Justification of Pore Configuration of Metal-Foam-Filled Thermal Energy Storage Tank: Optimization of Energy Performance

Chuanqing Huang (), Jiajie Liu, Jiajun Chen, Junwei Su and Chang Su ()
Additional contact information
Chuanqing Huang: Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Chemical Additives for Industry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science & Technology, Xi’an 710021, China
Jiajie Liu: Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Chemical Additives for Industry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science & Technology, Xi’an 710021, China
Jiajun Chen: Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Chemical Additives for Industry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science & Technology, Xi’an 710021, China
Junwei Su: School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Chang Su: School of Business, Society and Technology, Mälardalens University, 72123 Västerås, Sweden

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

Abstract: Thermal energy storage (TES) is a crucial technology for mitigating energy supply–demand mismatches and facilitating the integration of renewable energy. This study proposes a novel horizontal phase change TES unit integrated with partially filled metal foam (MF) and fins, divided into six sub-regions ( ε 1 – ε 6 ) with graded pore parameters. A comprehensive numerical model is developed to investigate the synergistic heat exchange mechanism and energy storage performance. The results demonstrate that porosity in Porosity-1 ( ε 1 ) and Porosity-2 ( ε 2 ) regions dominates melting dynamics. Through multi-objective optimization, targeting both minimal energy storage time and maximal energy storage rate, an optimal configuration (Case TD) is derived after technical design. Case TD features porosity values ε 1 = ε 2 = ε 3 = ε 5 = ε 6 = 0.97 and ε 4 = 0.98, where the graded porosity distribution balances heat conduction efficiency and energy storage capacity. Compared to the uniform MF case (Case 1) and the fin-only case (Case 6), Case TD reduces TES time by 51.75% and 17.39%, respectively, while increasing the mean TES rate by 102.55% and 19.12%, respectively. This design minimizes the TES capacity loss (only decreasing by 2.14% compared to Case 1) while maximizing the energy storage density and improving the efficiency–cost trade-off of the phase-change material-based system. It provides a scalable solution for rapid-response TES applications in solar thermal power plants and industrial waste heat recovery.

Keywords: composite structure; enhanced heat exchange; metal foam; melting uniformity; optimization research (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
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/18/4859/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/18/4859/ (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:18:y:2025:i:18:p:4859-:d:1748290

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Cassie Shen

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