Performance Evaluation of a Small-Scale Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage Unit for Heating Applications Based on a Nanocomposite Organic PCM

Abstract

A small-scale latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) unit for heating applications was studied experimentally using an organic phase change material (PCM). The unit comprised of a tank filled with the PCM, a staggered heat exchanger (HE) for transferring heat from and to the PCM, and a water pump to circulate water as a heat transfer fluid (HTF). The performance of the unit using the commercial organic paraffin A44 was studied in order to understand the thermal behavior of the system and the main parameters that influence heat transfer during the PCM melting and solidification processes. The latter will assist the design of a large-scale unit. The effect of flow rate was studied given that it significantly affects charging (melting) and discharging (solidification) processes. In addition, as organic PCMs have low thermal conductivity, the possible improvement of the PCM’s thermal behavior by means of nanoparticle addition was investigated. The obtained results were promising and showed that the use of graphite-based nanoplatelets improves the PCM thermal behavior. Charging was clearly faster and more efficient, while with the appropriate tuning of the HTF flow rate, an efficient discharging was accomplished.

Thermal analysis of phase change materials storage in solar concenter

“…A commercialscale thermal storage model (bed-packed) with poly-propylene spheres containing paraffin wax for both energy charging and discharging recovery phases that uses air as the thermal transfer fluid was compared to the model findings achieved experimentally [8,9]. Using three different phase change materials container geometric shapes, Beemkumar et al, and Koukou et al, studied the behavior of phase change materials encapsulated salt hydrates in a domestic hot water tank heat transfer system [10,11]. In other work, spherical capsules are used for the outperformed slab and cylindrical geometries [12,13].…”

Development and Application of a Multi-Objective Tool for Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers Using Neural Networks

“…Heat transfer applications have been studied over the last decades. This analysis has ranged from more traditional and simple forms [1], to much more complex ones [2]. Despite its long history, it remains as an interesting research area with a long way to investigate [3].…”