The increment of performance of cold storage via simulating unsteady solidification utilizing nanomaterial

In this study, the discharge process within an enclosure filled with PCM (phase change material) has been modeled. The chosen PCM is water, and it has been augmented with nanoparticles to expedite the discharge process. The size and concentration of the nano-powders are critical parameters influencing the overall performance of the system. The Galerkin method, integrated with an adaptive mesh, was employed to ensure precise modeling, validated through a comparison with benchmark data. This study investigates the influence of ϕ (fraction of nanoparticles) and dp (diameter of powders), reporting the discharging time for each case. The introduction of nanoparticles with a dp of 40 nm results in a reduction in discharging time by approximately 41.13 % and 26.96 % for ϕ = 0.04 and 0.02, respectively. With dp = 50 nm, the impact of ϕ is minimal, resulting in an improvement in the discharging rate by about 8.25 % as ϕ increases. The transition from 30 nm to 40 nm in particle size leads to a decrease in discharging time by approximately 19.97 %, but this time increases by around 49.1 % when the particle size shifts from 40 nm to 50 nm.