HEAT TRANSFER ENHANCEMENT OF DIRECT CONTACT MELTING PROCESS IN THERMAL STORAGE SYSTEM BY VIBRATION

Direct contact melting takes place in many natural and technological processes. Important applications of this process are thermal storage systems. In these systems, phase change material (PCM) is stored in a small capsule that is melted by heating peripherally, In this melting process, melting rate is important factor for the efficiency of the system. In this paper, utilization of vibrating motion of heating wall is proposed to enhance the melting rate. Effect of vibrating motion of the heating wall is studied. Non-steady heat transfer phenomena of direct contact melting process is studied theoretically while only steady state is studied in recent analytical researches. In this paper, it is clarified that the vibrating motion of heating wall enhances the heat transfer and melting rate.