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Author(s): , , , , ,

Keywords: , , , , , , , ,

Abstract: The authors have carried out an experimental and numerical study on the effects of seeding Al2O3 nanoparticles in a paraffin wax phase change material (PCM) on the thermal conductivity and the latent heat of fusion. It was determined that the addition of the nanoparticles (up to 1 wt. %) resulted in the nano-PCM having a higher thermal conductivity than the pure paraffin wax. The latent heat of fusion was also found to increase with the addition of the nanoparticles. A numerical analysis was performed simulating the effects of heating the base of a rectangular box containing one of the PCMs with three different heating powers. It was found that the addition of the nanoparticles resulted in slower melting process in comparison to the pure paraffin wax.

Reference: Journal of Physics: Conference Series 655 (2015) 012030

DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/655/1/012030