Numerical study of the heat transfer of a solar air collector integrated phase change material with supercooling

Abstract

An accurate heat transfer model is the key to optimize the performance of solar air collector integrated phase change material (SAC-PCM). Conventional models assume identical melting and solidification temperatures for PCM, overlooking the significant impact of their temperature difference on heat release characteristics of PCM. This work optimizes the mathematical model by introducing supercooling of PCM to improve the system performance of SAC-PCM. And, the results indicate that the maximum normalized mean bias error of the PCM temperature during the discharge process decreases from 19.91 % to 6.27 %. Based on the optimized mathematical mode, the impact of different design parameters on the heat transfer of SAC-PCM are studied. The heat exchange efficiency of SAC-PCM first increases and then decreases with the increase of solar radiation intensity, phase change temperature and supercooling of PCM respectively, while it increases with the increase of airflow rate and decrease of inlet temperature. The solar thermal efficiency of SAC-PCM increases and then decreases with the increase of supercooling, while increases with the increase of airflow rate and phase change temperature of PCM. Furthermore, a decrease of solar thermal efficiency with the increase of inlet temperature. The effective working time of SAC-PCM increases and then decreases with the increases of phase change temperature and supercooling of the PCM, while it decreases with the increase of airflow rate and inlet temperature, and with the decrease of solar radiation intensity. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.