An Experimental Study of Thermal Energy Storage With Phase‐Change Material in a Rectangular Box Filled With Aluminum Foam

In the following study, an experimental investigation is conducted to analyze the impact of the number of aluminum‐foam pieces inside the phase‐change material (PCM) box during the melting and solidification processes. Paraffin RT57 is utilized as the PCM. The advantage of using porous media in saving time with PCM, with and without porous media, in the melting and solidification process inside a rectangular box has been compared. Investigations were conducted based on 12 different cases, including pure PCM and PCM with 1–3 pieces of metal foam (89% porosity and 10 PPI). Melting tests were carried out at 75°C, 80°C, and 85°C, while solidification experiments were performed at 10°C and 20°C. Results showed that increasing the number of foam layers consistently enhanced heat transfer and shortened both melting and solidification times. The results showed that increasing the number of foam layers plays a major role in improving heat transfer, making the temperature distribution more uniform, and consistently shortening both melting and solidification times. The three‐foam configuration reduced melting time by up to 18.7% and solidification time by up to 37.7% compared with pure paraffin. In addition, the foam improved temperature uniformity within the PCM domain, reducing spatial temperature differences by up to 64%. As calculated from energy analysis, the three‐layer system achieved a heat storage density of 119.8 MJ/m 3 , which is approximately 20% higher than that of pure paraffin.