Thermal storage based on phase change materials (PCMs) for refrigerated transport and distribution applications along the cold chain: A review

Foodstuff has to be transported from where it is produced or packaged to the market. It is important to control the temperature and humidity of the delivered food to minimize the waste and ensure customer satisfaction. At the same time, unfortunately, the transport sector is among the polluting sectors. Therefore, innovative solutions have been proposed such as the adoption of Latent Thermal Energy Storage (LTES) systems based on Phase Change Materials (PCMs) to control the food temperature. Such systems minimize the fuel consumption and thereby reduce the emission. LTES systems rely on the phase change process to absorb and store heat in a more sustainable way while ensuring a nearly constant temperature for the foodstuff while being transported. Hence, we first present a general overview of the application of PCMs at low temperatures. Then, the literature on the adoption of PCMs in the refrigerated transport sector is critically surveyed. Different proposals offered in the literature are recovered, compared, and critically assessed based on their merits. Despite the differences between the proposed technologies, significant advantages in terms of temperature uniformity in the refrigerated space, product thermal stress reduction, product quality, energy consumption, and pollutant emissions reduction are reported in the literature as surveyed in this paper.Process and Energ

Numerical analysis of multiple phase change materials based heat sink with angled thermal conductivity enhancer

Phase change materials (PCM) RT-28HC, RT-35HC, and RT-44HC with three different melting temperatures, 29 °C, 36 °C, and 44 °C, with similar thermal properties, are considered. The PCM is oriented from the left to right side of the heat sink in its increasing order. The fins are attached to the heat sink longitudinally, and its orientation effects are studied low (100–500 W/m2) and high (1000–5000 W/m2) heat fluxes applied on the horizontal bottom surface of the heat sink. A 2D model is developed using ANSYS Fluent 19, and the fin orientation effects are investigated numerically. The orientation of fins at different angles such as 0°, +15°, +30°, +45°, +60°,-15°,-30°,-45°, −60° are considered. The effect of fins on the charging cycle is assessed by comparing a single and double PCM heat sink. Three initial conditions are investigated by altering the initial temperature 300 K, 303 K, and 310 K. At increasing heat input, the negative angled fins possess a higher melting rate. For different initial conditions, −60° provides higher enhancement, and +60° possesses prolonged melting for almost all cases. The performance of a triple PCM design is compared with single and double PCM counterparts under similar conditions.Process and Energ

Extensive analysis of PCM-based heat sink with different fin arrangements under varying load conditions and variable aspect ratio

The present study compares a modified variable height fin heat sink with the conventional constant height fin heat sink. The two heat sinks are filled with an equal volume of PCM (n-eicosane) and a fin volume fraction of 8 %. The experiments are performed for constant loads and also different power surge conditions. The pulsed heat loads are applied for two scenarios: 1. Constant load 4 W - power surge and constant load 4 W - power surge - 1800 s no-load condition, and 2. Power surge (50 s, 100 s, and 150 s) - no-load conditions of 1800 s. During experiments, the proposed variable height fin heat sinks possess better thermal performance for all load scenarios. Further, a 3D computational model is developed using ANSYS Fluent 19 to assess not only the effect of fin arrangement for different aspect ratios but also the impact of fin shape. The enclosure aspect ratio employed for the given study ranges from 0.3 to 0.8 for both the heat sinks. Regarding the fin structure in a heat sink, four types of fin shapes are adopted: square, circular, diamond, and triangular. The contour images of temperature and the liquid fraction are shown for the charging process. For the discharging process, the time required for the heat sinks to completely solidify the PCM is discussed. From the outcomes, variable height fin heat sinks provide enhanced melting/solidification for all the aspect ratios and fin shapes considered. As the aspect ratio increases, the time difference between the heat sink for the completion of the discharging cycle is reduced. Moreover, the triangular shaped fin shows a higher enhancement percentage of 2.29 % and 1.43 % during melting and 6.25 % and 12.5 % during solidification for both the heat sinks, respectively.Process and Energ

Effect of soot particle deposition on porous fouling formation and thermal characteristics of an exhaust gas recirculation cooler

Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) systems have been successfully employed to reduce the NOx emissions in diesel engines. However, the fouling problem in EGR coolers challenges their capability to comply with stringent environmental regulations. A few numerical simulations have considered the fouling growth in EGR coolers. Those studies modeled the evolving fouling layer to be a solid medium, therefore, fluid flow and convection heat transfer within the fouling layer, which is well-documented to be a porous medium permeable to gas flow, have not been considered yet. As such, the present study investigates the simultaneous effects of the formation of the evolving porous fouling layer (EPFL) at the walls of an EGR cooler and fluid flow and convection heat transfer simulation within this EPFL to determine its coupled effects on the thermal performance of the EGR cooler. This study also investigates the possibility of formation of a steady fouling layer (SFL) because of the opposing effects of the fouling layer growth and deposition rate. The effects of two pertinent dimensionless parameters, namely Darcy number (10-4≤Da≤5×10-3) and Reynolds number (100≤Re≤400) on the time history of the fouling layer growth, deterioration of the thermal performance of the duct, and average Nusselt number ratio (Nuav/Nuavt=0) are studied. The results show that the thermal performance of the duct decreases as the EPFL grows, which agrees well with the available experimental data. It is shown that the steady fouling layer is obtained due to a decrease in thermophoretic force and deposition rate, as a result of the EPFL formation. Finally, a correlation is proposed in terms of Reynolds and Darcy numbers for the time at which the SFL occurs.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Process and Energ

Sensitivity analysis of design parameters for melting process of lauric acid in the vertically and horizontally oriented rectangular thermal storage units

Widespread commercialization of PCM-based latent heat storage systems is limited by the low melting and solidification rates during the phase transition process. In this study, fins are used to enhance the phase change process. A parametric study is conducted to understand the effect of fins on the thermal performance of vertically- and horizontally-oriented rectangular storage tanks. Throughout simulations, the fin volume, and thereby the mass of PCM in the tank, were kept constant. It was observed that the horizontal enclosures can take advantage of the development of strong natural convection flow until near the end of the melting process, whereas with vertical counterparts the strength of the convection currents was diminished during the shrinkage stage. The results suggest that longer and thinner fins are more beneficial for enhancing the melting rate than shorter and thicker fins. It was concluded that for horizontal enclosures with fin lengths of 25 and 35 mm, increasing the number of fins does not necessarily shorten the melting time. The maximum melting time reduction compared to the 3-fin vertical enclosure with a fin length of 25 mm (chosen as our benchmark case) was 75.1% when nine 45-mm-long fins are used in a horizontal enclosure.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Process and Energ

Multi-Objective Optimization of Hybrid Heat Sinks with Phase Change Materials

A passive method with phase change material (PCM) is an appropriate technique in electronic cooling. But, due to its poor thermal conductivity, many enhancers are employed to reduce the thermal resistance offered by the PCM. A partial filling strategy to reduce the cost and weight of foams with fins is used in this study. A hybrid heat sink with a combination of fins placed at the sidewalls of the enclosure and foams filled at certain heights such as 10, 20, and 30 mm is considered in this present work. A two-dimensional numerical model with n-eicosane as PCM is developed in ANSYS Fluent 19. A multi-objective optimization is carried out using a reliable multi criteria decision making approach. Different weightage is distributed to the objective functions in this method depending on the choice of the user. The pore size and density vary for various filling heights, and 60 cases are investigated for both charging and discharging cycles. The pore size of 0.8-0.95 and pore density of 5-25 pores per inch with a broad range is considered. From the discussions, guidelines for selecting a preferable pore size and pore density can be determined based on the filling height and applied weightage.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Process and Energ

The cooling efficiency of s-CO₂ microchannel heat sink compared with a water-based design

High-pressure drops characteristic of microchannel heat sinks (MCHS) is an issue that needs to be addressed to reduce the size of heat-removing devices in compact electronic devices. Supercritical carbon dioxide (s-CO₂) is a suitable candidate being proposed as an alternative coolant to enhance the cooling of the microchannel heat sink (MCHS), with high heat flux, due to its favorable thermophysical properties near its critical point. In this study, numerical simulations are conducted to evaluate the thermal and hydraulic performance of a channel for a designed heat sink with s-CO₂ (at constant (Formula presented.)) and compare it with conventional liquid coolant (water). The effect of coolants mass flow rate ((Formula presented.)), channel aspect ratio (AR), and inlet temperatures on the thermal and hydraulic performance of one channel is studied by varying (Formula presented.) from 0.004 to 0.03 kg/s and AR from 0.33 to 10. The results show that, for the same aspect ratio, same geometry, and constant heat flux, s-CO₂ offers a higher overall heat transfer coefficient (32%) with a lower friction factor (pumping power) compared with the water at the same inlet temperature (T = 32°C). The results of pumping power comparison between two coolants reveal that for CO₂ in supercritical conditions ((Formula presented.), T = 32°C), the consumed power varies by change of the aspect ratio, which is 1.85 times lower than water for AR = 0.33 and is 3.6 times higher for AR = 10. However, in the subcooled state, the reverse effect of the aspect ratio is seen.Process and Energ

CFD analyses for the development of an innovative latent thermal energy storage for food transportation

The transportation of perishable products is a crucial activity that must be carefully managed along the cold chain. The refrigerated transport aims at ensuring the suitable transportation conditions by maintaining the desired temperature level in the refrigerated compartment. Moreover, the carriage of perishable fresh foodstuffs calls for additional precautions due to the intrinsic metabolic activity of fresh foods which causes them to be highly temperature sensitive. About 30% of fresh products perishes on the route due to the loss of suitable temperature values. Recently, scientists have been focusing their efforts on the development of innovative solutions, which ensure a proper refrigerated products distribution and transportation in a more environmental-friendly and cost-effective way. Hence, in this work, a novel concept of a Latent Thermal Energy Storage (LTES) system consisting of an insulation layer of poly-urethane foam wrapping a second one of Phase Change Material (PCM) is proposed. In particular, the thermal performance is investigated by running numerical CFD analyses in Ansys Fluent. The effect of different product loads (25%-50%-75%) is studied. Besides, the contributions of the heat respiration and diverse food pre-cooling temperatures on the system performance are also analysed. For the long-distance route no door openings nor additional heat infiltrations are considered.Process and Energ

A designed wall roughness approach to improve turbulent heat transfer to supercritical CO₂ flowing in horizontal tubes

Supercritical flow through a horizontal pipe leads to a non-uniform peripheral wall temperature distribution even when the wall heat flux is kept constant and uniform. This is attributed to lower heat transfer coefficient at the top section where the denser fluid tends to sink. Hence, to obtain a uniform wall temperature, a designed wall roughness is devised. Uniform sand-grain roughness is employed to only partly cover the top half of the pipe wall. Numerical simulations were conducted using the SST k−ω turbulence model. The simulation results indicate that our proposed design can lead to a more uniform heat transfer distribution over the wall periphery compared with the smooth pipe. An extreme case was also considered where the inner wall was completely covered with roughness elements. While heat transfer augmentation was observed for this case, the excess pressure drop was prohibitively higher compared with a pipe with designed wall roughness.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Process and Energ

Influence of solder condition on effective thermal conductivity of two-directional random fibres: Pore-scale simulation

It is indicated that the solder joint of the metal fibrous materials is a critical factor impacting the heat conduction. To reveal the mechanism by which solder joint sizes, solder joint skips, solder flux materials, and filling media affect the thermal conductivity of fibres, pore-scale numerical simulation is employed to study the thermal transport in two-directional (2-D) random fibres. Satisfactory agreement with existing data validates the numerical model. The dimensionless effective thermal conductivity (ETC) of the porous fibres increases with the solder joint sizes. As the solder joint size (i.e., solder joint ratio) increases by 3.06%, the in-plane (ke-in) and out-of-plane (ke-out) dimensionless ETC increase by 9.0% and 437.2%, respectively. However, the solder joint skips will weaken the thermal conductivity of the fibres. For the same fibre, the ETC of the fibre increases as the thermal conductivity of solders increases. Further, when the dissimilarity in thermal conductivity between the filling medium and the fibre is reduced, the fibre is less affected by the solder joint skips. Finally, it should be supplemented that the in-plane and out-of-plane ETC (ke-in and ke-out) of the fibre without any solder joint are reduced by an average of 14.3% and 98.8%, respectively.Process and Energ