Assessment of cold storage system in existence of nanomaterial using Galerkin technique

Abstract

This study introduces an innovative design for cold storage containers featuring wavy outer walls and integrated fins to intensify the diffusion of cold energy throughout the system. The inclusion of fins significantly improves the productivity of the freezing by allowing cold energy to distribute more evenly and rapidly within the storage medium. A secondary method employed to accelerate freezing involves the use of copper oxide nanoparticles, which are dispersed in water. To ensure the validity of the single-phase approximation, the concentration of nanoparticles (ϕ) is kept below 0.045. The study also explores the impact of nanoparticle shape on the material properties, with a focus on two different shapes—blade and cylindrical—and varying the shape factor (m) to assess their influence on freezing efficiency. An implicit modeling technique is employed, utilizing the adaptive mesh. This approach enhances the accuracy of the simulation, with validation results demonstrating strong agreement with expected outcomes. The findings reveal that the introduction of CuO nano-powders can significantly decline the completion time. Specifically, the fastest freezing time achieved was 163.79 s, representing a 27.29% improvement compared to the baseline scenario without additives, where freezing was completed in approximately 225.27 s. Moreover, altering the shape of the nanoparticles further enhances the freezing rate, with blade-shaped particles reducing the freezing time by an additional 6.97% compared to cylindrical particles.