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Melting and Solidification of Paraffin Wax in a Concentric Tube PCM Storage for Solar Thermal Collector

Ramalingam Senthil and Marimuthu Cheralathan

A double tube phase change material (PCM) storage is investigated. The thermal energy storage (TES) contains a polycarbonate shell filled with paraffin wax and a copper tube to carry heat transfer fluid (HTF).The fusion takes place radially outwards from the center. Ineffective melting of wax was observed in bottom due to temperature gradients. An increase in HTF inlet temperature by 5°C reduces the melting time by 6.2% and increases the efficiency by 3.9%. Effect of mass flow rate of HTF is comparatively lower than HTF inlet temperature towards complete melting of PCM.