Search Results

Metal foam with their high porosity and heat storage capacity can be combined with phase change materials to be a powerful heat storage device. Numerical simulations of metal foam behavior can be challenging due to their complex geometric patterns necessitating high mesh requirements. Furthermore, simulations of the inner workings of a metal foam heat exchanger comprising of a large number of individual metal foam canisters can be impossible. The objective of the current work is to develop a computational model using a proprietary CFD tool Simerics-MP/Simerics-MP+® to simulate the workings of a metal foam heat exchanger with phase change element. A heat transfer coefficient capturing this heat transfer between wax and metal is used to formulate the “simplified” mixture model. The versatility of the proposed model is in the universality of its application to any shape or structure of metal foam. The computational model developed is tested to replicate the results of the 3D simulation.

A numerical analysis of drag torque and cooling characteristics of a Multi-plate clutch pack with a circular pin fin shaped groove pattern is presented in this article. Simulations were performed using Simerics MP® platform to investigate the drag torque and heat transfer under various operating conditions. The performance characteristics of the circular pattern were later compared with various designs from the literature. Some of the groove pattern designs considered have been commonly used in transmission systems and some are from the patent literature. This study compares each design and later proposes the most efficient, that has the least drag and highest heat transfer characteristics.