Volume 53

Experimental and simulation study on thermal control performance of anisotropic CPCM Qun Liu, Hua Chen, Wen-Long Cheng

Abstract

Due to an incomplete understanding of the superior thermal control performance of anisotropic composite phase change materials (CPCMs) compared to isotropic CPCMs with equivalent thermal conductivity additives, this study delves into the thermal regulation capabilities of anisotropic CPCMs through experimental and numerical analyses. Through the compression method, CPCMs with varying anisotropy were synthesized for thermal control experiments. Under identical energy storage conditions, it was observed that the decrease in axial thermal conductivity has a greater inhibitory effect on the heat transfer rate than the promotion effect of radial thermal conductivity on it. The simulation analyzed anisotropic CPCM’s thermal control on single and distributed heat sources in a constant space. It found that for single heat sources, there’s a critical φcv factor. Above φcv, anisotropic CPCM outperforms isotropic. As thermal diffusion directions increase, CPCM thickness decreases, reducing φcv, while EG content minimally impacts φcv. For distributed heat sources, anisotropic CPCM offers superior temperature control by effectively mitigating temperature gradients between sources.

Keywords Anisotropy, Isotropic, Phase change materials, Thermal control