Vol. 1 (2025)

Articles

Dual-Directional Magnetic Field Coupling Regulation on Vortex Division and Energy Storage Performance in Nanoparticle-Metal foam Composite Phase Change Material

Published 2025-12-19

  • Zhuotao Li
    • ,
  • Yijie Zhuang
    • ,
  • Meiying He

Zhuotao Li
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China

Yijie Zhuang
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China

Meiying He
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China

Abstract

In this study, numerical simulations are conducted to investigate the regulation mechanism of the melting process and the regulation laws of energy storage performance of nano-enhanced phase change materials (NEPCMs) composite with metal foam under the coupling of magnetic convection induced by dual-directional magnetic fields and natural convection. The heat capacity-porosity method, Darcy-Forchheimer model and local thermal non-equilibrium model are adopted to describe the melting process, flow in porous media and coupled heat transfer, respectively. The effects of z-direction magnetic numbers (Mn) and y-direction magnetic numbers  on the formation and differentiation of vortices, melting heat transfer and energy storage characteristics of non-Newtonian fluids are discussed. It is found that the application of a magnetic field can effectively promote the melting of NEPCM melts. However, the competition between the dual-directional magnetic fields will mutually inhibit their promoting effects. This inhibitory effect further affects the heat transfer performance by disrupting the vortex structure and the morphology of the y-direction Kelvin force. Although the addition of y and z-direction magnetic fields leads to competition, different combinations of magnetic field intensity parameters result in distinct heat storage characteristics that do not simply increase or decrease monotonically.

Keywords

Vortex division, dual-direction magnetic field, Kelvin force, Metal foam, Nano-enhanced phase change material

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