Heat transfer in phase change materials (PCMs) contained in spherical encapsulations can be modelled more simply if an effective thermal conductivity can be determined to represent the natural convection occurring within the PCMs. Previous research has shown that natural convection in PCM can be...

The applicability of the effectiveness–NTU method for characterising a PCM thermal energy storage system was experimentally investigated. The system consisted of PCM encapsulated in spheres with a liquid heat transfer fluid. Freezing and melting tests have been carried out for a variety of...

This paper presents a mathematical model of a thermal energy storage (TES) system filled with phase change material (PCM) encapsulated in spheres. Using the ε-NTU method, a suitable two dimensional representation was developed capable of predicting the heat transfer during phase change....