Total Energy Balance During Thermal Charging of Cylindrical Heat Storage Units: Thermodynamic Equilibrium Limit

Valter Silva-Nava, José A. Otero, Jesús Enrique Chong-Quero and Ernesto M. Hernández-Cooper ()
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Valter Silva-Nava: Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Carr. al Lago de Guadalupe Km. 3.5, Atizapán de Zaragoza 52926, Mexico
José A. Otero: Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Carr. al Lago de Guadalupe Km. 3.5, Atizapán de Zaragoza 52926, Mexico
Jesús Enrique Chong-Quero: Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Carr. al Lago de Guadalupe Km. 3.5, Atizapán de Zaragoza 52926, Mexico
Ernesto M. Hernández-Cooper: Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Carr. al Lago de Guadalupe Km. 3.5, Atizapán de Zaragoza 52926, Mexico

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 21, 1-37

Abstract: The local energy balance at the liquid-solid front has been widely used in the literature. However, depending on the initial state of the system, the boundary conditions, and the thermodynamic properties of the phase change material, the local energy balance can lead to inaccuracies. The total energy balance has been applied to phase change processes; however, discrepancies have been reported regarding the dynamics of the melting front obtained through this approach. In this work, the concept of thermodynamic equilibrium is used to determine the exact liquid-solid coexistence state in adiabatic systems. Thermodynamic equilibrium of saturated mixtures is used to validate the proposed energy balance. We found that the melting front position obtained from a local energy balance can be underestimated by as much as 37.4 % when compared with the equilibrium value. In contrast, the interface position estimated by the total energy balance was in good agreement with equilibrium, with relative differences between 0.082 % and 0.11 % . Finally, a melting experiment using paraffin RT50 was conducted in a thermally insulated cylindrical unit. The experimental front position was underestimated by the local energy balance, with differences between 2.4 % and 6.9 % , while the total energy balance showed smaller discrepancies between 0.28 % and 5.71 % .

Keywords: total energy balance; liquid-solid coexistence; thermodynamic equilibrium limit; thermal energy storage (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: 2025
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