Close Contact Melting of Solid in a Horizontal Cylindrical Capsule

Closed contact melting of solid phase change material (solid PCM) in a horizontal circular cylinder under constant heat transfer coefficient was investigated by an experiment and an analysis. Solid PCM of water and teradecane filled in an acrylic and a copper circular cylinder was melted by natural and forced convection. Melting velocity measured by visualized solid liquid boundary increased with time under the constant heat transfer coefficient. This agrees with the analysis. Observation of the solid liquid bundary shows that for case of the melting in the copper cylinder, solid phase is melted mainly by contact heat transfer, but effect of natural convection can not be ignored for case of the melting in the acrylic cylinder.