Melting enhancement of a phase change material with presence of a metallic mesh

The thermal characteristics of phase change material (n-octadecane) with presence of metallic meshes are investigated in relation to thermal energy storage. The influence of the mesh geometry on the phase change duration is predicted for two cases of the metallic mesh arrangements. In the first case, the constant area of the mesh with different geometries, namely triangular, rectangular, and hexagonal, is considered; in which case, the amount of phase change material accommodated in each mesh remains the same for all the meshes incorporated. In the second case, the perimeter of the three meshes is considered to be the same. This arrangement results in variation of the mesh area for different mesh geometric configurations. An experiment is carried out to validate the predictions of melt isotherms. Since the mesh size used in the experiments is in the order of 50 μm, an optical microscope is used to monitor the melting process under the controlled environment. It is found that the predictions of the melt isotherm are in good agreement with that of the experimental data. Triangular mesh geometry resulted in the early initiation of the phase change in the mesh. In addition, the total melting time becomes less for the triangular mesh as compared to those of square and hexagonal mesh geometries.