Modelling of heat transfer in phase change materials (PCMs) for thermal energy storage systems

The processes of solid-liquid phase change, during which the heat is alternately charged into the system and discharged from it, involve a combination of different physical phenomena. In this section, an overview of these effects is presented. The main methods of heat transfer analysis are introduced, and the main methods of multi-dimensional numerical simulation are discussed. Several examples, invoking the basic configurations used in or suggested for the latent-heat based thermal energy storage systems, are presented and described. Current research issues are outlined, with special attention to unresolved and outstanding problems.