• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.2079-2087
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• 1993

The effects of subcooling and natural convection are studied numerically on the melting process of an initially subcooled phase-change medium filled inside a horizontal circular cylinder. It is postulated that melting continues with the tube wall kept at a constant temperature and with the unmelted solid core fixed. Primary emphasis is placed on the evolution of interface morphology, the local/overall heat transfer rate at the tube wall and at the interface, and the structure of natural convection. The numerical results are mainly presented in terms of the Rayleigh and subcooling numbers. As the degree of subcooling intensifies, the melting rate and the movement of the interface are impeded but the interfaces are of similar shape with the passage of time. The heat transfer characteristics are found to be mostly governed by the formation pattern of natural convection in the liquid phase. Good agreement with available experimental data is found.

• Solar Energy
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.53-61
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• 1989

In the present investigation, experiments on the melting of a phase change material were performed to research heat transfer phenomena generated by means of conduction and natural convection in the vertical tube at inward melting. The phase change material used in the experiments is 99 percent pure n-Docosane paraffin which is measured melting temperature of $42.5^{\circ}C$, latent heat of 37.5 cal/g, heat conductivity of $0.1505W/m^{\circ}C$. Experiments were performed both in the no-subcooling which is initiating it at melting temperature of phase change material, and in the subcooling which means to initiate it under melting temperature of phase change material, in order to compare and investigate the horizontal temperature history, vertical temperature history, ratio of melting and melted mass, figure of the melting front in the vertical tube. In the experimental results, heat transfer from tube wall to phase change material were due to conduction at early stage and due to natural convection with the passage of time, and then occurred melting downward from surface by volumetric expansion. Natural convection affects temperature distribution in the tube, ratio of melting and melted mass, figure of the melting front and then progress rapidly in case of nosubcooling compared to subcooling.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2000.11b
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• pp.297-303
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• 2000

Natural convection heat transfer have been paid attention because it can be applied to various areas such as cooling of nuclear reactor, heat storing system and so on. Among such applications, the melting process of phase change material(PCM) has been actively studied. However most researches have focused on phase change heat transfer in natural melting. Therefore, In this paper, ultrasonic vibration was adopted to increase the melting rate. In addition, general relationship and corelationship between melting with ultrasonic vibration and melting without ultrasonic vibration have been established during the melting of PCM.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.94-101
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• 2002

Convection-dominated melting in a rectangular cavity is analyzed numerically with particular attention to the multi-cellular flows in the melt. At the earlier stage of the melting, the melt region is quite similar to a cavity with high aspect rati71, where the multi-cellular natural convection appears. Numerical results show that the formation and evolution of the multiple flow cells in the melt region is approximately similar to t]tat of a single-phase flow in a tall cavity with the same aspect ratio; however, the continuous change of the melt region due to the melting affects the detailed process. Also, numerical aspects for the prediction of the detailed flow structure in the melt are discussed.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.1882-1891
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• 2001

The present paper investigated the effect of ultrasonic vibrations on the melting process of a phase-change material (PCM). Furthermore, the present study considered constant heat flux boundary conditions unlike many of the previous researches adopted constant wall temperature conditions. Therefore, in the present study, modified dimensionless parameters such as Ste* and Ra* were used. Also, general relationships between melting with ultrasonic vibrations and melting without ultrasonic vibrations were established during the melting of PCM. Experimental observations show that the effect of ultrasonic vibrations on heat transfer is very important throughout the melting process. The results of the present study reveal that ultrasonic vibrations accompany the effects like agitation, acoustic streaming, cavitation, and oscillating fluid motion. Such effects are a prime mechanism in the overall melting process when ultrasonic vibrations are applied. They enhance the melting process as much as 2.5 tildes, compared with the result of natural melting. Also, energy can be saved by applying ultrasonic vibrations to the natural melting. In addition, various time-wise dimensionless numbers provide conclusive evidence of the important role of ultrasonic vibrations on the melting phenomena.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.262-268
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• 2002

The present paper investigated the effect of ultrasonic vibrations on the melting process of phase-change materials (PCM). Furthermore, the present study considered constant heat-flux boundary condition, whereas many of the previous researches had adopted constant wall-temperature condition. The results of the present study revealed that ultrasonic vibrations accompanied the effects like acoustic streaming, cavitation, and thermally-oscillating flow. Such effects are a prime mechanism in the overall melting process when ultrasonic vibrations are applied. They speed up the melting process as much as 2.5 times, compared with the result of natural melting. Also, energy can be saved by applying ultrasonic vibrations to the natural melting. In addition, temperature and Nusselt numbers over time provided a conclusive evidence of the important role of ultrasonic vibrations on the melting phenomena.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2002.08a
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• pp.655-658
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• 2002

The present paper investigated the effect of ultrasonic vibrations on the melting process of a phase-change material (PCM). Furthermore, the present study considered constant heat-flux boundary conditions unlike many of the previous researches, which had adopted constant wall-temperature conditions. Therefore in the study, modified dimensionless numbers such as Stefan and Rayleigh were adopted to represent heat transfer results. The experimental results revealed that ultrasonic vibrations accompanied the effects like agitation, acoustic streaming, cavitation, and oscillating fluid motion, accelerating the melting process as much as 2.5 times, compared with the result of natural melting (i. e., the case without ultrasonic vibration). Such effects are believed to be a prime mechanism in the overall melting process when ultrasonic vibrations were applied. Subsequently, energy could be saved by applying the ultrasonic vibrations to the natural melting In addition, various time-wise dimensionless numbers provided a conclusive evidence of the important role of the ultrasonic vibrations on the melting phenomena of the PCM.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.2601-2610
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• 1993

A numerical study on the melting process inside an isothermal spherical capsule is made. It is assumed that the phase change medium of its solid phase is heavier than the liquid phase and therefore the unmelted solid core is continuously moving downward on account of gravity forces. Such a gravity-assisted melting is commonly characterized by the existence of a thin liquid film below the solid core. The present study is motivated to present a full-equation-based analysis of the influences of the initial subcooling and the natural convection on the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics associated with the gravity-assisted melting. In the light of the solution strategy, the present study is substantially distinguished from the existing works in that the complete set of governing equations in both the melted and unmelted regions are resolved without subdivision of the solution domains. For example, the liquid film region and the upper melted region are treated here as one domain and thus obviating laborious efforts to couple them. Numerical results are obtained by varying the Rayleigh numbers and the degree of subcooling. For the range of parameters examined, the presence of subcooling was found to impede the melting rate. The dropping velocity of the unmelted solid core was observed to affect the natural convection in the liquid significantly. When compared with the available experimental data, much improved prediction was achieved.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.919-927
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• 1997

The main purpose of this study is to determine bifurcation as the primary instability of a glass melting furnace. Steady-state and unsteady characteristics of natural convection in the partially open cavity as appeared in a glass melting furnace is investigated by using numerical analysis. Three types of convection, such as steady laminar, unsteady periodic or unsteady quasi-periodic convection may occur according to the temperature difference between upper two isothermal surfaces along the depth of cavity in a glass melting furnace. In the temperature difference of 150-900 K between batch and free surface, the larger the temperature difference, the weaker the convection strength and unsteadiness. Since the glass viscosity is increasing exponentially in the lower temperature, the batch freezes the thermofluidic field especially below the surface of it. If the depth of cavity is 0.5 m, the bifurcation to time-dependent natural convection may occur in the range of 60-650 K. If that is 1.0 m, it may occur in the whole range of temperature difference.

• Solar Energy
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.48-58
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• 1992

In the present investigation, experimental analysis was performed to research heat transfer phenomena generated by means of conduction and natural convection at a succession of tube-inclimations relative to the vertical tube during inward melting process of a phase change material. The phase change material used in the experiments is 99 percent pure n-docosane paraffin($C_{22}H_{46}$). When the tube is vertical, the dominant mode of energy transfer between the tube wall and the melting interface is natural convection. On the other hand, when the tube is inclined to the vertical, the melting solid is brought into direct contact with the tube wall by the action of gravity. In the experimental results, direct contact gave rise to substantial enhancements in the amount of melted mass, relative to those for natural-convection-dominated melting.