Experimental and numerical analysis of a PCM for more uniform battery temperatures

This work presents an experimental and simulation analysis of a small-scale phase-change material (PCM) set-up containing A46 paraffin wax . The main objective is to understand the solidification and melting process of the PCM with the aim of placing the same PCM around an electric battery in order to guarantee more stable and uniform temperatures during the charging or discharging of the battery. In first place, the experimental set-up including the PCM and the instrumentation is presented. The experimental device has been designed to measure the transient temperatures that occur in a volume of PCM when the lower face is subjected to a heat flow or a set temperature. A heater is located under a copper block and the PCM is in the upper part (with a melting temperature of 46°C and a latent heat of 155 kJ / kg). An experimental campaign has been designed based on different heating rates, and the successive cooling and solidification is also measured. Subsequently, the main characteristics of the model are explained. A CFD model has been developed in Fluent and the main parameters are given. Finally, the experimental results are compared with the simulations for different tests. The results indicate the complexity of the melting process, which involves heat and mass transfer on a vertical direction, whereas in the solidification process the vertical PCM temperatures can be better reproduced.