Experimental investigations of phase change material filled rectangular enclosure with inclined top and side heating mode

An experimental examinations has been conducted on an inclined top and side heating mode phase change material (PCM) filled rectangular enclosure to understand its applicability in various thermal applications like: photovoltaic (PV) thermal management systems, concentrated PV systems, building thermal management and so on. The basic objective of this research work is to experimentally analyze the melt front propagation and temperature distribution of the PCMs in rectangular enclosure with the top heating mode; which is very rarely available in the literature. Lauric acid and paraffin wax are used during an experimentations as the PCMs. The inclination angles of PCM enclosure are varied with 30 degrees, 60 degrees and 90 degrees with the horizontal. Constant heat flux are applied on the heater surface using halogen lamp assembly. The heat input to the 30 degrees and 60 degrees inclined systems are from top side and for 90 degrees system, the heat input is from the right side. Solid-liquid interface transition of the PCMs and its various heat transfer characteristics are explained in the present research work during the charging period. The result shows that the convection currents inside the PCM container plays the major role on PCMs heat transfer characteristics at different inclination angles. The melting rate of PCMs increases with the increase in the inclination angles; however, the heater plate temperature is observed to be smaller at high inclined systems. Heat transfer from the heater plate to the PCMs are very high during the initial period and it decreases as the time progresses.