Evaluation of Key Design Parameters of an Encapsulated Latent Heat Thermal Storage Unit

Abstract

The present work numerically investigates for a latent heat thermal storage (LHTS) unit, the effect of key design parameters such as the inlet temperature of the heat transfer fluid (HTF), initial and melting temperatures of the PCM, thermophysical parameters such as specific heat, thermal conductivity etc., on its performance. A numerical model has been developed considering the discharging mode of operation and solved employing finite difference technique. The parametric study reveals that the effect of HTF inlet temperature on the unit's thermal response is more compared to initial temperature of the PCM and the influence of thermal conductivity of the PCM is very strong compared to specific heat capacity of the solid PCM