Authors : Abed J. Kadhim, Jasim M. Salman and Usama S. Altimari
Abstract: Solar energy is a renewable energy source that can generate electricity, provide hot water, heat for houses and lighting for buildings. Paraffin wax is cheap and has moderate thermal energy storage density. Commercial paraffin wax grade A was used as Latent Heat Storage (LHS) is placed in a vertical cylindrical Heat Storage Container (HSC) and a central single pipe through which cooling water is passed for heat exchange from down to up of the HSC. Heater resistance tape placed outside the container used for supply the heating to wax. In this setup, the phase change characteristics of wax during solidification are measured by monitoring the radial and axial temperature profiles within the container, the effect of using finned heat exchange pipes is also examined. In an attempt to gain extra heat storage, a sensible heat material consisted of an open-ended wire mesh cylinder made out of steel is embedded in the sample, this enabled to find its effect on the speed of solidification of wax. Experimental results are presented to show the variation of solidification speed along radial sections. Comparison with theoretical predictions derived from freezing model of ice is given. The results of this research also show the advantages of finned heat transfer pipes.
Abed J. Kadhim, Jasim M. Salman and Usama S. Altimari, 2018. Investigation Study on Heat Transfer of Paraffin Wax for Solar Energy Applications. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 13: 9577-9581.