Solidification Enhancement in a Triple-Tube Latent Heat Energy Storage System Using Twisted Fins

Xinguo Sun, Jasim Mahdi, Hayder I. Mohammed, Hasan Sh. Majdi, Wang Zixiong and Pouyan Talebizadehsardari
Additional contact information
Xinguo Sun: Jiangsu Smart Factory Engineering Research Centre, College of Management and Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai’an 223003, China
Hayder I. Mohammed: Department of Physics, College of Education, University of Garmian, Kurdistan, Kalar 46021, Iraq
Hasan Sh. Majdi: Department of Chemical Engineering and Petroleum Industries, Al-Mustaqbal University College, Babylon 51001, Iraq
Wang Zixiong: China Water Resources Pearl River Planning Surveying & Designing Co, Ltd., Guangzhou 510610, China
Pouyan Talebizadehsardari: Centre for Sustainable Energy Use in Food Chains, Institute of Energy Futures, Brunel University London, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 21, 1-23

Abstract: This work evaluates the influence of combining twisted fins in a triple-tube heat exchanger utilised for latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) in three-dimensional numerical simulation and comparing the outcome with the cases of the straight fins and no fins. The phase change material (PCM) is in the annulus between the inner and the outer tube, these tubes include a cold fluid that flows in the counter current path, to solidify the PCM and release the heat storage energy. The performance of the unit was assessed based on the liquid fraction and temperature profiles as well as solidification and the energy storage rate. This study aims to find suitable and efficient fins number and the optimum values of the Re and the inlet temperature of the heat transfer fluid. The outcomes stated the benefits of using twisted fins related to those cases of straight fins and the no-fins. The impact of multi-twisted fins was also considered to detect their influences on the solidification process. The outcomes reveal that the operation of four twisted fins decreased the solidification time by 12.7% and 22.9% compared with four straight fins and the no-fins cases, respectively. Four twisted fins improved the discharging rate by 12.4% and 22.8% compared with the cases of four straight fins and no-fins, respectively. Besides, by reducing the fins’ number from six to four and two, the solidification time reduces by 11.9% and 25.6%, respectively. The current work shows the impacts of innovative designs of fins in the LHTES to produce novel inventions for commercialisation, besides saving the power grid.

Keywords: triple-tube heat exchanger; twisted fin array; phase change material; thermal energy storage; solidification (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 (10)

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