Abstract
The storage of renewable thermal, or electrical energy, extends the period during which this energy can be provided on demand. Energy storage technologies can also be used as a measure of the energy efficiency of structures through the intelligent use of cold or hot storage, this reducing the need for heating and cooling in the structure. In this numerical study, copper rods are used in a spherical cell to increase heat transfer to PCM (paraffin wax), this examined using enthalpy-porosity combination, ANSYS/FLUENT 16 software. Paraffin wax RT58 has been used as the phase change material. In order to monitor the melting process inside the container, three different configurations have been tested: spherical cells with no copper rods, with four copper rods and with eight coppers rods. It was found that adding copper rods to the container, speeds up the melting process and decreases the amount of time needed to completely melt the PCM. The time needed to complete the melting process is reduced by 34% and 56% when using four copper rods and eight copper rods, respectively. The higher the number of rods used, the faster the melting rate, this finding of advantage to energy and thermal storage applications.