The flow and heat transfer characteristics of microencapsulated phase change material (MEPCM) suspension flow in a mini-tube under a uniform heat flux were experimentally investigated.The MEPCM particles consist of hexadecane as the phase change material and a polyoxymethylene urea wall.For comparison

the experiment was also conducted using deionized water as the working fluid under the same condition.The relationships were obtained for pressure drop and mass flow rate

for dimensionless outlet temperature of test section and Reynolds number

for dimensionless wall temperature along axial direction

and for Nusselt number and Reynolds number.The results show that the use of MEPCM particles increases the pressure drop but it approaches that of water with increasing mass flow rate.The outlet and wall temperatures of the test section are smaller than that of water under the same condition.The Nusselt number of slurry with small concentration of MEPCM particles is about 2.0—4.0 times greater than that of water.