Experimental and Numerical Study on Phase Change Heat Transfer of Ternary Non-Azeotropic Mixture

Abstract In this work, one water/1,2-propylene glycol/glycerol ternary solution was constructed to investigate the influences of heating power and solution components on its heat and mass transfer in the phase transition process. The experiment studied the effects of power ranging from 30 W to 70 W, water volume fraction ranging from 30% to 50%, and 1,2-PG volume fraction changing from 5% to 15% on various parameters. Additionally, one corresponding theoretical model was proposed to provide a guidance for the utilization of ternary non-azeotropic mixtures as working fluid. The influential pattern of power on factors, such as the phase change rate and system temperature, has been obtained. The analysis indicates that increasing the volume fraction of low-boiling-point components leads to a decrease in the phase change rate of high-boiling-point components. Furthermore, while increasing the volume fraction of high-boiling-point components elevates their own phase change rate, it does not significantly affect the phase change rate of low-boiling-point components.