Experimental Study of Double Solid Phase Change Material in a Cavity

Heat transfer along with phase change occurs in many physical phenomena in various industrial and non-industrial applications. The use of latent heat is one of the ways to save energy, so the knowledge of the thermal performance of phase change material is of particular importance. The goal of this study is to investigate the phase change process of a system consists of two dissolve phase change materials, two materials that cannot be solved in each other and was compared with a single phase change material system. The initial condition of the system including two materials was considered in a way that the lighter material (with lower density than the other material) was above the denser material. In this experiment, two immiscible materials that their melting points were close to each other should be used (water and oleic acid). The heat flux was transferred from the right side of the rectangular cavity with a constant temperature boundary condition. The effect of stored heat transfers and its comparison with other cases were discussed. Factors, including the melting point of the two materials, as well as the amount of latent heat in this stored energy system, were analyzed.