Enhancing the thermal performance of a phase change energy storage assisted ventilation system via unit structure optimization for data center

This numerical study aims to improve the melting uniformity of the phase change plate (PCP) by optimizing structure, enhancing the energy efficiency of PCP's application in the ventilation system of data centers. The anterior-to-posterior slope ratio (W_r), fin configuration, and volume of the PCP are optimized. For the practical application of the PCP with an optimized structure and configuration, the effects of ambient temperature, air supply velocity, phase change temperature and thermal conductivity have been studied. The main results are as follows: (i) When the PCP changes from a rectangular body to a trapezoidal body, the uniformity of melting is improved by 93 %. The average cooling range of PCP increases by 0.5 °C, and the energy-saving rate increases by 22 %. (ii) The structure of the PCP with the volume of 19 L, a W_r of 1.5 and double fin arranged horizontally parallel to the PCP effectively shorts the charging time from 14 h to 11.6 h. (iii) A nonlinear functional relationship between the cooling performance of the system and the main four variables is proposed. This work provides guidelines for the application of PCP in data center.