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Cross-scale thermal analysis and comprehensive evaluation of biomimetic skin-flesh composite phase change material for waste heat recovery

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  • He, Xibo
  • Wang, Wei
  • Shuai, Yong
  • Hou, Yicheng
  • Qiu, Jun

Abstract

This paper investigates the cross-scale thermal performance of biomimetic skin-flesh composite phase change material (CPCM) from material to system. The internal transient heat transfer process from the CPCM to the pack-bed latent thermal energy storage (PLTES) system is described through detailed experiments, and the effects of material characteristics, heat flow rate and unsteady boundary are evaluated. The CPCM unit size is also optimized based on a three-dimensional numerical model of transient heat transfer in PLTES. Firstly, the CPCM has excellent thermal conductivity (1.25–1.57 W m−1 K−1) and long-term stability. The experimental results show that the system with skin-flesh CPCMs has a short charging/discharging time. Higher fluid flow rates increase the exergy efficiency of the system from 0.6 to 0.62. Unstable conditions reduce the overall efficiency, but the use of CPCM can mitigate the interference caused by temperature fluctuations. The skin-flesh CPCM has a higher thermal price-performance ratio (382¥/MJ) compared with traditional CPCM. Numerical studies show that increasing unit thickness can decrease the total effective heat storage capacity and efficiency of the system, but the difference is not significant. Considering the thermal efficiency and economy of system, 25 mm thickness is the best choice with a charging efficiency of 0.87.

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  • He, Xibo & Wang, Wei & Shuai, Yong & Hou, Yicheng & Qiu, Jun, 2025. "Cross-scale thermal analysis and comprehensive evaluation of biomimetic skin-flesh composite phase change material for waste heat recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:314:y:2025:i:c:s0360544224039549
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2024.134176
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