Effect of Fin Orientation on PCM Melting in a Spherical Enclosure for Latent Heat Storage

The present work is focused on numerical investigation of melting of Phase change material (PCM) filled in a spherical capsule integrated with a metallic fin. n-octadecane having melting temperature of 28° C is selected as PCM and aluminum is considered as fin material. The effect of fin orientation on PCM melting in a spherical enclosure is analyzed considering constrained melting conditions. The orientation angle of the fin is varied from 0–30° in both clockwise and anticlockwise directions. The computational model is considered as two dimensional axisymmetric with laminar flow condition. To ascertain the validity of our numerical methodology present computational model is validated with the test results available in the literature and are found to be in good agreement. The numerical result reveals that employing fin at the center of the capsule (θ = 0°) decreases the melting time and increases the heat transfer performance of the system.