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Numerical simulation and parametric analysis of latent heat thermal energy storage system

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Abstract

This paper presents the numerical analysis of the transient performance of the latent heat thermal energy storage unit established on finite difference method. The storage unit consists of a shell and tube arrangement with phase change material (PCM) filled in the shell space and the heat transfer fluid (HTF) flowing in the inner tube. The heat exchange between the HTF, wall and PCM has been investigated by developing a 2-D fully implicit numerical model for the storage module and solving the complete module as a conjugate problem using enthalpy transforming method. A comparative investigation of the total melting time of the PCM has been performed based on natural convection in liquid PCM during the charging process. The novelty of this paper lies in the fact it includes convection in PCM and this investigation includes a detailed parametric study which can be used as a reference to design latent heat storage. The results indicate that natural convection accelerates the melting process by a significant amount of time. In order to optimize the design of the thermal storage unit, parametric study has been accompanied to analyze the influence of various HTF working conditions and geometric dimensions on the total melting time of the PCM. Another important feature considered in this work is the influence of the inner wall of the tube carrying the HTF on the entire melting time of the PCM. An error of around 7.2% is reported when inner wall of the tube is ignored in the analysis.

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Abbreviations

a :

Thermal diffusivity (m2 s−1)

c :

Specific heat (J kg−1 K−1)

D :

Diameter of tube (m)

G :

Dimensionless acceleration due to gravity

h :

Convection heat transfer coefficient

H :

Volume enthalpy (J m−3)

L :

Length of tube (m)

m :

Mass flow rate (kg s−1)

P :

Dimensionless pressure

p :

Pressure (Pa)

Pr:

Prandtl number

q :

Latent heat capacity (J kg−1)

R :

Dimensionless coordinates along radial direction

r :

Coordinate along radial direction (m)

Re:

Reynolds number

St:

Stefan number

T :

Temperature (K)

t :

Time (s)

V :

Volume

W :

Dimensionless velocity

w :

Velocity m s−1

X :

Dimensionless coordinate along axial direction

χ :

Dimensionless enthalpy

\({ \leftthreetimes }\) :

Thermal conductivity (W mK−1)

Θ :

Dimensionless temperature

ρ :

Density (kg m−3)

Τ :

Dimensionless time

μ :

Dynamic viscosity (Pa-s)

ϑ :

Kinematic viscosity (m2 s−1)

¥:

Melt fraction

f:

HTF

ii:

Internal radius of inner tube

io:

External radius of inner tube

in:

Inlet

initp:

Initial of PCM

initf:

Initial of HTF

initw:

Initial of wall

l:

Liquid phase of PCM

m:

Melting

mmin:

Minimum melting

oi:

Internal radius of outer shell

oo:

External radius of outer shell

out:

Outlet

p:

PCM

R:

Dimensionless coordinate along radial direction

r:

Coordinate along radial direction

s:

Solid phase of PCM

w:

Wall

x:

Coordinate along axial direction

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Renewable Energy and Environment Development (CREED), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Pilani Campus, Vidya Vihar, Pilani, Rajasthan, 333 031, India

    Manoj Kumar Soni, Nisha Tamar & Suvanjan Bhattacharyya

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  1. Manoj Kumar Soni
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Correspondence to Suvanjan Bhattacharyya.

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Soni, M.K., Tamar, N. & Bhattacharyya, S. Numerical simulation and parametric analysis of latent heat thermal energy storage system. J Therm Anal Calorim 141, 2511–2526 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-020-10175-2

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