Experimental study on enhancement of thermal energy storage with phase-change material

Latent heat thermal energy storage is a promising option for efficient utilization of intermitted and instable energy. However, the intrinsically low thermal conductivity of phase-change materials (PCMs) is the major shortage, leading to low energy charging and discharging rate. An experimental setup was designed to investigate the dynamic thermal behavior of a shell-and-tube latent heat thermal storage unit. Paraffin wax was employed as the PCM, of which the thermal properties, including that of melting temperature and latent heat, were detected by Differential Scanning Calorimetry. In order to improve the heat transfer performance, copper foam and a bottom fin were compounded to the PCM. High temperature water flowed through the copper tube as the heat transfer fluid (HTF). The temperature variations of the selected detected points inside PCM and the solid–liquid interface evolution in axial plane of symmetry for three samples, including that of pure paraffin, paraffin–copper foam composites without and with the bottom fin, were recorded under the different heating temperatures and flow rates of HTF. The experimental results indicate that completely melting the PCM in composite takes over 1/3 less time than that of pure paraffin under the same operating conditions. The total charging time consumption of the composite with a bottom fin is the least, as well as the heat transfer rate is the largest among the three samples. The influence of HTF temperature on the charging process is more significant than that of the HTF flow rate.

[1]  Zhenyu Liu,et al.  Numerical modeling for solid–liquid phase change phenomena in porous media: Shell-and-tube type latent heat thermal energy storage , 2013 .

[2]  J. P. Holman,et al.  Experimental methods for engineers , 1971 .

[3]  Viktoria Martin,et al.  Submerged finned heat exchanger latent heat storage design and its experimental verification , 2012 .

[4]  W. Lu,et al.  Heat transfer enhancement for thermal energy storage using metal foams embedded within phase change materials (PCMs) , 2010 .

[5]  G. Ziskind,et al.  Close-contact melting in vertical annular enclosures with a non-isothermal base: Theoretical modeling and application to thermal storage , 2014 .

[6]  A. Bejan,et al.  Convection in Porous Media , 1992 .

[7]  Zhen-qian Chen,et al.  Lattice Boltzmann simulation of natural convection dominated melting in a rectangular cavity filled with porous media , 2011 .

[8]  Evelyn N. Wang,et al.  Focusing of phase change microparticles for local heat transfer enhancement in laminar flows , 2012 .

[9]  A. Sharma,et al.  Review on thermal energy storage with phase change materials and applications , 2009 .

[10]  Juan Shi,et al.  Experimental and numerical study on melting of phase change materials in metal foams at pore scale , 2014 .

[11]  Luisa F. Cabeza,et al.  Review on thermal energy storage with phase change: materials, heat transfer analysis and applications , 2003 .

[12]  R. Mahajan,et al.  Thermophysical properties of high porosity metal foams , 2002 .

[13]  Zhen-qian Chen,et al.  A thermal lattice Boltzmann model for natural convection in porous media under local thermal non-equilibrium conditions , 2014 .

[14]  Peng Zhang,et al.  Preparation and thermal characterization of paraffin/metal foam composite phase change material , 2013 .

[15]  M. Lacroix.  Study of the heat transfer behavior of a latent heat thermal energy storage unit with a finned tube , 1993 .

[16]  M. Kenisarin.  High-temperature phase change materials for thermal energy storage , 2010 .

[17]  Luisa F. Cabeza,et al.  State of the art on high temperature thermal energy storage for power generation. Part 1—Concepts, materials and modellization , 2010 .

[18]  Xiaoze Du,et al.  Numerical analysis on the thermal behavior of high temperature latent heat thermal energy storage system , 2013 .

[19]  J. Hyun,et al.  Effective Thermal Conductivity and Permeability of Aluminum Foam Materials1 , 2000 .

[20]  J. Abrantes,et al.  Gelled graphite/gelatin composites for latent heat cold storage , 2013 .

[21]  Dongliang Zhao,et al.  Numerical analysis of a shell-and-tube latent heat storage unit with fins for air-conditioning application , 2015 .

[22]  B. Liu,et al.  Thermal conductivity of closed-cell aluminum foam based on the 3D geometrical reconstruction , 2014 .

[23]  Mahmoud Moeini Sedeh,et al.  Interface behavior and void formation during infiltration of liquids into porous structures , 2013 .

[24]  H. T. Cui,et al.  Experimental investigation on the heat charging process by paraffin filled with high porosity copper foam , 2012 .

[25]  Guiyin Fang,et al.  Preparation and heat transfer characteristics of microencapsulated phase change material slurry: A review , 2011 .

[26]  Luisa F. Cabeza,et al.  Materials used as PCM in thermal energy storage in buildings: A review , 2011 .

[27]  Changying Zhao,et al.  Heat transfer enhancement of high temperature thermal energy storage using metal foams and expanded graphite , 2011 .

[28]  Martin Belusko,et al.  Comparison of pinned and finned tubes in a phase change thermal energy storage system using CFD , 2013 .

[29]  Kihyung Lee,et al.  Improved heat storage rate for an automobile coolant waste heat recovery system using phase-change material in a fin–tube heat exchanger , 2014 .

[30]  Amir Faghri,et al.  Enhancement of PCM melting in enclosures with horizontally-finned internal surfaces , 2011 .

[31]  W. Tao,et al.  Experimental and numerical studies on melting phase change heat transfer in open-cell metallic foams filled with paraffin , 2012 .

[32]  Chao Xu,et al.  Numerical analysis on thermal behavior of solid–liquid phase change within copper foam with varying porosity , 2015 .

[33]  F. Bruno,et al.  Review on storage materials and thermal performance enhancement techniques for high temperature phase change thermal storage systems , 2012 .

[34]  Yajuan Zhong,et al.  Heat transfer enhancement of paraffin wax using compressed expanded natural graphite for thermal energy storage , 2010 .

[35]  Ming Li,et al.  Effective thermal conductivity of open-cell metal foams impregnated with pure paraffin for latent heat storage , 2014 .

[36]  Francis Agyenim,et al.  Heat transfer enhancement in medium temperature thermal energy storage system using a multitube heat transfer array , 2010 .

[37]  Dan Song,et al.  Preparation and performances of bulk porous Al foams impregnated with phase-change-materials for thermal storage , 2012 .

[38]  Yvan Dutil,et al.  A review on phase-change materials: Mathematical modeling and simulations , 2011 .

[39]  A. Sari,et al.  Micro/nano encapsulation of some paraffin eutectic mixtures with poly(methyl methacrylate) shell: Preparation, characterization and latent heat thermal energy storage properties , 2014 .

[40]  J. Murthy,et al.  A Two-Temperature Model for Solid/Liquid Phase Change in Metal Foams , 2005 .

[41]  Dan Zhou,et al.  Review on thermal energy storage with phase change materials (PCMs) in building applications , 2012 .

[42]  Adriano Sciacovelli,et al.  Maximization of performance of a PCM latent heat storage system with innovative fins , 2015 .