Experimental study on the thermal performance of a high-temperature finned latent heat storage system

Suraj Arun Tat and P. Muthukumar

Renewable Energy, 2024, vol. 235, issue C

Abstract: The primary objective of this study is to develop and evaluate the performance of a latent heat storage (LHS) system. A tube-in-tube heat exchanger configuration was used to design the LHS system. Sodium nitrate and air were employed as the phase change material (PCM) and heat transfer fluid (HTF), respectively. To mitigate the low thermal conductivity of the PCM, six circular fins were integrated on the HTF tube surface and experiments were conducted in an in-house experimental facility. Temperature plots from the charging-discharging experiments revealed that the HTF flow direction governs the heat transfer along the axis of the system. The sensible heat gain by the PCM in the range of 270–330 °C, led to an additional ⁓0.4 MJ of heat storage beyond the storage capacity of 1 MJ. Furthermore, increasing the inlet temperature from 400 °C to 440 °C reduced the charging time by 39.6 %, while reducing the inlet temperature from 210 °C to 170 °C decreased the discharging time by 18.2 %. Despite improved heat transfer, higher inlet temperatures adversely affected the thermal uniformity whereas, the increase in inlet air velocity enhanced both the dynamics of heat transfer and the thermal uniformity within the storage system.

Keywords: Phase change material; Sodium nitrate; Heat transfer enhancement; Melting and solidification; Thermal energy storage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:235:y:2024:i:c:s0960148124013831

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2024.121315

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