Optimization of Design Variables of a Phase Change Material Storage Tank and Comparison of a 2D Implicit vs. 2D Explicit Model

Alicia Crespo, Gabriel Zsembinszki, David Vérez, Emiliano Borri, Cèsar Fernández, Luisa F. Cabeza and Alvaro de Gracia
Additional contact information
Alicia Crespo: GREiA Research Group, University of Lleida, Pere de Cabrera s/n, 25001 Lleida, Spain
Gabriel Zsembinszki: GREiA Research Group, University of Lleida, Pere de Cabrera s/n, 25001 Lleida, Spain
David Vérez: GREiA Research Group, University of Lleida, Pere de Cabrera s/n, 25001 Lleida, Spain
Emiliano Borri: GREiA Research Group, University of Lleida, Pere de Cabrera s/n, 25001 Lleida, Spain
Cèsar Fernández: GREiA Research Group, University of Lleida, Pere de Cabrera s/n, 25001 Lleida, Spain
Luisa F. Cabeza: GREiA Research Group, University of Lleida, Pere de Cabrera s/n, 25001 Lleida, Spain
Alvaro de Gracia: GREiA Research Group, University of Lleida, Pere de Cabrera s/n, 25001 Lleida, Spain

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-15

Abstract: In this study, a thermal energy storage tank filled with commercial phase change material flat slabs is investigated. The tank provides heat at around 15 °C to the evaporator of a seasonal thermal energy storage system developed under the EU-funded project SWS-Heating. A 2D numerical model of the phase changed material storage tank based on the finite control volume approach was developed and validated with experimental data. Based on the validated model, an optimization was performed to identify the number, type and configuration of slabs. The final goal of the phase change material tank model is to be implemented into the whole generic heating system model. A trade-off between results’ accuracy and computational time of the phase change material model is needed. Therefore, a comparison between a 2D implicit and 2D explicit scheme of the model was performed. The results showed that using an explicit scheme instead of an implicit scheme with a reasonable number of nodes (15 to 25) in the heat transfer fluid direction allowed a considerable decrease in the computational time (7 times for the best case) with only a slight reduction in the accuracy in terms on mean average percentage error (0.44%).

Keywords: phase change material; numerical model; design variables optimization; latent heat thermal energy storage; 2D implicit vs. 2D explicit model comparison (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/9/2605/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/9/2605/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:9:p:2605-:d:548034

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().