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AComputationalModelofaPhaseChangeMaterialHeatExchangerinaVaporCompressionSystemWithaLargePulsedHeatLoad|ACTAdvance

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A COMPUTATIONAL MODEL OF A PHASE CHANGE MATERIAL HEAT EXCHANGER IN

A VAPOR COMPRESSION SYSTEM WITH A LARGE PULSED HEAT LOAD
GregTroszakandXudongTang
AdvancedCoolingTechnologies,Inc.Lancaster,PA,USA

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ABSTRACT

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Phase change materials (PCMs) use latent heat to store a large amount of thermal energy over a narrow temperature range.
WhilePCMsarecommonlyusedforthermalstorageapplications,theymayalsobeusedtodampenlargepulsedheatloads,

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whicharecommonlygeneratedbyhighpowerelectronicsanddirectenergyweapons.Duringapulse,thePCMabsorbssomeof

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thelargeheatload,andbetweenpulsestheheatisdissipatedtoacoolingsystem,whichminimizestheinstantaneousheatload

October8th,2014

appliedtothecoolingsystem,reducingphysicalsizeandpowerconsumption.
TominimizethesizeofaPCMheatexchanger,asimplecomputationalmodelthatcancapturethetransientthermalresponseofa
flatplatePCMheatexchangerinavaporcompressioncoolingsystemwithapulsedheatloadwasdeveloped.Usingthismodel,

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theeffectofPCMthermalconductivity,melttemperature,andlatentheatonthesizeofthePCMheatexchangerwasstudied.PCM
thermal conductivity and melt temperature had the greatest impact on the PCM heat exchanger size. The ideal PCM heat

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exchanger would contain relatively high thermal conductivity PCM with a melt temperature close to the desired heat source
temperature.
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Keywords:phasechangematerial,energystorage,thermaldamping,pulsedpower
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INTRODUCTION
Directenergy weapons generate large, pulsed heat loads during operation. This heat load is typically characterized by a
maximumheatloadduringfiringthatmustbedissipatedforagivendutycycle,followedbyafractionofthemaximumheatload
thatmustbedissipatedfortheremainderoftheperiod(Figure1).Sincemostdirectenergyweaponsmustbemobile,theselarge
heatloadsmustberejectedwithacompact,lightweightcoolingsystem.

Application
DefenseAndAviation

EnterTextBelow
Figure1.Avisualrepresentationofthepulsedheatload
generatedbyadirectenergyweapon.

Avaporcompressionsystemisapotentialcoolingsolutionfordissipatinghighpowertransientheatloads.Typically,thevapor
compressionsystemwouldbesizedforthemaximumheatloadthatitwillexperience.Fordirectenergyweapons,thissystem
wouldberelativelysimple,butunnecessarilylarge,especiallyconsideringthatitwillonlyexperiencethemaximumheatloadfora
fractionofthepulseduration.Analternativeoptionwouldbetoemploythermaldampingandsizethevaporcompressionsystem

SUBMIT

fortheaverageheatloadthatitwillexperienceduringapulse,resultinginamuchsmallervaporcompressionsystem.
AschematicofavaporcompressionsystemwithathermaldampingcomponentisshowninFigure2.Duringfiring,thelarge,
transientheatloadwillbedissipatedtothethermaldampingcomponent,whichwillstoreanyheatthatthevaporcompression
system cannot immediately absorb. Upon completion of the maximum heat load pulse, the thermal damping component will
releasethestoredheattothevaporcompressionsystempriortothenextcycle.

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Figure2.Aschematicofapotentialvaporcompression
coolingsystemfordirectenergyweapons.Thiscooling
systemcontainsathermaldampingcomponenttostore
excessthermalenergyduringlargepulses.

Fortheparticulardirectenergyapplicationinvestigatedinthisstudy,thethermaldampingcomponentwillbeaflatplate,3circuit
heatexchangerfilledwithaparaffinbasedPCM.ParaffinbasedPCMshavemelttemperatureswithintherangeof10to100C,
andtheirlatentheatsarerelativelylarge,typicallybetween150and250kJkg1.However,oneoftheirmajordrawbacksistheir
low thermal conductivity (~0.2 Wm1K1[1]), which makes it difficult to effectively conduct heat through the PCM [14]. Graphite
nanofibershavebeenimpregnatedinparaffinbasedPCMstoboosttheirthermalconductivity,usuallybyanorderofmagnitude
(2Wm1K1[5]).
In the PCM heat exchanger, the PCM will be sandwiched between coolant and twophase refrigerant streams (Figure 3). The
coolant stream will transport heat from the direct energy weapon to the PCM heat exchanger, where it is either stored or, if
possible, rejected to the twophase refrigerant. However, the weapon must be maintained at 30C, and therefore, the coolant
streammuststaybelowthistemperature.

Figure3.AsinglelayerofPCMinthePCMheat
exchanger.Coolanttransfersheatfromthedirectenergy
weapontothePCMheatexchangerwhereitiseither
storedorrejectedtothetwophaserefrigerant.

TheobjectiveofthisstudyistodeterminetheeffectofPCMthermalconductivity,melttemperature,andlatentheatonthesizeof
the PCM heat exchanger for a representative set of requirements. This work will aid in minimizing the size of the PCM heat
exchangerandthereforethevaporcompressionsystem.Furthermore,itwillalsoprovideamethodologyforoptimizingcooling
systemsforsimilarapplications.

NOMENCLATURE
TTemperature
ySpatialydirection
pDensityofthePCM
cTemperaturedependentspecificheatofthePCM
kThermalconductivityofthePCM
LatentheatofthePCM
Tmelt PCMmelttemperature
Tmelt PCMmelttemperaturerange
Nlayers NumberofPCMlayers
AAreaofaheatexchangerplate

Averageheattransfercoefficient
lHeightofmodeldomain(distancebetweenplates)

METHODS
AonedimensionalmodelofthePCMheatexchangerwasdevelopedtodeterminetheeffectofPCM(1)thermalconductivity,(2)
melttemperature,and(3)latentheatonitssize.
ThepartialdifferentialequationgoverningthePCMis:

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wherekisthePCMsthermalconductivity,pisitsdensity,andcisitstemperaturedependentspecificheat,whichaccountsfor
latent heat storage. As shown in Figure 4, a piecewise linear function was used to model the variation of specific heat with
temperature.Togeneratethisfunction,itwasassumedthatthephasechangeofthePCMoccurredoveratemperaturerange
(Tmelt ) surrounding the melt temperature (Tmelt ). The latent heat capacity of the PCM is the area underneath the specific
heat/temperaturecurveandisshadedinFigure4.Ifthelatentheatcapacityisknownandamelttemperaturerangeisassumed(3
Kforthemodel),themagnitudeofthespecificheatatthepeakofthepiecewiselinearfunction(cmax )canbedetermined.

Figure4.VariationofPCMspecificheatwith
temperature.Apiecewiselinearfunctionwasused
toaccountforthelatentheatstorage.

ThemodeldomainisshowninFigure5.Theheight(l)ofthedomainis2.4mm,whichisthedistancebetweenplatesinareadily
available3circuitflatplateheatexchanger[6].TheboundaryconditionsimposedonthemodelareshowninFigure5.Thebottom
surface of the domain is exposed to a pulsed heat flux corresponding to the heat applied to the PCM heat exchanger via the
coolant stream. For this particular application, the maximum heat load is applied for a 10% duty cycle followed by half of the
maximumheatloadfortheremainderoftheperiod.Theheatfluxatthebottomsurfaceiscalculatedbydividingtheheattransfer
ratebythenumberofPCMlayers(Nlayers )andtheareaofasingleheatexchangerplate(A),0.128m2forareadilyavailable3
circuitflatplateheatexchanger[6].Thetopsurfaceofthemodeldomaincorrespondstothetwophaserefrigerantflowingthrough
the vaporcompression system andis modeled asa convection boundarycondition. The averageheat transfer coefficient,
, is
estimatedfrommanufacturersdata[6].ItisassumedthattheinitialtemperatureofthePCMis5C,theevaporatingtemperature
(Tevap)oftherefrigerant.

Figure5.ThePCMmodeldomainwith
boundaryconditions.Thetopsurfaceis
exposedtoapulsedheatfluxrepresentingthe
heatappliedtothePCMheatexchangerviathe
coolantstream.Thebottomsurfacerepresents
twophaserefrigerantatconstanttemperature.

A parametric study was performed by varying the thermal conductivity (k), melt temperature (Tmelt ), and latent heat () of the
PCM,aswellasthenumberofPCMlayers(Nlayers ).Sincethemanufacturercouldnotvarytheseparationdistancebetweenheat
exchangerplates,thethicknessofthePCMlayerwasnotvaried.Initially,atotalof600runswereperformed,withadditionalruns
performedafterwardstomoreaccuratelyidentifytrends.Table1showsthevaluesoftheparametersusedinthemodel.

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Table1.ParametersusedintheonedimensionalPCMheat
exchangermodel.

Themodelwassolvedusingthemethodoflinesthespatialderivativewasdiscretizedandtheresultingtimederivativeswere
solvedwithHindmarshsODEsolver,LSODE,inGNUOctave[8].Aftertheparametricstudyrunswerecompletedtheresultswere
separatedbasedonthreerequirements:
1. The temperature at the bottom of the domain (y = 0) cannot exceed 30C (the coolant temperature must be below the
temperaturespecifiedbythedesignrequirements)
2. Themaximumtemperatureatanylocationwithinthedomainatanytimemustexceedthemelttemperature(thePCMmust
melt).
3. Thetemperaturedistributionmustreachaperiodicsteadystate.
Initially,theresultsweresortedbasedonthefirsttworequirements.Ifthoseweresatisfied,theaverageheattransferratetothe
refrigerantduringasinglepulsewascalculatedtoverifythataperiodicsteadystatewasreached.Todothis,thetransientheat
fluxdistributionwascalculatedbytakingthegradientofthetransienttemperaturedistribution.Thiswasusedtodeterminetherate
of heat transfer at the refrigerant surface (q (y=l)). The rate of heat transfer at the refrigerant surface was then numerically
integratedoverasinglepulseperiodtodeterminethetotalamountofenergytransferredtotherefrigerantduringapulse.This
valuewasdividedbytheperiodtocalculatetheaveragerateofheattransfertotherefrigerantduringapulse.Ifthisvalueequaled
the average applied heat load, the results reached a periodic steady state and were considered viable otherwise, the results
werediscarded.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Usingtheresultsoftheparametricstudy,theeffectofPCMthermalconductivity,melttemperature,andlatentheat,onthesize
(numberofPCMlayers)ofthePCMheatexchangerwasinvestigated.
Results
TheimpactofPCMthermalconductivity,melttemperature,andlatentheatonPCMheatexchangersizeissummarizedinTable2,
whichshowsthenormalizedminimumnumberofPCMlayersrequiredforeverycombinationoftheseparametersmodeled(the
scenariorequiringthemostlayershadathermalconductivityof0.2Wm1K1,melttemperatureof280K,andlatentheatof150
kJkg1).

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Table2.ThenormalizedminimumnumberofPCM
layersrequiredforeverycombinationofthermal
conductivity,melttemperature,andlatentheat
modeled.

ThemostevidenttrendshowninTable2isthatincreasingthethermalconductivityofthePCMexponentiallyreducesthenumber
ofPCMlayersnecessarytomeetthethreerequirementsoutlinedintheMethodssection.ThisisshowngraphicallyinFigure6for
a latent heat of 250 kJkg1. At thermal conductivities of 0.2, 0.9, 1.6, 2.3, and 3 Wm1K1, at least 0.70248, 0.21488, 0.14876,
0.12397,and0.10744normalizedlayersarerespectivelyrequiredatthehighestmelttemperature(295K)andlatentheat(250
kJkg1) (Figure 6). Similarly, at the lowest melt temperature (280K) and latent heat (150 kJkg1), at least 1, 0.29752, 0.20661,
0.16529,and0.14876normalizedlayersarerequired.
AlthoughthesizeofthePCMheatexchangerislargelyinfluencedbythethermalconductivityofthePCM,itisalsoaffectedbythe
melttemperature,particularlyatlowthermalconductivities.Atathermalconductivityof0.2Wm1K1andlatentheatof250kJkg1,
the minimum number of normalized layers required at melt temperatures of 280, 285, 290, and 295 K are 0.98347, 0.86777,
0.77686,and0.70248,respectively(Figure6).Atthesamemelttemperatures,configurationswithathermalconductivityof0.9
Wm1K1andalatentheatof250kJkg1requireatleast0.29752,0.26446,0.23140,and0.21488normalizedlayers,respectively.
Thistrendcontinuesathigherthermalconductivities,butbecomeslesspronounced.Forinstance,configurationswithathermal
conductivityof3Wm1K1andlatentheatof250kJkg1required0.14876normalizedlayersatmelttemperaturesof280and285K,
andonly0.11570and0.10744normalizedlayersatmelttemperaturesof290and295K,respectively.
Ofalloftheparametersvaried,latentheathadtheleastinfluenceonthePCMheatexchangersize.However,itisevidentthat
increasingthelatentheatreducestherequirednumberofPCMlayers.

Figure6.TheminimumnumberofnormalizedPCMlayers
requiredatalatentheatof250kJkg1,everymelttemperature,
andeverythermalconductivity.

Discussion
Thetwomajortrendsobservedintheresultsaboveare:
1. IncreasingthethermalconductivityofthePCMreducestherequirednumberofPCMlayers.
2. IncreasingthemelttemperatureofthePCMreducestherequirednumberofPCMlayers.
TobetterunderstandthesetrendstheheatappliedtothePCMduringahighheatfluxpulsewastracked.Theappliedheatis
either:
1. StoredlatentlywithinthePCM
2. TransferredthroughthePCMtotherefrigerant
3. StoredsensiblywithinthePCM
SincethecoolanttemperatureultimatelydictatesthenumberofPCMlayers,intuitionsaysthatforthisapplicationitisundesirable
tosensiblystoretheheatappliedtothePCMbecausealargetemperaturegradientwilldevelopwithinit.Toremedythis,alarger
surfacearea(morePCMlayers)isrequiredtoreducetheappliedheatflux,orthemajorityoftheheatmustbestoredlatently
withinthePCMortransferredthroughittotherefrigerant.However,transferringtheheattotherefrigerantisundesirable,asthis
wouldnecessitatealargevaporcompressionsystem,defeatingthepurposeofthePCMheatexchanger.Therefore,theoptimal
configurations store a large quantity of the applied heat latently with the fewest number of PCM layers. The remainder of the
sectionwillfocusonanalyzingthedistributionoftheappliedheatloadintwocontrastingconfigurations:PCMwithconductivities
of0.2and3Wm1K1(latentheatof250kJkg1,atallmelttemperatures,andtheminimumnumberofrequiredPCMlayers).
TheamountoflatentheatstoredwithinthePCMduringapulsecanbeexaminedbytrackingthemeltfrontduringapulse.Figure
7 shows the melt front location in a PCM layer at all melt temperatures for PCM thermal conductivities of 0.2 and 3 Wm1K
1normalizedtothethicknessofthePCMlayer(y/l).ThegrayareaeffectivelydescribestheamountofPCMthatmeltsduringa

pulse.Thetopboundofthisareaisthelocationofthemeltfrontattheendofahighheatfluxpulse(10%duty),whilethebottom
boundisthelocationofthemeltfrontattheendofalowheatfluxpulse(beginningofapulse).Themostevidenttrendshownin
Figure7AisthataverysmallportionofthelowthermalconductivityPCMlayermeltsduringapulse.Asthemelttemperature

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increases,themeanlocationofthemeltfrontmovestowardsy=0(thecoolantstream).Additionally,aslightlylargerportionofthe
PCMlayermeltsbecausemorePCMremainsclosetothemelttemperatureatthatlocationthroughoutthepulse.Amuchlarger
portionofthePCMmeltswhenithasahighthermalconductivity(Figure7B).SimilartolowthermalconductivityPCM,themean
location of the melt front in a PCM layer tends toward y = 0, and a slightly larger portion of the PCM layer melts as the melt
temperature increases. Unlike low thermal conductivity PCM, the mean location of the melt front, and therefore, the melt
temperature,dramaticallyaffectstheamountofPCMthatmeltsduringapulse.Atamelttemperatureof285K,themeltregionis
boundedbythetopofthemodeldomain(theheatexchangerplateincontactwiththerefrigerantstream),whichlimitsthequantity
ofPCMthatcanmeltduringapulse.Asthemelttemperatureincreases,themeanmeltfrontlocationmovestowardsy=0,andthe
meltregionisnolongerphysicallybounded,enablingamuchgreaterportionofthePCMtomelt.

Figure7.Normalizedmeltfrontlocation(y/l)duringa
pulseatthermalconductivitiesof(A)0.2Wm1 K1 and
(B)3Wm1 K1 ,latentheatof250kJkg1 ,allmelt
temperatures,andtheminimumnumberofrequired
PCMlayersateachmelttemperature(seeFigure6or
Table2).Forthescenarioat3Wm1 K1 andamelt
temperatureof280K,allofthePCMmeltedduringthe
firstpulseandremainedinliquidformuponreachinga
periodicsteadystate.

The melt fronts clearly explain why high thermal conductivity PCM requires far fewer layers than low conductivity PCM: the
temperaturegradientinhighthermalconductivityPCMismuchlower,meaningalargerquantityofPCMremainsnearthemelt
temperature,andthereforemelts.ItalsoexplainswhytheminimumnumberofPCMlayerslinearlydecreaseswithincreasingmelt
temperatureatlowerthermalconductivities:AsmelttemperatureincreasesalargerportionofthePCMlayermelts.Similarly,it
explains the sudden drop in the minimum number of PCM layers at a melt temperature of 285 K observed at higher thermal
conductivities.Atthatmelttemperaturethemeltfrontisboundedbytherefrigerantsurface,whichlimitstheamountofPCMthat
canmelt.Themelttemperatureisnolongerboundedasthemelttemperatureincreases,allowingamuchgreaterportionofthe
PCMlayertomelt.Thiscausesareductioninthenumberofrequiredlayers.
Figure 8 shows the rate of heat transferred through the PCM to the refrigerant (q(y=l)) at all melt temperatures and thermal
conductivitiesof0.2and3Wm1K1.Asexpected,theheatistransferredtotherefrigerantatalowrateduringapulsefor0.2Wm
1K1PCMatallmelttemperatures.Themaximumrateofheattransfertotherefrigerantnormalizedtothemaximumheatappliedat

eachmelttemperatureis0.68710,0.58813,0.57697,and0.57323,respectively.Themelttemperaturehasalargerimpactonthe
heattransferredtotherefrigerantfor3Wm1K1PCM.Atmelttemperaturesof280and285K,thenormalizedmaximumrateof
heattransfertotherefrigerantis1,whichishighlyundesirable,asthevaporcompressionsystemwouldhavetodissipatethe
maximumheatload.Atmelttemperaturesof290and295K,thenormalizedrateofheattransfertotherefrigerantisdramatically
reduced,withmaximumvaluesof0.67397and0.63477,respectively.ThisreductioncanbeattributedtothelargequantityofPCM
thatmeltsduringapulse.

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Figure8.Heattransferredtotherefrigerant(q(y=l))
normalizedtothemaximumappliedheatloadatthermal
conductivitiesof(A)0.2Wm1 K1 and(B)3Wm1 K1 ,latent
heatof250kJkg1 ,allmelttemperatures,andtheminimum
numberofrequiredplatesateachmelttemperature(see
Figure6orTable2).

Finally,theamountofheatstoredsensiblywithinthePCMwasdetermined.First,theheattransferredtotherefrigerantduringa
pulsewascalculatedbynumericallyintegratingthecurvesinFigure8(from0to10%duty).Thisvaluewasthensubtractedfrom
thetotalamountofheatappliedduringapulse(Qmax *10%duty)todeterminetheamountofheatstoredwithinthePCMduringa
pulse.Thisheatiseitherstoredsensiblyorlatently.TheamountofheatstoredlatentlywithinthePCMduringapulseisdirectly
relatedtothedifferenceinthemeltfrontlocationatthestartandendofahighheatfluxpulse(Figure7).Therefore,theremainder
oftheappliedheatmustbestoredsensibly.
Figure9showshowtheheatappliedto0.2(A)and3Wm1K1(B)PCMisdistributedduringapulseateachmelttemperature.For
0.2Wm1K1PCM(Figure9A),approximately54%oftheheatappliedduringapulseisrejectedtothevaporcompressionsystem
atallmelttemperatures,leaving~46%oftheappliedheattobestoredwithinthePCM.Thepercentageofheatstoredlatently
increasesfrom28%to40%atmelttemperaturesof280and295K,respectively,whilethepercentageofheatstoredsensibly
decreasesfrom18%to5.2%atthesamemelttemperatures.Consequently,alargertemperaturegradientdevelopswithinthe
PCMatlowermelttemperatures,whichnecessitatesmorePCMlayers.Adifferenttrendisobservedfor3Wm1K1PCM(Figure
9B),particularlyatmelttemperaturesof280and285K.Atthesesrelativelylowmelttemperatures,themajorityoftheheatapplied
duringapulse(~96%and~86%,respectively)isrejectedtotherefrigerant.Atamelttemperatureof280K,theremaining4.4%of
theappliedheatisstoredsensiblywithinthePCMsinceaphasechangedoesnotoccur.Atamelttemperatureof285K,6.8%of
the remaining heat is stored latently, while 6.7% is stored sensibly. It is somewhat perplexing that the amount of heat stored
sensibly increases as the melt temperature increases while the number of required PCM layers does not change (both melt
temperatures required at least 0.14876 normalized layers). This trend was also observed in other high thermal conductivity
configurationsandcanbeattributedtotheappreciableamountofPCMthatmeltsduringapulse,whichdramaticallyaffectsthe
temperaturedistributionwithinthePCM,insomecases,enablingmoresensibleheatstoragewithoutanappreciabletemperature
riseatthecoolantsurface.Atmelttemperaturesof290and295K,theamountofheatstoredsensiblyreducesto3.2%and0.36%,
respectively.Atbothofthesemelttemperaturesapproximately57%oftheappliedheatloadisrejectedtothevaporcompression
system,respectivelyleaving39%and43%oftheheattobestoredlatently.

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Figure9.Distributionofappliedheatduringahighheatflux
pulseatthermalconductivitiesof(A)0.2Wm1 K1 and(B)
3Wm1 K1 ,latentheatof250kJkg1 ,allmelttemperatures,
andtheminimumnumberofrequiredplatesateachmelt
temperature(seeFigure6orTable2).

FUTURE WORK AND CONCLUSIONS

FutureWorks
One of the assumptions made in this study was that the refrigerant temperature remained constant regardless of the
instantaneousheatloadthatitexperienced.Inreality,thecapacityofavaporcompressionsystemishighlydependentonthe
temperatureliftacrossthecompressor.Thegoalofthisinitialstudywastoobtaingeneraltrendsandgainabetterunderstanding
of using PCMs for thermal damping applications, and therefore, this was a convenient assumption to make. One of the major
lessons learned in this study is that the PCM heat exchanger cannot be fully optimized without considering the entire cooling
system.Therefore,integratingmodelsofvaporcompressionsystemcomponentswiththisPCMheatexchangermodelwillbethe
focusoffuturework.Onepotentialmethodfordoingthisistomaketherefrigeranttemperaturedependentontheinstantaneous
heatfluxthatitexperiences.Compressormanufacturersoftenprovidedataindicatingthetemperatureliftandrefrigerantmass
flowraterequiredtohandlearangeofheatloads.Usingthisdata,itwouldbepossibletomoreeffectivelyoptimizePCMheat
exchangerparameterstominimizethesizeoftheentirecoolingsystem.
Conclusions
TheultimategoalsofthePCMheatexchangeraretocontroltheheatsourcetemperatureanddampenthetransientappliedheat
loadinordertoreducethesizeofavaporcompressionsystem.Keepingthisinmind,itisusefultothinkabouttheimpactPCM
heatexchangerswithlowandhighthermalconductivityPCMswouldhaveonsuchasystem.Fromtheresultspresentedinthis
studyitisclearthataPCMheatexchangerwithalowthermalconductivityPCMcansubstantiallydampentheappliedheatload,
which would reduce the size of a vapor compression systems compressor and condenser. However, the size of the vapor
compression system would be dramatically increased by the PCM heat exchanger itself. The most useful conclusion from this
studyisthatincreasingtheamountofheatstoredlatentlyduringapulsenotonlyactstosubstantiallydampentheamountofheat
transferred to the vapor compression system, but also minimizes the amount of PCM required to prevent an unacceptable
temperatureriseatthecoolantsurface.ForlowthermalconductivityPCM,asmallportionofaPCMlayermeltsduringapulse,
which means a greater quantity of PCM is required to effectively regulate the coolant temperature. Conversely, a PCM heat
exchangerwithahighthermalconductivityPCMandrelativelylowmelttemperatureminimizestheamountofPCMrequired,but
doeslittletodampentheappliedheatload.Therefore,thevaporcompressionsystemwouldstillrequirealargecompressorand
condenser.However,athigherthermalconductivitiesincreasingthemelttemperaturecausesagreaterportionofthePCMlayer
tomelt,effectivelydampeningtheheatloadandminimizingtherequirednumberofPCMlayers.Therefore,theoptimalcooling
systemwouldcontainaPCMheatexchangerwithahighthermalconductivityPCMandamelttemperatureclosetothedesired
temperatureofthecoolantsurface.
AnotherimportantconclusionofthisstudyisthatthesizeofthePCMheatexchangerexponentiallydecreaseswithincreasing
thermalconductivity.ThereisclearlyapointwhereincreasingthePCMsthermalconductivitydoeslittletoreducethenumberof
layersrequired(Figure6).Therefore,dependingontheapplication,onlymoderate(orno)thermalconductivityenhancementmay
benecessarytoobtainasufficientlysmallPCMheatexchanger.
Thisstudyaimedtodeterminetheeffectof(1)PCMthermalconductivity,(2)PCMmelttemperature,(3)PCMlatentheatonthe
sizeofaPCMheatexchanger.ItwasfoundthatPCMheatexchangerswithhighthermalconductivityPCMaresmallerthanthose
withlowthermalconductivityPCM,butthattheycannoteffectivelydampentheappliedheatloadunlesstheyhavearelatively
highmelttemperature.Atallthermalconductivities,increasingthePCMsmelttemperaturedecreasedthesizeofthePCMheat

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exchanger.SincetheultimateobjectiveofthePCMheatexchangeristoreducethesizeofthevaporcompressionsystemcooling
theNLVS,futureworkwillfocusonoptimizingPCMparameterstominimizethesizeofthissystem.Ultimately,thiswillenableus
tobetterdesigncompactcoolingsystemsforlarge,transientheatloads.

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2. Farid,M.M.,Khudhair,A.M.,Razack,S.A.K,AlHallaj,S.,2004,Areviewonphasechangeenergystorage:materialsand
applications,Energ.Convers.Manage.,45,pp.15971615.
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