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of another system, especially a computer program designed for that purpose
CFD Projects
CAE Projects
Customized Software Tools
Study for Transport Boxes with PCM
Air Flow & Thermal Simulation
Modeling and analysis
The box is made of roto-molded polyethylene and an insulating material made of polyurethane foam. TMS box was governed by the laws of conductive and convective heat transfer which arise due to difference in temperature inside the box. Inside the enclosure of the TMS box heat is transferred to the air which in turn gets heated up and transfers heat through conduction and natural convection to the materials. Natural convection provides the largest resistance to heat transfer (due to low velocities) and therefore plays an important role in design or performance of the TMS box. The CFD simulations were conducted for three different PCM types with different storage material of Lettuce (00C), Okra (-50C), Chicken (-250C).
Figure showing the pathline around
the crate and TMS box
Figure showing the temperature profile around the
crate and TMS box
Result and conclusion
From the results obtained, time varying heat flux was calculated from the surface of PCM bottles and an approximate time of operation was evaluated for each of the PCM bottles (until the PCM remains solid).It was also found that to bring about any design modification in the present design setup one must seriously consider the effect of natural circulation of the fluid inside the box and physics governing this phenomenon. Least amount of energy was absorbed by the middle PCM. Hence the middle PCM is least utilized in cooling the box. It is almost half as effective as the top and bottom PCM. The distribution of velocity is not uniform with some areas showing high velocities and some areas showing low velocities. Based on these observations some design improvements were suggested to improve the performance of the system.
Objective
ACME Cold Chain Solution Pvt. Ltd. (ACCSPL) uses phase change material (PCM) to provide a cooling solution to the food processing industry for their perishable products in transit. They have developed a thermal management system (TMS) box which is intended to store vegetables, fruits, meat and other perishable products from the food processing industry for long durations, intended to remain effective for over 6-9 hrs in transit.
The main objective of this project was to assess the effectiveness of the TMS box designed by ACCSPL in facilitating the natural convection inside the box using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). This project was also intended to find the time when PCM starts to melt. CFD results will also be used to provide time varying temperature profiles at each face of the crate box, used to keep vegetables, fruits or meat.
Figure showing TMS box and its meshing
Figure showing convection stream velocities of TMS box
Modeling and analysis
Based on the dimensions of the box, crate and PCM slab, a 3D model of the setup was created keeping the areas of heat transferring surfaces same and accounting for any increase or decrease of surface areas.