Solution by numerical methods of the heat equation in engineering applications. A case of study: Cooling without the use of electricity

Abstract

Abstract The physical model proposing the explanation of the phenomenon of cooling without electricity consists of a pot-in-pot refrigerator. This device consists of an external porous ceramic pot in which a smaller waterproof pot containing the material to be cooled. The space between the pots is filled with wet sand. The cooling effect in the device is produced by the evaporation of water, the heat transfer from the material to the sand and the influence of the air. An experimental model of the cooling effect investigates the influence of the main physical parameters and an analytical model of the heat transfer was proposed as a result of the experiments. In this article the analytical model of the heat transfer of a pot-pot refrigerator is solved by explicit and implicit numerical methods. The numerical solutions were compared with the analytical solution and it was observed that in the case of the explicit and implicit method, the results fit very well with the expected evolution system. Finally, a new way to continue the research is proposed.