Enhancing thermal performance of phase change-based storage units using T-fin levels

This study investigated the effect of T-fin levels on the melting process of nano-enhanced phase-change material (NePCM) composites. A rectangular storage unit subjected to heat flux was investigated with Cu nano additions. Various factors were evaluated, such as the number of fin levels, Cu concentration, tilt angle, and heat flux intensity. The study used six metrics of performance, namely the liquid fraction (β_Avg), temperature (T_Avg), velocity, energy stored (E_Store), Bejan number (Be_Avg), and average Nusselt number (Nu), to assess the impact of T-fins on the heat transfer mechanism governing the melting of PCM. The phase change process was simulated by the enthalpy-porosity model. The findings indicate that using three-level T-fins demonstrates 5 % faster melting and 42.6 % higher energy storage than one-level T-fins. Including nanoparticles at a volume fraction of 8 % resulted in a 6.7 % increase in melting process time reduction. The melting rate was enhanced by 54.2 % when the heat flux was increased to 1000 W/m² instead of 600 W/m². Ultimately, it was determined that the thermal storage unit with an orientation angle >30° relative to the vertical axis proved to be the most efficient, resulting in a decrease in melting time by 5.43 % compared to other configurations.