IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v18y2025i7p1733-d1624469.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Influence of Inclined Non-Uniform Fins on the Melting of Phase Change Materials Under Constant-Power Heating Condition

Author

Listed:
  • Xianzhe Zhang

    (College of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116016, China)

  • Wenbin Cui

    (College of Marine Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116016, China)

  • Shanyu Yang

    (College of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116016, China)

  • Zhilu Wu

    (College of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116016, China)

  • Ziyu Xiong

    (College of Marine Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116016, China)

  • Sixiang Zhang

    (College of Transportation Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116016, China)

Abstract

The low thermal conductivity of phase change materials (PCMs) limits their widespread application in practical energy storage systems. The integration of fins has emerged as an effective approach to enhance PCM melting rates. This study numerically investigates the effects of fin length and tilt angle variations on PCM melting processes through two-dimensional modeling. A rectangular container with vertical constant-power heating was simulated, which incorporated natural convection effects. Initially, the analysis of equal-length fins with varying dimensions revealed that longer fins and appropriate tilt angles could significantly accelerate the PCM melting. Subsequent investigation under constant total fin lengths demonstrated that two factors enhanced the heat transfer and reduced the melting duration: large fin length differences and the enclosed regions between the fins and the container bottom. Studies of extreme tilt angles during angular variation indicated that the configuration with a 30 mm length difference with limit angles could positively affect the melting performance. The findings offer valuable insights for the optimal design of phase change energy storage systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Xianzhe Zhang & Wenbin Cui & Shanyu Yang & Zhilu Wu & Ziyu Xiong & Sixiang Zhang, 2025. "Influence of Inclined Non-Uniform Fins on the Melting of Phase Change Materials Under Constant-Power Heating Condition," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-16, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:7:p:1733-:d:1624469
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/7/1733/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/7/1733/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Merlin, Kevin & Soto, Jérôme & Delaunay, Didier & Traonvouez, Luc, 2016. "Industrial waste heat recovery using an enhanced conductivity latent heat thermal energy storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 491-503.
    2. Abdi, Amir & Martin, Viktoria & Chiu, Justin N.W., 2019. "Numerical investigation of melting in a cavity with vertically oriented fins," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 1027-1040.
    3. Xu, Haoxin & Romagnoli, Alessandro & Sze, Jia Yin & Py, Xavier, 2017. "Application of material assessment methodology in latent heat thermal energy storage for waste heat recovery," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 281-290.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li, Xiang & Wu, Shuang & Wang, Yang & Xie, Leidong, 2018. "Experimental investigation and thermodynamic modeling of an innovative molten salt for thermal energy storage (TES)," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 516-526.
    2. Sardari, Pouyan Talebizadeh & Mohammed, Hayder I. & Giddings, Donald & walker, Gavin S. & Gillott, Mark & Grant, David, 2019. "Numerical study of a multiple-segment metal foam-PCM latent heat storage unit: Effect of porosity, pore density and location of heat source," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    3. Yu, De-Hai & He, Zhi-Zhu, 2019. "Shape-remodeled macrocapsule of phase change materials for thermal energy storage and thermal management," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C), pages 503-516.
    4. Ortega-Fernández, Iñigo & Rodríguez-Aseguinolaza, Javier, 2019. "Thermal energy storage for waste heat recovery in the steelworks: The case study of the REslag project," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C), pages 708-719.
    5. Meng, Z.N. & Zhang, P., 2017. "Experimental and numerical investigation of a tube-in-tank latent thermal energy storage unit using composite PCM," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 524-539.
    6. Lin, Yaxue & Alva, Guruprasad & Fang, Guiyin, 2018. "Review on thermal performances and applications of thermal energy storage systems with inorganic phase change materials," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PA), pages 685-708.
    7. Zhang, Dengke & Diao, Yanhua & Wang, Zeyu & Pan, Yawen & Wang, Xinran & Zhao, Yaohua, 2024. "Thermal performance and optimization of an integrated collector–storage solar air heater based on lap joint-type flat micro-heat pipe arrays," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    8. Parsazadeh, Mohammad & Duan, Xili, 2018. "Numerical study on the effects of fins and nanoparticles in a shell and tube phase change thermal energy storage unit," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 142-156.
    9. Dai, Renkun & Li, Wei & Mostaghimi, Javad & Wang, Qiuwang & Zeng, Min, 2020. "On the optimal heat source location of partially heated energy storage process using the newly developed simplified enthalpy based lattice Boltzmann method," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    10. Ewelina Radomska & Lukasz Mika & Karol Sztekler & Lukasz Lis, 2020. "The Impact of Heat Exchangers’ Constructions on the Melting and Solidification Time of Phase Change Materials," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-44, September.
    11. Pashchenko, Dmitry, 2018. "First law energy analysis of thermochemical waste-heat recuperation by steam methane reforming," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 478-487.
    12. Chen, Renjie & Huang, Xinyu & Deng, Weibin & Zheng, Ruizhi & Aftab, Waseem & Shi, Jinmin & Xie, Delong & Zou, Ruqiang & Mei, Yi, 2020. "Facile preparation of flexible eicosane/SWCNTs phase change films via colloid aggregation for thermal energy storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    13. Maruoka, Nobuhiro & Tsutsumi, Taichi & Ito, Akihisa & Hayasaka, Miho & Nogami, Hiroshi, 2020. "Heat release characteristics of a latent heat storage heat exchanger by scraping the solidified phase change material layer," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    14. Zhang, Chunwei & Yu, Meng & Fan, Yubin & Zhang, Xuejun & Zhao, Yang & Qiu, Limin, 2020. "Numerical study on heat transfer enhancement of PCM using three combined methods based on heat pipe," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    15. Nakhchi, M.E. & Hatami, M. & Rahmati, M., 2021. "A numerical study on the effects of nanoparticles and stair fins on performance improvement of phase change thermal energy storages," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(PA).
    16. Yang, Lizhong & Villalobos, Uver & Akhmetov, Bakytzhan & Gil, Antoni & Khor, Jun Onn & Palacios, Anabel & Li, Yongliang & Ding, Yulong & Cabeza, Luisa F. & Tan, Wooi Leong & Romagnoli, Alessandro, 2021. "A comprehensive review on sub-zero temperature cold thermal energy storage materials, technologies, and applications: State of the art and recent developments," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    17. Zhang, Ji & Cao, Zhi & Huang, Sheng & Huang, Xiaohui & Liang, Kun & Yang, Yan & Zhang, Haoran & Tian, Mi & Akrami, Mohammad & Wen, Chuang, 2022. "Improving the melting performance of phase change materials using novel fins and nanoparticles in tubular energy storage systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    18. Jin, Xing & Hu, Huoyan & Shi, Xing & Zhou, Xin & Yang, Liu & Yin, Yonggao & Zhang, Xiaosong, 2018. "A new heat transfer model of phase change material based on energy asymmetry," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1409-1416.
    19. Zhao, Chunrong & Wang, Jianyong & Sun, Yubiao & He, Suoying & Hooman, Kamel, 2022. "Fin design optimization to enhance PCM melting rate inside a rectangular enclosure," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    20. Zhao, Shifei & Ge, Zhihua & He, Jie & Wang, Chunlan & Yang, Yongping & Li, Peifeng, 2017. "A novel mechanism for exhaust steam waste heat recovery in combined heat and power unit," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 596-606.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:7:p:1733-:d:1624469. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.