Effect of cavity orientation on solidification/melting process of n-eicosane phase change material

Abstract

In this paper, the melting and solidification of n-eicosane as a PCM inside two orientations of square containers is investigated numerically, using enthalpy–porosity method. The study reveals how the melting and solidification rate could be affected by changing the orientation of the phase change material container with a constant temperature boundary. It was found that the orientation of the square cavity has a significant effect on the melting and solidification rate of a PCM, the improvement is more than 40% for both cycles. Therefore the orientation of the heat exchange surface is a good control parameter for both the solidification and melting process