Enhancement of the Thermal Energy Storage Using Heat-Pipe-Assisted Phase Change Material

Hamidreza Behi, Mohammadreza Behi, Ali Ghanbarpour, Danial Karimi, Aryan Azad, Morteza Ghanbarpour and Masud Behnia
Additional contact information
Hamidreza Behi: Research Group MOBI–Mobility, Logistics, and Automotive Technology Research Centre, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan, 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Mohammadreza Behi: Institute of Photonics and Optical Science, School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, Australia
Ali Ghanbarpour: School of Mechanical Engineering, Babol University of Technology, Babol 47134, Iran
Danial Karimi: Research Group MOBI–Mobility, Logistics, and Automotive Technology Research Centre, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan, 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Aryan Azad: Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara 06800, Turkey
Morteza Ghanbarpour: Department of Energy Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-10044 Stockholm, Sweden
Masud Behnia: Macquarie Business School, Macquarie University, Sydney 1020, Australia

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-19

Abstract: Usage of phase change materials’ (PCMs) latent heat has been investigated as a promising method for thermal energy storage applications. However, one of the most common disadvantages of using latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) is the low thermal conductivity of PCMs. This issue affects the rate of energy storage (charging/discharging) in PCMs. Many researchers have proposed different methods to cope with this problem in thermal energy storage. In this paper, a tubular heat pipe as a super heat conductor to increase the charging/discharging rate was investigated. The temperature of PCM, liquid fraction observations, and charging and discharging rates are reported. Heat pipe effectiveness was defined and used to quantify the relative performance of heat pipe-assisted PCM storage systems. Both experimental and numerical investigations were performed to determine the efficiency of the system in thermal storage enhancement. The proposed system in the charging/discharging process significantly improved the energy transfer between a water bath and the PCM in the working temperature range of 50 °C to 70 °C.

Keywords: phase change material (PCM); latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES); heat pipe; 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: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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