Geometry effect of phase change material container on waste heat recovery enhancement

Zhen Qin, Chenzhen Ji, Zheng Hua Low, Wei Tong, Chenlong Wu and Fei Duan

Applied Energy, 2022, vol. 327, issue C, No S0306261922013654

Abstract: Waste heat recovery from industrial exhaust gases is a key method to reduce fuel consumption and improve system energy efficiency. Phase change materials (PCMs) are one of the major media in the waste heat storing and recovering processes. The PCM container geometry is a crucial design factor but attracts less attention for its effect on the PCM melting and heat storage operation. This study simulates the melting behaviour and heat storage performance in the PCM storage containers with the same cross area but different configurations with the rectangular shape and ones with concave folded sidewalls and protruding folded sidewalls. The geometry variation on PCM containers influences both the contact area with the hot airflow and natural convection in the melting phase of PCMs. The three-dimensional transient modelling indicates that the natural convection currents enhance the PCM melting and thermal storage rates. The PCM container design angle, α, shows a remarkable impact on the natural convection strength, PCM melting time, and energy storage rate. The protruding-shaped container with α at 133.8∘ presents the least melting time of 4,645 s, reducing 24.9% of the melting time in comparison to the rectangular chamber as the baseline with α= 90 ∘. The study can inspire the design of PCM storage geometries with efficient waste heat recovery in the industrial applications.

Keywords: Phase change materials; Storage container geometry; Thermal energy storage; Natural convection; Waste heat recovery; Heat transfer enhancement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261922013654
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:appene:v:327:y:2022:i:c:s0306261922013654

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.120108

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().