Journal of Marine Science and Application, Vol.6, No.4, December 2007, pp.

37-43

'2,V

Phase change analysis of an underwater glider propelled by

the ocean’s thermal energy
KONG Qiao-ling and MA Jie
State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200030, China

Abstract: The phase change characteristic of the power source of an underwater glider propelled by the
ocean’s thermal energy is the key factor in glider attitude control. A numerical model has been
established based on the enthalpy method to analyze the phase change heat transfer process under
convective boundary conditions. Phase change is not an isothermal process, but one that occurs at a
range of temperature. The total melting time of the material is very sensitive to the surrounding
temperature. When the temperature of the surroundings decreases 8 degrees, the total melting time
increases 1.8 times. But variations in surrounding temperature have little effect on the initial temperature
of phase change, and the slope of the temperature time history curve remains the same. However, the
temperature at which phase change is completed decreases significantly. Our research shows that the
phase change process is also affected by container size, boundary conditions, and the power source’s
cross sectional area. Materials stored in 3 cylindrical containers with a diameter of 38mm needed the
shortest phase change time. Our conclusions should be helpful in effective design of underwater glider
power systems.
Keywords: phase change; heat transfer analysis; ocean thermal energy; underwater glider
CLC number: U674.76 Document code: A Article ID: 1671-9433(2007)04-0037-07

Introduction1 of glider propulsion power. Consequently, the engine

Underwater glider propelled by ocean thermal energy
is a new type of autonomous underwater vehicle,
which glides up and down in the ocean by changing
vehicle buoyancy. It has the main advantage of long
endurance and low noise. A special engine with phase
changing material (PCM) can harvest energy from the
ocean thermalcline. When the glider ascends above
the thermalcline, the temperature is higher than the
melting temperature, the PCM changes from solid
phase to liquid phase by absorbing heat from the
surface warm water. Then the volume expands. When
the glider declines below the thermalcline, the
temperature is lower than the melting temperature, the
PCM changes phases from liquid phase to solid phase
by rejecting heat to the cool deep water. Then the
PCM shrinks. The resulting volume change of the
PCM provides an adequate change in buoyancy of a
vehicle of constant mass to enable it to ascend and
descend at a useful speed. This variable buoyancy,
derived from environmental energy, is the sole source
Received date: 2007-05-17.
Foundation item: Supported by the Sustainable Energy
Propulsion System Program of 211’s Engineering Foundation,
Shanghai Jiaotong University.
operating status can affect the whole glider attitude
and performance. The study of the phase changing
characteristic will be necessary for improving the
glider attitude and dynamics control [1-5].
However, phase changing process is more complicate
than simple heat conduction process. It includes both
phase changing and heat conduction process. Many
scholars have studied the phase changing problem.
Zivkovic and Fujii[6] presented a simple computational
model for isothermal phase change material. Vyshak
and Jilani[7] applied the same method as the former,
and showed that the cylindrical shell container took
the least time for equal amounts of energy storage.
Piia Lamberg[8] applied enthalpy method and an
effective heat capacity method in analyzing rectangle
container with and without heat enhancement
structure. A. Felix Regin[9]studied the paraffin melting
process in cylindrical container based on enthalpy
method. Kan Yanbing and Zhang Yinping[10]
established a simple model for heat transfer analysis
of shell-and-tube with phase change material and
studied the relation of the fluid temperature and the
interface of solid and liquid phase of phase change
38
material versus time and axis positionˊKe Xiufang[11]
studied solidification process in cylindrical metal
container. All the above documents study the phase
changing process with constant melting point and
under the first type of boundary conditions.
This paper has studied the phase changing process of
underwater glider propelled by ocean thermal energy
under the convective boundary condition and analyzed
the PCM, whose melting temperature changes within
a range and the initial temperature is higher than
melting temperature. Furthermore, the effect of
different structures and sizes of container has been
analyzed from the heat transfer rate aspect.
1 Physical and numerical model of
power device
There are two typical structures of glider’s engine.
One is single horizontal cylinder, the other is
cylindrical shell. They are shown in Fig.1 and Fig.2.
To the former, the PCM is encapsulated in the cylinder.
As for the later, the PCM is encapsulated in the shell
side [5,12].
Fig.1 Geometry of horizontal cylindrical container for storing
phase change materials
Journal of Marine Science and Application, Vol.6, No.4, December 2007
property degradation and supercooling are not
accounted for.
4) The effects of natural convection within the
solidification are negligible and can be ignored.
5) The internal wall of the cylindrical shell container
is considered well insulated, and the thermal
resistance across the wall of the container is neglected.
6) The melting point of PCM varies during a range.
The enthalpy to temperature relation can be
considered as linear.
Enthalpy model uses enthalpy and temperature as
variables. Control equation is established in the whole
field including liquid phase, solid phase and the
interface of the two phases. It is more suitable for the
multidimensional and the nonisothermal phase
changing problem.
The original control equation is in integral mode [14],
d
dt ∫v
U hdV  ∫ U hvdA ∫ k ’T ˜ dA  ∫ qdV , (1)
s s v
The above equation has no limitation to the material
property. v is liquid phase velocity vector. The PCM
used in this paper is mixture, so the melting
temperature is not constant but varies within a range.
So the enthalpy to temperature relation is as follows:
⎧h c p , sT ,T d Tm  H 
⎪
⎪ c p , s  c p ,l Ql
⎨h T (T  Tm  H ),Tm  H d T d Tm  H
⎪ 2 2H
⎪h c p ,l T  Ql .T t Tm  H
⎩
(2)
If there are no internal heat resources, equation (1) is
equal to
wUH 
  v ˜ ’  U H  ’ ˜  k ’T  . (3)
wt

If the natural convection of liquid phase can be

Fig.2 Geometry of thin concentric cylindrical container for ignored, then the control equation of vertical cylinder
storing phase change materials is
wUH  w 2T 1 wT w 2T
In present analysis, the mathematical model is derived k(   ). (4)
under the following assumptions: wt wr 2 r wr wz 2
1) The PCM is homogeneous and isotropic. The
specific capacity, thermal conductivity and density are The control equation of horizontal cylinder is
constant and independent of temperature. wUH  1 w ⎛ wT
⎞
⎟. ⎜ kr (5)
2) Thermal conductivity of the PCM in the axis wt r wr ⎝ wr
⎠
direction is ignored. In order to calculate the latent heat, the liquid volume
3) The PCM behaves ideally, such phenomena as fraction E is induced, E is defined as follows:
KONG Qiao-ling, et al: Phase change analysis of an underwater glider propelled by the ocean’s thermal energy 39

⎧ 0, T  Ts material is listed in Table 1.

⎪
⎪ T  Ts Table 1 Material properties of NO.16 gel
E ⎨ , Ts  T  Tl (6)
⎪ Tl  Ts Material properties Value
⎪ 1. T ! Tl
⎩ Melting point of solid PCM Ts /K 289.35
Then the enthalpy can be Melting point of liquid PCM Tl /K 291.65
H h  'H , -1
Thermal conductivity of solid PCM k s /W ˜ m K 0.4
T
Thermal conductivity of liquid PCM k s /W ˜ m -1K 0.21
h href  ∫ c dT ,
Tref
p (7)
Specific capacity c p / kJ ˜ kg-1K 1.89
'H E Ql . Density U / kg ˜ m -3 770
The boundary conditions are defined that the cylinder Latent heat Ql / kJ ˜ kg -1 150
container, as shown in Fig.1, the outer surface
immersed in the seawater. So the boundary condition 2.1 The analysis of central temperature of the
is the convection boundary condition. That is container during phase changing process
w The central temperature of the container varying with
k [T  ro , t ] D [T (ro , t )  T f (t )]. (8)
wr time is shown in Fig.4, when the surrounding
The cylindrical shell container, as shown in Fig.2, the temperature is 285.95K.
working condition of the outer surface is the same as
the above, so does the boundary condition. But
according to the assumption, the inner surface can be
taken as the second boundary condition. That is:
⎧ w
⎪⎪k wr [T  ro , t ] D [T (ro , t )  T f (t )],
⎨ (9)
⎪k w [T (r , t )] 0.
⎩⎪ wr
i
2 The effect of the surrounding temper-
ature on the phase changing process
In order to verify the numerical method, the result is
compared to the experimental result in [13]. The
geometry of the experimental device is shown in
Fig.3.
Fig.3 Geometry of the vertical cylindrical phase change
material container
The size of the container is Φ40h400 mm. Both ends
of the container are thermal isolated. The container is
immersed in the water. The water temperature is kept
constant. The PCM is NO.16 Gel. The property of the
Fig.4 Center temperature variation with time at the surrounding
temperature 289.95 K
NO.16 gel is mixture, so the melting point is not
constant. Phase changes within a range of 289.35K to
291.15K. The curve of temperature vs time is not
horizontal line but has a slope. The result is coincident
to the Ref.[13]. As shown in Fig.4, the curve has a
sharp slope when the temperature is above 291.15K or
below 289.35K. At the beginning, the PCM’s
temperature is higher than melting point, so the PCM
is in liquid phase. When the container is suddenly
placed in the cold water of 285.95K, the heat transfer
rate is rather high without phase changing. So the
temperature drops significantly with a sharp slope.
When the temperature is between 291.15K and
289.35K, the PCM changes phase and releases latent
heat, so the temperature varies little. But when the
temperature is below 289.35K, the phase changing
process is ended, all the PCMs are in solid phases.
Heat transfer is controlled by conduction. Although
40
the thermal conductivity of solid phase is larger than
liquid phase, the slope of the temperature curve is
smaller than the initial state due to a little thermal
difference.
2.2 Comparison of the numerical and experimental
result
The numerical simulation results are attained when the
surrounding temperature is 278.15K, 280.65K,
282.15K, 283.55K, 284.15K, and 285.95K
respectively. The completely solidified time is
compared to the experimental result in reference [15],
where the volume contraction reached half of the total
contractive volume. Here, completely solidified time
refers to the time needed when the container is placed
in the cold water at the same initial temperature
299.15K till the PCM completely changed into solid
phase. The completely solidified time variation with
the surrounding temperature compared to the
experimental result is shown in Fig.5.
Fig.5 Phase change time variation with different boundary
temperatures
Under the same condition, the two methods have
similar results as shown in Fig.5. With the
surrounding temperature increasing, the completely
solidified time increases. The surrounding temperature
increases 8 degrees. That is temperature difference
between PCM and the surrounding. The time needed
for complete solidification prolongs 180%, while the
experimental result prolongs 110%. In a word, while
temperature difference decreases, the completely
solidified time increases significantly.
The error between simulation and experiment can be
explained in the following aspects: Firstly, the
material property such as thermal conductivity and
specific capacity is the average value of liquid and
Journal of Marine Science and Application, Vol.6, No.4, December 2007
solid phases. In fact, the thermal conductivity of solid
PCM is larger than liquid PCM. With the material
solidifying, the fraction of solid phase increases, so
the thermal conductivity is larger than the numerical
value in the calculation. Then the simulation result is
higher than the experimental result. Secondly, the
effect of liquid phase flow due to the volume
contraction and the temperature difference is not
considered. The flow of the liquid phase will increase
the heat transfer rate, so the numerical result is higher
than the experimental result. However, both the
experiment and the simulation obey the phase change
principle. The result will be helpful to control the
underwater glider’s attitude. According to the
completely phase changing time, the time of the glider
staying in the warm water area and cold water area
can be adjusted accordingly.
2.3 The effect of different surrounding temperatures
on the phase change process
The central temperature history under different
boundary conditions is shown in Fig.6.
Fig.6 Phase changing curves under different boundary temperatures
As shown in Fig. 6, the completely solidified time
varies with the boundary temperature. The
temperature at the end of solidification is also changed.
When the surrounding’s temperature decreases from
285.95K to 278.15K, the central temperature at the
end of solidification decreases by 3.8K. Because of
the increasing of temperature difference between PCM
and the surrounding, the heat transfer rate increases,
so does the phase changing rate. At the same time, the
solid phase fraction increases during the phase
changing process, the thermal resistant reduces due to
higher thermal conductivity of the solid phase. So the
temperature decreases at the end of the phase
changing process.
KONG Qiao-ling, et al: Phase change analysis of an underwater glider propelled by the ocean’s thermal energy
But with the variation of the surrounding temperature,
the central temperature at the beginning of the
solidification varies little. Moreover, the slopes of the
curve of temperature history are nearly equal. This
phenomenon is due to the same thermal resistance,
because all the PCMs are in liquid phases at the
beginning of solidification, the heat transfer rates are
the same, so do the temperature decreasing rates.
The simulation result is consistent with Ref.[13]. At
the same initial temperature, the higher the
surrounding temperature, the less the temperature
difference, the heat transfer rate decreases while the
completely solidified time increases.
3 The phase changing process of
different structure containers
3.1 The numerical result under the convection
boundary condition
The glider moves forward in the ocean at the
horizontal velocity of 0.28 m/s, the boundary
condition is convection boundary condition. Assuming
the glider is working at steady state and the
temperature of seawater is 10ć, so the properties of
the seawater are as follows: specific capacity
cp 3.9861 u 103 kJ/kg ˜ K , density ρ=1025 kg/m3,
thermal conductivity λ=0.582 w/m·K, thermal
diffusivity α=13.7h10-6 m/s2, dynamic viscidity ­=
1306 h 10-6 kg/m·s, Prandtl number
kinematic viscidity γ=1.306 h 10 m/s . So the -6
convective coefficient is 268.1 W/m2·K.
The size of cylindrical shell is shown in Fig.2: inner
diameter is Φ158 mm, outer diameter is Φ200 mm,
length is 900 mm, and the volume of container is
4794.6 mL. If the same volumes of PCM are
encapsulated in cylinder container with length of
1300mm, then it needs 3 cylinders with diameters of
Φ38 mm or 2 cylinders with diameters of Φ50 mm. In
this paper, three phase changing processes in
cylindrical shell, cylinders with diameters of Φ38 mm
and Φ50 mm are numerically simulated. Assume that
both ends of the cylindrical shell and the inner surface
of the cylindrical shell are adiabatic. The outer surface
of the cylindrical shell is under convection condition
and the same as the cylinder container. The convective
coefficient is 268.1 W/m2.K, when the temperature of
41
seawater is 10ć. All the initial temperatures are 28ć,
and the PCM is NO.16 Gel.
The numerical results are: the completely solidified
time of the cylindrical shell container is 84 min. The
cylinder with diameters of Φ50 mm is 122 min, and
the cylinder with diameters of Φ38 mm is 72 min.
3.2 Comparison of heat transfer rate in different
containers
The central temperature history of three kinds of
containers is shown in Fig.7. The curves of cylinder
with different diameters have the same shape. The
time for beginning point of the cylinder with diameter
of Φ50 mm is larger than the cylinder with diameter of
Φ38 mm, so does the end point. Because the larger the
cylinder diameter, the bigger the thermal resistance of
the PCM along the radius direction is, so does the less
the heat transfer rate. It needs more time to attain the
same temperature for the cylinder with diameters of
Φ50 mm than the cylinder with diameters of Φ38 mm.
However, the time at the beginning of the phase
changing process for the cylindrical shell is similar to
the cylinder with diameters of Φ38 mm, since the
distance of the selected point in the cylindrical shell
container is the same as the radius of the cylinder
container. But the end time of the phase changing
process is between the two cylinders. And the curve
shape is quite different from the other two curves. The
probable reason is that the boundary condition of the
inner surface of the cylindrical shell container is
Pr=9.52, adiabatic, so the heat flux is a little different from the
2
other two. It will affect the whole phase changing
process.
Fig.7 Numerical results of temperature variation with time
during phase changing process
Based on the above analysis, the conclusion can be
drawn that the beginning point and the end point of
42
the phase changing process is related to the boundary
condition and the container structure for the PCM
with the melting temperature varying in a range. The
closer the point from the outer surface, the less the
thermal resistance is, so the bigger the heat transfer
rate is.
3.3 Comparison of phase changing rate of different
containers
The curves of the volume fraction of liquid phase vs
time during phase changing process are shown in
Fig.8. From the definition in Eq.(6), the volume
fraction of liquid phase is the ratio of liquid volume to
the total volume in the melting zone. At the same
point in the x-coordinate, the liquid fraction of the
cylinder with diameter of Φ35mm is smaller than that
of the cylinder with diameters of Φ50mm. That is, the
phase changing rate of the former is larger than the
later. Whereas, at the beginning, the phase changing
rate of the cylindrical shell is similar to the cylinder
with diameters of Φ50mm, then it’s larger than the
cylinder with diameters of Φ50mm. Since the total
cross section area of the cylindrical shell is larger than
the cylinder with diameter of Φ50mm. But its heat
transfer rate is larger than the later shown in Fig.7. At
last, the completely solidified time is shorter than the
cylinder with diameter of Φ50mm.
Fig.8 Numerical results of liquid fraction variation with time
during phase changing process
From the above comparison, a conclusion can be
drawn that the same volume of PCM can store the
same quantity of energy. If they are encapsulated in
the cylinder container with diameters of Φ38mm, the
completely solidified time is the shortest, so it can
output more power per hour. The cylindrical shell
structure has low flow resistance, but it has little inner
space for other devices. And the energy stored is
limited by the size of the glider. The cylinder
container is placed outside the glider. One can
Journal of Marine Science and Application, Vol.6, No.4, December 2007
increase the number of the cylinder container to
improve the capacity of energy stored. But it will
increase the flow resistance of the glider, so further
study should be carried out to find out the most
optimal structure for the glider.
4 Conclusions
This paper has numerically simulated the phase
changing process of the underwater glider according
to the working condition. The PCM analyzed in this
paper is mixture, whose melting point is not constant
but varies within a range; the completely solidified
time is sensitive to the variation of the surrounding
temperature. When the temperature decreases 8e, the
phase changing process is prolonged 1.8 times. The
temperature at the end of the phase changing process
also decreases accordingly. But at the beginning of the
phase changing process, the variation of the
surrounding temperature has little effect on the
temperature and the slopes of the temperature history
curves are the same. Because different surrounding
temperatures have significant effect on the phase
changing process of the power device, the time should
be properly controlled when the glider works in the
ocean of different temperatures.
The completely solidified time can be attained, it’s
important to control the glider’s attitude under the
seawater, such as the valve control, the glider route
control. As known in the previous analysis, the heat
transfer rate decreases during the solidification
process due to the solid phase and thermal resistance
increasing. Some steps should be taken to reduce the
thermal resistance, such as adding fins in the structure
or adding metal particles to the PCM to strengthen the
heat transfer rate.
Different structures and sizes of container and
different boundary conditions have significant effect
on the phase changing process. The smaller the size of
the contain and the nearer of the distance of the PCM
to the outer surface, the greater the effect is on the
phase changing rate due to less thermal resistance.
Moreover, the cross section area of the container also
affects the phase changing rate.
The cylindrical shell container has simpler structure
and less flow resistance than the cylinder container,
but it has limited space and energy capacity. Although
KONG Qiao-ling, et al: Phase change analysis of an underwater glider propelled by the ocean’s thermal energy 43

it is easy to select the size of the cylinder container [3] SHERMAN J, DAVIS R E, OWENS W B, et al. The
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[4] CHARLES C. ERIKSEN T. JAMES O, RUSSELL D, et al.
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support and valuable guidance. The P.R.C 211 Technology[C]. USST, Durham, 1999.
program of ship and ocean construction in Shanghai [6] ZIVKOVIC B, FUJII I. An analysis of isothermal phase
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Appendix
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Nomenclature: [8] LAMBERG P, LEHTINIEMI R, HENELL A M. Numerical
H üspecific enthalpy, J/kg and experimental investigation of melting and freezing
U üdensity, kg/m3 processes in phase change material storage[J]. International
Journal of Thermal Sciences, 2004, 43: 277-287.
k üthermal conductivity of PCM, W/m·K
 [9] FELIX REGIN A, SOLIANKI S C, SAINI J S , Latent heat
v üvelocity vector of liquid PCM, m/s
thermal energy storage using cylindrical capsule:
t ütime, s
Numerical and experimental investigations[J]. Renewable
T ütemperature, K
Energy, 2006, 31: 2025-2041.
Ql ülatent heat of melting, kJ/kg
[10] KAN Yanbing, ZHANG yinping. A simple model for heat
r —radius of the container, m
transfer analysis of shell-and-tube with phase change
href üreferenced enthalpy, J/kg
material and its performance simulation[J]. Acta Energiae
Tref üreferenced temperature, K Solaris Sinica, 1999, 20(1): 20-25(in Chinese).
c p , s üspecific heat of solid PCM, J/kg·K [11] KE Xiufang, ZHANG Renyuan. Analysis of solicitation
process in metal energy storage cylinder[J]. New Energy,
Tm ümelting temperature, K
2000, 22(3): 23-27(in Chinese).
H üradius of mixture phase, K [12] WANG Shuxin, WANG Yanhui. Design and trial on an
c p ,l underwater glider propelled by thermal engine[J]. Ocean
üspecific capacity of liquid phase, J/kg·K
technology, 2006, 25(1): 1-5(in Chinese).
D üconvection coefficient, W/m2·K
[13] HOU Shengzhi. Study on working principle of
E üvolume fraction of liquid phase
drive-device of AUV propelled by temperature difference
Rem üRenault number energy[D].Tianjin: Tianjin University, 2003(in Chinese).
u üseawater velocity, m/s [14] ZHANG Yinping. Energy Storage in PCMütheory and
J m üKinemetic Viscosity of seawater, m/s2 application[M]. Hefei: University of Science and Technology
Ow üthermal conductivity of seawater, W/m.K of China Press, 1996. (in Chinese).

Subscriptions: KONG Qiao-ling was born in 1974. She is a

Ph.D candidate of Shanghai Jiaotong University.
s —solid PCM Her current research interests include sustainable
l —liquid PCM energy and underwater glider.
o —outer wall
i —inner wall
f —surrounding fluid

References MA Jie was born in 1946. He is a professor and a

Ph.D student supervisor of Shanghai Jiaotong
[1] STOMELL H. The slocum mission[J]. Oceanography, 1989,
University. The current research interests include
2(1): 22-25. power plant and its automation, intellectualization
[2] WEBB D C, SIMONETTI P J, JONES C P, et al. An of marine engines, sustainable energy resources.
underwater glider propelled by environmental energy[J].
IEEE Journal of Oceanic Eng, 2001, 26(4): 447-452.