Influence of the copper foam shape on thermal performance of phase-change material

Abstract Most Phase-Change Material (PCM) possessed the poor thermal conductivity, leading to a modest thermal performance in the Latent Thermal Energy Storage (LTES) system. Filling metal foam was widely used to overcome this deficit. To optimize the thermal transfer enhancement benefit of PCM filled with copper foam partly, six physical models with the filling ratio of 50% were built and the numerical simulation was employed with the two-temperature non-equilibrium model. Results showed temperature had the higher response rate in the composite PCM than that in the pure PCM and then heat was transferred from composite PCM to pure PCM. The smaller the divided PCM zone by copper foam, the smaller the thermal resistance of the pure PCM zone and thereby, the larger the thermal transfer enhancement benefit. By optimizing the foam shapes, the full melting time could be reduced by 4143 s, and the average values could be increased by 0.00459 °C/s for temperature response and 336.83 w/m2 for the heat flow. By comparing the thermal transfer performance of six physical models, PCM could melt difficultly in the lower right corner, which would also be the focus of copper foam arrangement. In the future design of LTES system, the optimized foam shapes have a good reference value.