Low-Temperature Industrial Waste Heat (IWH) Recovery Using a New Design for Fast-Charging Thermal Energy Storage Units

Mehdi Ghalambaz (), Hani Abulkhair, Obai Younis, Mehdi Fteiti, Ali J. Chamkha, Iqbal Ahmed Moujdin and Abdulmohsen Omar Alsaiari
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Mehdi Ghalambaz: Institute of Research and Development, Duy Tan University, Da Nang 550000, Vietnam
Hani Abulkhair: Center of Excellence in Desalination Technology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Obai Younis: Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering in Wadi Addwasir, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj 11942, Saudi Arabia
Mehdi Fteiti: Physics Department, Faculty of Applied Science, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah 24381, Saudi Arabia
Ali J. Chamkha: Faculty of Engineering, Kuwait College of Science and Technology, Doha 35004, Kuwait
Iqbal Ahmed Moujdin: Center of Excellence in Desalination Technology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Abdulmohsen Omar Alsaiari: Center of Excellence in Desalination Technology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia

Mathematics, 2022, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: The dynamic melting of CuO–coconut oil was addressed in a latent-heat thermal energy storage unit loaded with copper foam. In a new design, the thermal storage unit is made of a shell-tube-shaped chamber, in which a liquid flow of hot phase-change material (PCM) is allowed to enter the chamber from a port at the bottom and exit at the top. A fin is mounted in the chamber to forward the entrance PCM liquid toward the solid regions. The control equations were solved using the finite element method. The impact of foam porosity, inlet pressure, fin length, and the concentrations of CuO nanoparticles on the thermal charging time of the chamber was investigated. A fast-charging time of 15 min with a foam porosity of 0.95 was achieved. A porosity of 0.95 can provide a maximum thermal charging power of 15.1 kW/kg. The inlet pressure was a significant parameter, and increasing the inlet pressure from 0.5 kPa to 4 kPa reduced the melting time by 2.6 times. The presence of the fin is not advantageous, and even a long fin could extend the thermal charging time. Moreover, dispersed nanoparticles were not beneficial to dynamic melting and extended the thermal charging time.

Keywords: dynamic melting; open latent-heat thermal energy storage; CuO–coconut oil phase-change material (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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