Initial Analysis of PCM Integrated

L. H. Alva S.
Solar Collectors
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
This paper investigates the technical feasibility of innovative solar collectors. The pro-
University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez,
posed collectors have a phase change material (PCM) integrated into them as the stor-
Mayagüez, Puerto Rico 00681-9045
age mechanism. The PCM-integrated solar collector eliminates the need of conventional
storage tanks, thus reducing cost and space. The present work uses a paraffin-graphite
J. E. González1 composite as the PCM to increase the conductivity of the PCM matrix. The paraffin’s
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
melting point is around 89° C, which is appropriate for use in single-effect absorption
Santa Clara University,
systems. The mathematical model that describes the thermal process in the PCM is
CA 95053
presented and differs from the analysis of conventional flat plate solar collectors making
e-mail: igonzalezcruz@[Link]
use of the lumped capacitance method which neglects spatial variations. The proposed
model is calibrated favorably with a more detailed mathematical model that uses finite
N. Dukhan differences and considers temporal and spatial variations. Results for the collectors’
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
thermal performance are presented along with the effects of the composition of the PCM.
University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez,
The results for the PCM integrated collector proposed here are very encouraging. There-
Mayagüez, Puerto Rico 00681-9045
fore, there is an indication that conventional storage tanks may be replaced for the PCM
integrated in the solar collector. 关DOI: 10.1115/1.2188532兴

Keywords: PCM, solar, thermal, collectors, storage, lumped, enthalpy

Introduction al. 关3兴 considered an arrangement of tubes over the PCM. Sokolov
and Keizman 关4兴 considered a PCM confined between two con-
The residential market in the Caribbean and other tropical lo-
centric tubes 共solar pipe兲.
cations represents a great opportunity for solar thermal applica-
tions for air conditioning systems. The typical cooling load in
these buildings ranges between 10.5 and 35 kW. However, for The Paraffin-Graphite Composite
solar driven absorption machines to be considered to satisfy cool- The PCM considered is the composite proposed and reported
ing needs in the residential and commercial sectors in these re- by Py et al. 关5兴, which has a high thermal conductivity and a
gions, compact systems must be designed that eliminate the use of stable thermal capacitance. The composite is formed of two com-
cooling towers and possibly the thermal storage tank. Recently we ponents: paraffin as the PCM and compressed expanded natural
proposed a compact absorption machine that somehow addresses graphite 共CENG兲. To form the composite, graphite powders are
this need of downsizing solar absorption machines 关1兴. The sys- poured into a mold of aluminum and then pressed to obtain the
tem proposed in that work is an air-cooled closed absorption ma- porous graphite matrix with the desired bulk density 关5兴. Then the
chine where the water cooling is replaced by air cooling through matrix is soaked into melted paraffin and regularly weighted until
the use of compact fans, for both the condenser and the absorber. maximum load is reached. In terms of capacity, and depending on
We concluded in that work that the penalty for using air cooling is bulk graphite density, the CENG/paraffin composites present a
minimum if extremely compact and efficient heat exchangers are weight percentage ranging from 65% to 95% 关5兴, which is the
used. The proposed machine was suggested for 10.5, 14.0, and range used in this work. Figure 3 shows the maximum paraffin
17.5 kW cooling loads. weight loading versus bulk graphite matrix density, considering
We now suggest in this work a mechanism to eliminate the use the loaded total porosity. Figure 3 also presents the thermal stor-
of storage tanks. We propose a flat plate solar collector that incor- age capacity ratio versus the CENG matrix density. It can be noted
porates a phase change material 共PCM兲 as a mechanism for ther- the heat storage capacity decreases with the CENG matrix density.
mal storage. We suggest here an analysis for the proposed PCM- The final effective material properties used for the paraffin at
solar collector and investigate its thermal performance and 89° C were 关6兴: density 共␳兲 900 kg/ m3; latent heat 共L兲 179 kJ/ kg;
technical feasibility. The proposed method of analysis is the specific heat 共c兲 1770 J / kg K; and thermal conductivity 共k兲
lumped capacitance method. A computer program is used to simu- 0.2 W / m K.
late the thermal performance of the PCM under different working
conditions. Thermal Analysis for the PCM
The PCM-Solar Collector For the solution of the phase change problem, the basic as-
sumption is that the sensible heat is negligible compared to the
In this work the PCM-solar collector considered is constructed, latent heat 共Stefan number is assumed zero兲, and consequently all
as shown in Fig. 1, with a group of tubes immersed inside the the heat is assumed to drive the phase-change 关7兴. This lumped
PCM. The PCM is confined in separated and insulated rectangular approach is compared with a second method in which the energy
containers as shown in Fig. 2. No similar characteristics for a equation is discretized by finite differences and that considers spa-
solar collector have been taken in consideration in the previous tial and temporal variations. This second method is commonly
works reported in PCM collectors. Bansal et al. 关2兴 and Rabin et referred as the “enthalpy method” 关7兴, and the results are shown
later in this document.
1
Corresponding author. Present address: Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA, 95051. Lumped Capacitance Method
Contributed by the Solar Energy Division of ASME for publication in the JOUR-
NAL OF SOLAR ENERGY ENGINEERING. Manuscript received November 4, 2003; final A lumped approach was used to investigate the PCM collector
manuscript received December 6, 2005. Reviewed conducted by Karen DenBraven. along the following assumptions:

Journal of Solar Energy Engineering Copyright © 2006 by ASME MAY 2006, Vol. 128 / 173

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 Fig. 1 Schematic of the PCM solar collector

共1兲 Phase transition occurs at a single fixed temperature.

共2兲 Heat transfer inside the PCM matrix is restricted to the
conduction mode.
共3兲 No density change occurs while phase change is occurring. Fig. 3 Maximum paraffin weight „in percentage… and reduced
共4兲 Physical properties are temperature independent. storage thermal capacity versus density of the graphite matrix
共5兲 The local interface is assumed planar and sharp 共a surface „loaded total porosity… †6‡
separating the phases兲, at the phase-change temperature.
共6兲 Surface tension and curvature effects at the interface are
assumed insignificant. No Collector Flow, Sensible Heating Case. For the analysis of
the PCM during sensible heating all the mass of the PCM is as-
Energy and mass balances were established for the PCM using sumed at the same temperature and energy is balanced over the
the lumped capacitance method and the resulting equations are entire control volume. Note that at this stage no melting of the
presented here. For the absorber plate, conduction in a surface PCM or fluid flow through the tubes is considered. The energy
with negligible thermal mass is considered as the heat transport balance for this case is
mechanism to the PCM. The expression for the heat conduction
through the absorber plate is 冉 冊
mc
A PCM
dTPCM
dt
= S − UT共T P − Ta兲 −
k
⌬
冉冊 INS
共TPCM − Ta兲 共3兲
k
S − UT共T P − Ta兲 − 共T P − T̄PCM兲 = 0 共1兲
␦ No Collector Flow, Melting the PCM Case. A melting stage
for the PCM can be considered with no fluid flow through the
The above expression is solved at each time interval for the tubes. During this stage the liquid and the solid phases are con-
plate temperature using the secant method simultaneously with the sidered both to be at the melting temperature and the interface is
PCM temperature whose solution is described below. The value of considered planar. At this stage the position of the interface into
UT is found using the relationship suggested by Duffie and Beck- the PCM is an important parameter and is represented by x共t兲. The
man 关8兴 for mean plate temperatures between ambient and 200° C
energy balance during melting is
to within ±0.3 W / m2 ° C:
冉冊
冦 冧
−1 dx k
N 1 共L␳兲PCM = S − UT共T P − Ta兲 − 共T M − Ta兲 共4兲
⌬

冋 册
UT = + dt INS
e hw
C T P − Ta
TP N + f Collector Flow, Melting of PCM Case. A simultaneous stage
can be simulated in which solar radiation is available and a fluid is
␴共T P + Ta兲共T2P + T2a兲 circulating through the solar collector, such that energy is being
+ 共2兲 removed and added simultaneously from and to the PCM. Equa-
2N + f − 1 + 0.133␧ P
共␧ P + 0.00591Nhw兲 +
−1
−N tion 共5兲 below is used for the final temperature of the PCM, which
␧g results from the application of an energy balance 共only when tem-
perature of the PCM is above the melting temperature兲,

再 冎
where:
N is the number of glass covers,
f is 共1 + 0.089hw − 0.1166hw␧ P兲共1 + 0.07866N兲,
dTPCM
dt
=
A
mc
冉 冊 PCM
S − UT共T P − Ta兲 − 冉冊
k
⌬ INS
共TPCM − Ta兲
C is 520共1 − 0.000051␤2兲 for 0 ° ⬍ ␤ ⬍ 70°,
QCONV
e is 0.43共1 − 100/ T P兲, − 共5兲
␤ is the collector tilt 共degrees兲; 共20° in this work兲, 共mc兲PCM
␧g is the emittance of glass; 共0.9 in this work兲, and where QCONV is the heat transfer rate to the collector.
␧ P is the emittance of plate; 共0.09 in this work兲. For this simultaneous stage when the temperature falls to the
melting temperature and solidification begins around the collector
tube, a radial configuration is considered similar to that shown in
Fig. 4, and Eq. 共6兲 is used for the position of the interface at each
time interval,
dR
dt
= 冉1 1
2␲共L␳l兲PCM R
冊再
QCONV + A UT共T P − Ta兲 +
k
⌬
冋 冉冊
册冎
INS

⫻共TPCM − Ta兲 − S 共6兲

For the charging stage all the PCM is considered to be solidified,

solar energy is transmitted to the composite by the absorbing
plate, and no energy is removed inside the tubes, thus energy is
transmitted from the upper side to the bottom. For this case a flat
interface is assumed. During the simultaneous stage all the PCM
Fig. 2 PCM element configuration is considered to be melted, heat is being removed inside the tubes,
and solar radiation is available. Therefore solidification is ex-

174 / Vol. 128, MAY 2006 Transactions of the ASME

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 Fig. 4 Schematic representation of the PCM material for the
simultaneous stage

pected to occur around the tubes and a radial configuration can be

assumed for the interface. There is no conflict in this approach
because charging and simultaneous stages are assumed to take
place at different times.
Collector Fluid/Tube Analyses. The output fluid temperature
and the energy removed from the solar collectors by forced con-
Fig. 5 Node arrangement used in the enthalpy method
vection are calculated under the assumption of a constant PCM
temperature along the collector tubes. For the collector’s outlet

冕 冉冕 冊 冕 冕
fluid temperature a differential element is considered inside the tn+1 x j+1/2 tn+1 x j+1/2
tube. The integration along the axis z direction of the collector ⳵
A E共x,t兲dx dt = − A qx共x,t兲dxdt
tube gives tn
⳵t x j−1/2 tn x j−1/2
TOUT共z兲 = Ti + e−␥z关TIN − Ti兴 共7兲 共12兲
where Here the enthalpy E is the sum of sensible and latent heats of the
2h PCM. Proceeding with the discretization of the control volume in
␥= a finite number of nodes, a backward-in-time and central-in-space
RINV␳c difference formulation is used. The following expressions are ob-
The expression for the convective heat flux is given by 关9兴 tained for the enthalpy of each node:
共Ti − TOUT兲 − 共Ti − TIN兲 ⌬tn n

冉 冊
QCONV = ASh 共8兲 En+1 = Enj + 关q + qnj+1/2兴 共13兲
Ti − TOUT j
⌬x j j−1/2
ln
Ti − TIN The heat flux between nodes is
The inside wall temperature of the copper tube can be expressed T nj − T nj−1
as qnj−1/2 = − 共14兲
R j−1/2
TPCM + ␤TIN The temperature of the nodes is
Ti = 共9兲
1+␤
Enj
and Solid 共Enj 艋 0兲 . . . T nj = T M + 共15兲

冉 冊
␳cS
RO
ln
RIN e−␥l − 1 Interface 共0 ⬍ Enj ⬍ ␳L兲 . . . T nj = T M 共16兲
␤ = A Sh 共10兲
2␲lkc − ␥l
Enj − ␳L
The Biot number used in this work represents the ratio of the Liquid 共Enj 艌 ␳L兲 . . . T nj = T M + 共17兲
convective effects to the spatial conduction and is an important ␳cL
parameter to observe when using the lumped capacitance method.
The PCM element was divided vertically into five sections 共Fig.
Its value should be less than 0.1 for the lumped capacitance
5兲 with the node at the center of each section. The first node is
method to be valid 关9兴. It is defined as
considered to be placed in the section under the absorber plate and
hrc the fifth node in the section immediately over the bottom insula-
Bi = 共11兲 tion. Results obtained from the enthalpy method are presented in
k
the next sections and are compared with those obtained with the
where rc is the characteristic length 共see Fig. 4兲, h is the convec- lumped capacitance method.
tion coefficient inside the tube, and k is the thermal conductivity
of the composite. Results
Data of the PCM conductivity for materials with a paraffin
content of less than 65% are not available 关6兴 and are not consid-
Validation: The Enthalpy Method ered in this work. Figure 6 shows the variation of the thermal
The method used to validate the results obtained with the conductivity of the 65% composite material with paraffin weight
lumped capacitance method is referred as the enthalpy method 关7兴. percentage. The overall thermal conductivity of the composite is
The enthalpy method is based on the conservation of energy ex- similar to that of the sole porous graphite matrix 关7兴 where the
pressed in terms of enthalpy and temperature. The energy conser- thermal conductivity is mainly in the perpendicular direction to
vation applied to a one-dimensional problem is expressed in the the composite surface. In this work we consider uniform thermal
following: conductivity along the thickness of the PCM.

Journal of Solar Energy Engineering MAY 2006, Vol. 128 / 175

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 Fig. 8 Comparison of the fraction of volume melted results
given by the lumped capacitance method and the enthalpy
method

Fig. 6 Composite conductivity versus paraffin weight

percentage
responding to a maximum solidification allowed of approximately
80%, with respect to the maximum mass flow rate per tube for
To compare the lumped capacitance and the enthalpy methods different constant flow inlet temperatures. The maximum solidifi-
described above, simulations were conducted for a constant am- cation is considered when the interface diameter equals the depth
bient temperature of 30.74° C and an incident solar irradiation of of the composite. Composite areas lower than the values shown
526 W / m2. The dimensions of the PCM element considered are may result in PCM solidification rates in excess of 80%, and
0.056 m in width and 3.583 m in length. Figure 7 presents the consequently the PCM-collector may not work appropriately. It
results for the warming process of the PCM from the ambient can also be noted that the composite material has a linear trend
temperature to the PCM’s melting temperature 共89° C兲 for both with respect to the mass flow rate, with a zero intercept. The value
methods. As described, five nodes through the depth of the PCM for the minimum composite area corresponding to an assumed
were considered for the case of the enthalpy method. As can be mass flow rate and inlet temperature is a design parameter to be
observed results from both methods are very similar. The PCM considered when sizing the total area of PCM collectors needed
reaches the melting temperature in 196.3 min using the lumped for a specific application. The mass flow rate and the collector
capacitance method and in 160.5 min with the enthalpy method. input temperature under actual working conditions may be differ-
The time both methods take to melt the PCM is shown in Fig. 8, ent than those used here.
where the fractional melted volume for both methods is presented Figure 10 shows the width and length of a composite element
as a function of time. Here the lumped capacitance method pre- versus the mass flow rate per tube, corresponding to the minimum
dicts that the PCM will melt completely in 524.3 min, while the composite area and a maximum solidification of 80%, for the case
enthalpy method predicts it will occur in 512.5 min. Thus, the of a constant inlet temperature of 80° C. It can be noted from the
remaining results presented here make use of the lumped capaci- figure that as the mass flow rate per tube increases the width of the
tance method. element decreases, and the length increases. The area of the com-
To find practical values of PCM volume and dimensions for the posite is the product of the composite’s width and length. Since
integrated collector a range between 0.06 and 0.04 m of PCM the widths used 共0.04– 0.06 m兲 to find practical dimensions of the
width was found to be acceptable to avoid excessive melting for proposed PCM integrated collector correspond to the maximum
given mass flow rates while maintaining a uniform melting as permitted, then the results for the lengths correspond to mini-
indicated by the small values of the Biot number. These values mums, as can be observed from Fig. 10.
were found by optimization using the thermal efficiency and a Figure 11 shows the total collector area and the collector effi-
maximum solidification rate of 80% as controlling parameters. ciency versus the composite’s width, for an element with a con-
The corresponding mass flow rates inside the tube that can be stant mass flow rate of 0.00142 kg/ s. This mass flow rate was
allowed for this range of PCM material were between 0.001 and selected arbitrarily in order to work with a small collector area. In
0.002 kg/ s per element. Higher values of mass flow rates may the case shown in Fig. 11, the maximum collector efficiency and
induce faster solidification of the PCM. the minimum total collector area are reached for a composite’s
Figure 9 shows the minimum 65%-paraffin composite area, cor- width in the range of 0.049 and 0.056 m.

Fig. 7 Comparison of the warming process of the PCM ele-

ment for results given by the lumped capacitance method and
the enthalpy method using five nodes Fig. 9 Minimum composite area versus maximum mass flow
rate for different inlet temperatures

176 / Vol. 128, MAY 2006 Transactions of the ASME

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 E ⫽ enthalpy 共J / m3兲
h ⫽ heat transfer coefficient 共W / m2 K兲
k ⫽ thermal conductivity 共W/m K兲
L ⫽ latent heat 共J/kg兲
l ⫽ tube longitude 共m兲
m ⫽ mass 共kg兲
Q ⫽ heat flux 共W兲
q ⫽ heat flux per area 共W / m2兲
qt ⫽ top losses due convection and radiation
共W / m2兲
R ⫽ tube radius 共m兲, thermal resistance 共K m2 / W兲
rc ⫽ characteristic length 共m兲
Fig. 10 Width and length of the composite material as func-
tion of mass flow rate „for constant inlet temperature of 80° C… S ⫽ absorbed solar radiation 共W / m2兲
T ⫽ temperature 共K兲
t ⫽ time 共s兲
UT ⫽ top loss coefficient from the absorber plate to
ambient 共W / m2 K兲
V ⫽ fluid velocity 共m/s兲
x ⫽ distance 共m兲
z ⫽ horizontal axis, collector tube length
Greek Symbols
⌬ ⫽ change, insulation thickness 共m兲
␳ ⫽ density 共kg/ m3兲
␦ ⫽ plate thickness 共m兲
Fig. 11 Collector area and collector efficiency versus width of ␴ ⫽ Stefan Boltzmann constant
the PCM material „for a mass flow rate equal to 0.00142 kg/ s… ␺ ⫽ characteristic length
Superscripts
n ⫽ time step
Conclusions a ⫽ ambient
The following specific conclusions can be drawn from this b ⫽ bottom losses
work: CONV ⫽ convective
c ⫽ copper
• The lumped capacitance method was compared with a one- i ⫽ inside
dimensional enthalpy method that used finite differences. IN ⫽ inlet
The results for warming and melting of the PCM were very INS ⫽ insulation
similar from the two methods. Therefore, the results ob- j ⫽ node number
tained using the lumped capacitance method are acceptable L ⫽ liquid
and representative of the process presented here. M ⫽ melting
• The paraffin-graphite composite with 65% of paraffin in O ⫽ outside
weight was found to work best mainly because of the high- OUT ⫽ outlet
est conductivity obtained. Data for higher paraffin fractions PCM ⫽ phase change material
is not available, but should be investigated further.
P ⫽ absorber plate
• A minimum composite-element area was found for which a
S ⫽ solid
maximum solidification of approximately 80% was permit-
s ⫽ lateral area
ted to occur. This area depended strongly on the element
mass flow rate and the collector input temperature. w ⫽ wind
• The results for this PCM integrated collector proposed here
are very encouraging. Therefore, there is an indication that References
conventional storage tanks may be replaced for the PCM 关1兴 Alva, L. H., and González, J. E., 2002, “Simulation of an Air-cooled Solar-
integrated in the solar collector. assisted Absorption Air Conditioning System,” ASME J. Sol. Energy Eng.,
124, pp. 276–282.
• The performance of a collector as described in this paper 关2兴 Bansal, N. K., and Buddhi, D., 1992, “Performance of a Cum Storage Sys-
depends strongly on an operational design point. Variations tem,” Sol. Energy, 48, pp. 185–194.
from this design point 共other insulation rates, charging/ 关3兴 Rabin, Y., Bar-Niv, I., Korin, E., and Mikic, B., 1995, “Integrated Solar Col-
discharging durations兲 may affect the storage performance. lector Storage System Based on a Salt-hydrate Phase-change Material,” Sol.
Energy, 55, pp. 435–444.
关4兴 Sokolov, M., and Keizman, Y., 1991, “Performance Indicators for Solar Pipes
Acknowledgment with Phase Change Storage,” Sol. Energy, 47, pp. 339–346.
关5兴 Py, X., Olives, R., and Mauran, S., 2001, “Paraffin/Porous-Graphite-Matrix
The authors recognize the valuable editorial suggestions by Composite as a High and Constant Power Thermal Storage Material,” Int. J.
Prof. Jeffrey Morehouse of University of South Carolina, which Heat Mass Transfer, 44, pp. 2727–2737.
关6兴 Hoogendoorn, C. J., and Bart, G. C. J., 1992, “Performance and Modeling of
resulted in significant improvements of the final manuscript. Latent Heat Stores,” Sol. Energy, 48, pp. 53–58.
关7兴 Alexiades, V., and Solomon, A. D., 1993, Mathematical Modeling of Melting
and Freezing Processes, Hemisphere, Washington.
Nomenclature 关8兴 Duffie, J. A., and Beckman, W. A., 1991, Solar Engineering of Thermal Pro-
cesses, Wiley, New York.
A ⫽ PCM total area 共m2兲 关9兴 Incropera, F. P., and DeWitt, D. P., 1996, Fundamentals of Heat and Mass
c ⫽ specific heat 共J/kg K兲 Transfer, Wiley, New York.

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