EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF MELTING IN A CYLINDER

The melting process in the cylindrical enclosure is found to bear a resemblance to the four regimes
developed by Jany and Bejan [36] for rectangular enclosures, i.e., conduction dominant, mixed
convection/conduction, convection dominant and “shrinking solid” regimes.

IMPACT OF SHAPE OF CONTAINER ON NATURAL CONVECTION AND MELTING

INSIDE ENCLOSURES USED FOR PASSIVE COOLING OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES
In thin enclosures, liquid PCM zones expand upward, while for wider enclosures, this expansion tends to
be horizontal. Consequently, for the former enclosures, the solid cold PCM is in contact with ascending
hot liquid streams, which contributes to the lowering of the global temperature.
 The last zones to melt in the enclosures are located at the bottom and on the side opposite to the
cooled surface. Thus, PCM enclosures should be designed without corners and without zones
located below this surface.
 A portion of the PCM should be placed above the cooled surface.
 The use of rounded corners has a slight positive effect on the efficiency (e.g., Nu and Tmax).

A SOLIDIFICATION PROCESS WITH FREE CONVECTION OF WATER IN AN

ELLIPTICAL ENCLOSURE

The results indicate that solidification time is significantly decreased with increasing the aspect ratio of
the ellipse. The solidification time can be reduced by 50% if an elliptical enclosure used with n = 4 over a
circular one. On the other hand, the inclination of the ellipse has a negligible effect on the solidification
process.