Numerical Study of Phase Change Material Melting in a Thermal Finned Tubular Heat Exchanger

Latent heat storage using Phase Change Materials (PCMs) is a promising solution to deal with the renewable energy fluctuation problem. The PCM modeling is based on the resolution of the energy equation. The solidification-melting process are resolved by the finite volume method by considering the enthalpy formulation with a specific boundary and initials conditions. In the present application, a tubular exchange with five circular horizontal fins was considered. Our aims is to investigate the storage phenomena collected by the solar energy in the PCM. The numerical results highlight the temperature evolution over the PCM Melting in exchange with the air circulation.