at the end
surface of solid hexadecane forms due to the
negative pressure caused by volume contraction.
Water can flow through the gap to fill the air
Int. J. Energy Res. 2009; 33:513–525
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 THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF VOLUMETRIC CHANGE RATE
pockets. So the volume contraction can be
accurately measured.
4.1.2. Melting process. Figure 3 shows the volu-
metric expansion rate during the melting process
when the Stefan number is 0.0487. The numerical
results of total volumetric expansion rate are
larger than the experimental results. With PCM
melting and its volume expanding, the height of
water column in the glass tube increases. Hexade-
cane at liquid phase in the container bears the
water pressure. Liquid hexadecane is somewhat
compressed by the water pressure and the volu-
metric expansion rate decreases. After the density
of liquid hexadecane is modified according to the
pressure, the numerical value is more consistent
with the experimental result.
Figure 4 shows the curves of volumetric
expansion rate during the melting process with
different Stefan numbers. The variation rules of
volumetric expansion rate during melting process
are quite similar to the solidification process. The
variation of volumetric contraction rate at the
initial stage is greater than that at the later stage.
While the hexadecane is melting, the mass fraction
of solid hexadecane becomes less, and so does the
melted hexadecane in each time interval. Until all
the hexadecane is melted, the volume does not
change any more. The total volumetric expansion
rate reaches a maximum value. The deviation
Figure 3. Comparison of volume expansion rate by
density modification in melting process.
Copyright r 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
519
between numerical and experimental values of
total volumetric expansion rate is less than 1%.
4.1.3. Error analysis. Figure 5 shows the total time
of melting or solidification with different Stefan
numbers. The greater the Stefan number, the
shorter the total time of melting or solidification
needs. The influence of Stefan number will be
discussed in Section 4.2.1. The deviation between
numerical and experimental values of total time is
less than 6.8%.
Figure 6 shows the relative error of experi-
mental and numerical results during the phase
changing process. Relative error is equal to
ðVexp :  Vnum: Þ=Vnum: , where Vexp : is the experi-
mental value and Vnum: is the numerical value. The
absolute value of the error is a bit larger at the
initial stage, which varies in a range from 0 to
10%. After a while the error reduces, and varies in
a range of 0–5%. In the solidification process, the
initial temperature of hexadecane is higher than
the temperature of the water in the tank. When
hexadecane is suddenly put into the water tank,
the liquid hexadecane will contract together with
the PMMA tube, the water in the PMMA tube
and the rubber hose. The contractions of the
PMMA tube and the rubber hose make the water
level in glass tube to increase. However, the
contractions of water and liquid hexadecane
Figure 4. Comparison of experimental and numerical
results for volumetric expansion rate with different
Stefan numbers in melting process.
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520 Q. KONG, J. MA AND C. CHE

Figure 5. Total time of melting or solidification with different Stephan numbers: (a) melting process
and (b) solidification process.

Figure 6. Relative error of experimental and numerical results during phase change process: (a) melting process
and (b) solidification process.

make the water level in the glass tube to decrease.
In the melting process, the situations reverse. The
initial temperature of hexadecane is lower than the
temperature of the water in the tank. When
hexadecane is suddenly put into the water tank,
the liquid hexadecane will expand together with
the PMMA tube, the water in the PMMA tube
and the rubber hose. The expansions of the
PMMA tube and the rubber hose make the
water level in the glass tube to decrease.
However, the expansion of water and liquid
hexadecane makes the water level in glass tube to
increase. So the error fluctuates with different
Stefan numbers. As soon as the temperature of the
device is equal to the water temperature, the error
reduces. In addition, there are pockets or bubbles
formed during the solidification or the melting
process. Furthermore, the pressure on the
hexadecane varies with the water level in the
glass tube. The actual phase change process is
more complicated than what is expressed by the
numerical model. However, the relative error is

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DOI: 10.1002/er
 THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF VOLUMETRIC CHANGE RATE
permissible in engineering applications. The error
at the initial stage is caused by instantaneous
change of temperature. It can be reduced in
gradual change temperature conditions.
Based on the above analysis, it is seen that the
agreement is satisfactory and the model and
procedure can be verified.
4.2. Numerical prediction
4.2.1. Influence of the degree of subcooling or
superheating. The influence of the degree of
subcooling (Sc) or superheating (Sh) on volumetric
change rate has been investigated. The results are
given in Figure 7. It can be seen from the figure
that the influence of Sc or Sh on volumetric change
rate is not obvious. In the melting process, the
PCM is subcooled and the solid PCM is heated
through conduction until the melting temperature
is reached. In Figure 7(a), the total time of melting
is 6109, 6038 and 6010 s when Sc is 1, 0.5 and
0.333, respectively. The lower the degree of
subcooling, the less the sensible heat released and
the shorter the total time of melting. While Sc
decreases by 50 and 67%, the total time only
decreases by 1.2 and 1.6%. In the solidification
process, the PCM is superheated and the liquid
PCM is cooled through conduction until the
melting temperature is reached. In Figure 7(b),
the total time of melting is 6084, 5962 and 5870 s
when Sc is 1, 0.5, and 0.333, respectively. The
Figure 7. Comparison of volumetric change rate with different degrees of subcooling or superheating: (a) melting
process and (b) solidification process.
Copyright r 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
521
lower the degree of superheating, the less the
sensible heat absorbed and the shorter the total
time of solidification. While Sh decreases by 50
and 67%, the total time only decreases by 3 and
3.5%.
4.2.2. Influence of Stefan numbers. According to
the above analysis, we know that the variation
rules of volumetric change rate during solidifica-
tion processes are similar to that during melting
processes. So the following analysis is based on the
melting process. Figure 8 shows the volumetric
expansion rate with different Stefan numbers
where Sc is equal to 1. The smaller the Stefan
number, the lower the boundary temperature and
the slower the phase change rate. While Stel
decreases by 50 and 67%, the total time of melting
increases by 81 and 162%. The influence of Stefan
number is more significant than the degree of
subcooling.
4.2.3. Influence of the cylinder radius. Figure 9
shows the influence of cylinder radius on volu-
metric expansion rate, where Stel is equal to
0.1151. The melting process has been investigated
with a radius of 20, 30 and 40 mm, respectively.
The smaller the radius, the smaller the thermal
resistance and the faster the phase change rate.
While the radius increases by 1.5 and 2 times, the
total time of melting increases by 2.3 and 4.3 times.
The influence of the size of the cylinder is
Int. J. Energy Res. 2009; 33:513–525
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522 Q. KONG, J. MA AND C. CHE
Figure 8. Comparison of volumetric expansion rate
with different Stephan numbers.
Figure 9. Comparison of volumetric expansion rate
with different cylinder radius.
considerable. It should be designed carefully in
engineering applications.
4.2.3. Influence of Biot numbers. The underwater
glider glides up and down in the ocean at a certain
speed. Because of the temperature difference between
the seawater and the exposed surface of the
cylindrical container, heat is transferred from the
seawater to the exposed surface of the container by
convection. Bi number is a dimensionless number
used to relate the heat transfer resistance inside and
at the surface of a body. The melting process has
been investigated with Bi numbers of 0.5, 1, 2, 10, 20
Copyright r 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Figure 10. Comparison of volumetric expansion rate
with different Biot numbers.
and N, respectively. Figure 10 illustrates the
influence of different Bi numbers on volumetric
expansion rate. It can be seen from Figure 10 that the
larger the Bi number, the smaller the thermal
resistance of convective heat transfer and the faster
the phase change rate. While Bi number is equal to
0.5, in the early 25 min the volumetric expansion rate
is equal to 0. The Bi number is so small that the rate
of the heat transferring to the PCM is very small, it
takes 25 min for the subcooling PCM to be heated up
to the melting temperature. The variation of volu-
metric expansion rate is also small. It takes 395 min
to complete the melting process. While Bi number
increased from 1 to 2, the total time of melting
decreases by 33%. While Bi number increased from
10 to 20, however, the total time of melting only
decreases by 8.3%. So with smaller Bi number, the
increase in Bi number has a more significant influence
on the rate of phase change rate. With a large Bi, the
influence is not obvious. It can also be seen in Figure
12 that the curve with a Bi of 20 is close to the curve
with a Bi of N. In actual application there is no need
to improve the Bi number infinitely. Such an
improvement will increase the cost of manufacture
so that it is impossible.
4.3. Comparison of output power at different
volumetric expansion rates
Based on the above analysis, there are two ways to
improve the output power for a given PCM with
Int. J. Energy Res. 2009; 33:513–525
DOI: 10.1002/er
 THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF VOLUMETRIC CHANGE RATE
certain volumes. One is to reduce the total time of
melting by increasing Stefan number, increasing Bi
number and reducing cylinder radius. Another is
to let the PMC be partly melted where the
volumetric expansion rate is less than the total
volumetric expansion rate. According to the rules
of volumetric change rate, the variation at the
initial stage is greater than that at the later stage.
Therefore, the smaller the percentage of the total
volumetric expansion rate, the less the time. Three
cases have been investigated with Stel of 0.7647,
0.3823 and 0.2549, respectively. Figures 11 and 12
show the time and the output power at 30, 40, 50,
60, 70, 80, 90 and 100% of the total volumetric
expansion rate. The output power is defined as
P ¼ p  DV=t, where p is the constant pressure on
the PCM container, DV ¼ f  Vl , f is the volu-
metric expansion rate, t is the time needed when
volume expansion is DV. The value of the output
power given in Figure 12 is calculated when p is
equal to 1 MPa and Vl is 1L. It can be seen in
Figure 11 that with the increasing of the percen-
tage of the total volumetric expansion rate, the
time increases. While the volumetric expansion
rate is 70% of the total value, the time needed is
nearly 50% of the total time. In Figure 12, the
output power decreases with the increase in the
percentage of the total volumetric expansion rate.
With less percentage of total volumetric expansion
rates, however, the work output becomes smaller.
Figure 11. Time needed at different volumetric
expansion rates.
Copyright r 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
523
Therefore, according to target whether to improve
the work output or to improve the power output, a
suitable volumetric expansion rate should be
carefully selected.
5. CONLUSIONS
A numerical model was set up to calculate the
volumetric change rate for cylindrical container
during phase change process. And the model was
verified by experiment. Several influencing factors
on volumetric change rate have been analyzed.
The following conclusions can be drawn.
The volumetric change rate is related to the
phase changing rate, that is, the value is related to
the solid fraction or liquid fraction during
solidification process or melting process. All the
factors affecting the phase changing rate will
influence the volumetric change rate.
The volumetric expansion rate is less than the
theoretical value under an external pressure.
Accordingly when a high-pressure situation is
concerned, the numerical model should be
modified by inducing function of density varying
with pressure to ensure that the model is in proper
operation.
It can improve the output power by reducing
the total time of melting, such as increasing Stefan
number, increasing Bi number and reducing the
cylinder radius. It can also improve the output
Figure 12. Output power at different volumetric
expansion rates.
Int. J. Energy Res. 2009; 33:513–525
DOI: 10.1002/er
524 Q. KONG, J. MA AND C. CHE

power when the PCM is partly melted at a T0 5 initial temperature (1C)

volumetric expansion rate less than 100% of the Tf 5 temperature of fluid (1C)
total value. Tm 5 average temperature of fusing
The numerical results are in good agreement temperature (TsTl)/2 (1C)
with the experimental results. The relative error of v 5 velocity vector of liquid PCM
total volumetric change rate between numerical (ms1)
and experimental values is less than 5%. The V 5 volume of PCM (m3)
relative error of complete phase change time DV 5 volume changes (L)
between numerical and experimental values is
less than 7%. The numerical model and Greek symbols
discussion provides some useful information for
the optimization design of the energy conversion b 5 thermal expansion coefficient (K1)
system. r 5 density (kg m3)
f 5 volumetric change rate

NOMENCLATURE Subscripts

a 5 thermal diffusivity (ms2) s 5 solid

Bi 5 Biot number (hR/k) l 5 liquid
cp 5 specific capacity (J kg1 K)1 w 5 wall
d(t) 5 effective diameter of unmelted eq 5 equivalent
PCM (m) eff 5 effective
D 5 inner diameter of cylinder (m)
fl 5 liquid fraction of PCM
Fo 5 Fourier number (aDt=Dr2 ) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
g 5 gravitational acceleration (m s2)
hc 5 convection coefficient (W m2 K1) The author would like to thank Prof. Liuchi Huang for
H 5 specific enthalpy (J kg1) his kind financial support and valuable assistance. The
k 5 thermal conductivity of PCMs P.R.C. 211 Project of Naval architecture and Ocean
Engineering of Shanghai Jiaotong University is greatly
(W m1 K1) acknowledged for financing support.
l 5 gap of concentric circles (Dd(t))
(m)
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