Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 22, 2025

Experimental System of Solar Adsorption Refrigeration with Concentrated Collector
Published on: October 18, 2017
Study of the Phase-Change Thermal-Storage Characteristics of a Solar Collector
Yuxuan Deng1, Jing Xu1, Yanna Li1
1BaiLie School of Petroleum Engineering, Lanzhou City University, Lanzhou 730071, China.
Abstract:
A combined solar phase-change thermal-storage heating system is proposed, wherein erythritol is used as the phase-change material (PCM) used to fill the thermal-storage device, and the storage cavity is heated and stored with a disc concentrator. The Solidification/Melting, Volume-of-Fluid (VOF) model of ANSYS Fluent software was used to simulate the phase-change process of erythritol inside the thermal-storage device. The thermal-storage device was designed based on our numerical calculations, and its performance was tested. We found that larger PCM-volume fractions correlated with lower PCM volume-expansion rates and longer total melting times during the heat storage process. When the φ value equaled 80%, the PCM solid-liquid-phase interface and temperature distribution were most uniform and showed the best heat storage. In addition, the size of the heat-storage device affected the heat-exchange area, and the total melting time of the PCM decreased and then increased as the width-to-height ratio (I) increased. With this design capacity, the late stage of the charging process of the heat-storage device accounted for 70% of the total time, and the heat energy-utilization rate during the boiling process was 66.3%. Overall, this combined heating system can be considered a very efficient solar energy-utilization terminal for basic domestic energy needs.
More Related Videos
09:09Asymmetric Thermoelectrochemical Cell for Harvesting Low-grade Heat under Isothermal Operation
Published on: February 5, 2020
09:19In Situ Monitoring of the Accelerated Performance Degradation of Solar Cells and Modules: A Case Study for CuIn,GaSe2 Solar Cells
Published on: October 3, 2018
Related Concept Videos
Heating and Cooling Curves
For instance, the addition of heat raises the temperature of a solid; the amount of heat absorbed depends on the heat capacity of the solid (q = mcsolidΔT). According to thermochemistry, the relation between the amount of heat absorbed or released by a substance, q, and its...
Phase Changes
A substance melts or freezes at a temperature called its melting point and boils or condenses at its boiling point. These temperatures depend on pressure. High pressure favors the denser form of the substance, so typically, high pressure...
Phase Diagram
Phase Transitions
Phase Diagrams
Calorimetry