Heat Transfer in Coiled Square Tubes for Laminar Flow of Slurry of Microencapsulated Phase Change Material

Abstract

Passive heat transfer enhancement using a slurry of microencapsulated phase-change material (MEPCM) flowing in a laminar regime through a coiled duct of square cross section was evaluated. The phase-change material is n-octadecane. The flow behavior and heat transfer performance of water and MEPCM suspensions in various configurations (conical spiral, in-plane spiral, and helical spiral) of coiled tubes of square cross section was investigated. The results are compared with those for water as the base fluid flowing through a straight tube. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach is used to simulate the laminar flow of water with MEPCM suspension in these geometries. The liquid suspension properties are expressed as functions of the volumetric concentration of MEPCM particles and the temperature. Improved heat transfer performance was obtained as the concentration of MEPCM suspension increased from 1 to 10%. However, the overall performance in terms of the pumping power consumed for unit heat transferred worsened.