Numerical investigation of the effect of the presence of fins in a phase-change material filled heat-sink on the melting and heat transfer

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Mechanical Engineering, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran

2 Mechanical Engineering, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran.

Abstract

The melting and heat transfer process in a rectangular heat sink with a single fin filled with phase-change material was numerically investigated, and the effect of the position and geometric ratio of the fin on improving the heat transfer and temperature distribution uniformity inside the phase change material was studied. A 2D numerical solution of governing equations was obtained using ANSYS-FLUENT software. The fin positions on all four walls of the chamber were considered, and at least three locations on each wall were examined. The fin area was constant throughout the study, and three geometric ratios were assumed for the fin. The results of the numerical simulations showed that the presence of fins on the left and right walls always improved heat transfer. In addition, fins with a larger fineness ratio caused greater uniformity in the temperature of the phase-change material and simultaneously caused a greater reduction in the maximum temperature of the heat sink surface. In all cases studied, the greatest improvements were observed when the fin was located on the left wall. It was found that the presence of the fin significantly controls the combined heat transfer of free convection and conduction, and by choosing the appropriate location and geometric ratio for the fin, the overall heat transfer coefficient can be improved by approximately 75% compared with the case without fins.

Keywords

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics