Melting performance enhancement in latent heat storage module using solid extraction electrohydrodynamics (EHD)

An experimental investigation to study the effect of electrohydrodynamics (EHD) on the thermal performance of a latent heat thermal storage cell during melting of paraffin wax was performed. The test section was designed to eliminate natural convection and to ensure conduction dominated melting environment to isolate the influence of the electric field. The results showed that by applying a (−8 kV) voltage potential across the storage module, the time required to melt 7 mm thickness of the PCM can be reduced by 40% when compared to 0 kV case. This heat transfer enhancement effect can be attributed to an EHD induced “solid extraction” phenomenon. This phenomenon was observed using flow visualization where solid dendrites within the mushy zone were extracted from the mushy zone into the liquid bulk towards regions of higher electric field.