scholarly journals Enhancement of Heat Transfer in PCM by Cellular Zn-Al Structure

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 91-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Naplocha ◽  
A. Koniuszewska ◽  
J. Lichota ◽  
J.W. Kaczmar
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Energy Storage ◽  
Open Porosity ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Storage System ◽  
Critical Parameters ◽  
Melting Time ◽  
Ceramic Mold ◽  
Al Alloy

Abstract Development of open cellular metal foam technology based on investment casting applying the polyurethane pattern is discussed. Technological process comprises preparing of the ceramic mold applying PUR foam as the pattern, firing of the mold, pouring of the liquid Zn-Al alloy into the mold and washing out of the ceramic material from cellular casting. Critical parameters such as the temperature of mold and poured metal, design of gating system affected by metalostatic pressure allowed to produce castings with cellular structure characterized by the open porosity. Metal cellular foams with the open porosity embedded in phase change material (PCM) enhance heat transfer and reduce time operations in energy storage systems. Charging and discharging were performed at the laboratory accumulator by heating and cooling with flowing water characterized by the temperatures of 97-100°C. Temperature measurements were collected from 7 different thermocouples located in the accumulator. In relation to the tests with pure paraffin, embedding of the metal Zn-Al cellular foam in paraffin significantly decreases temperature gradients and melting time of paraffin applied as PCM characterized by the low thermal conductivity. Similarly, reduction of discharging time by this method improves the efficiency of thermal energy storage system applied in solar power plants or for the systems of energy efficient buildings.

scholarly journals Numerical Modeling of the Melting Process in a Shell and Coil Tube Ice Storage System for Air-Conditioning Application

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (13) ◽  
pp. 2726 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyed Soheil Mousavi Ajarostaghi ◽  
Sébastien Poncet ◽  
Kurosh Sedighi ◽  
Mojtaba Aghajani Delavar
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Numerical Modeling ◽  
Energy Storage ◽  
Cold Storage ◽  
Air Conditioning ◽  
Storage System ◽  
Melting Process ◽  
Melting Time ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Geometrical Parameters

Cold thermal energy storage, as a promising way of peak-shifting, can store energy by using cheap electricity during off-peak hours and regenerate electricity during peak times to reduce energy consumption. The most common form of cold storage air conditioning technology is ice on the coil energy storage system. Most of the previous studies so far about ice on coil cold storage system have been done experimentally. Numerical modeling appears as a valuable tool to first better understand the melting process then to improve the thermal performance of such systems by efficient design. Hence, this study aims to simulate the melting process of phase change materials in an internal melt ice-on-coil thermal storage system equipped with a coil tube. A three-dimensional numerical model is developed using ANSYS Fluent 18.2.0 to evaluate the dynamic characteristics of the melting process. The effects of operating parameters such as the inlet temperature and flowrate of the heat transfer fluid are investigated. Also, the effects of the coil geometrical parameters—including coil pitch, diameter, and height—are also considered. Results indicate that conduction is the dominant heat transfer mechanism at the initial stage of the melting process. Increasing either the inlet temperature or the flowrate shortens the melting time. It is also shown that the coil diameter shows the most pronounced effect on the melting rate compared to the other investigated geometrical parameters.

scholarly journals Enhanced Thermal Characteristics of NG Based Acetamide Composites

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 4227-4231 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Energy Storage ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Phase Change Materials ◽  
Storage System ◽  
Thermal Characteristics ◽  
Energy Storage System ◽  
Melting Time

Fatty acids are a distinguished category of phase change materials (PCM). However, their inferior thermal conductivity value restricts their potential for thermal energy storage system. Carbonaceous nanomaterials have emerged as promising thermal conductivity enhancer materials for organic PCMs. The present study focuses on preparing a novel PCM nanocomposite comprising of small amount of nanographite (NG) in molten acetamide, an organic PCM, for elevation of the thermal characteristics and examining the trend of the nanocomposite through the course of charging / discharging process. These PCM-nanocomposites are prepared by dispersing NG in molten acetamide with weight fractions of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 %. The scanning electronic microscopic (SEM) analysis was conducted for the characterization of PCM nanocomposite. The energy storage behaviour of the prepared nanocomposites were analyzed with the help of differential scanning calorimeter instruments, which showed that there is no observable variation in the melting point of the nanocomposite, and a decline in the latent heat values. Furthermore, thermal conductivity trend of the nanocomposites caused by NG addition was investigated, which indicated enhancement of thermal conductivity with increasing NG concentration. Further, nanocomposites with a 0.4 wt. % of NG, displayed appreciable increase in rate of heat transfer, reducing melting time and solidification time by 48 and 47 %, respectively. The prepared PCM nanocomposites displayed superior heat transfer trend, permitting substantial thermal energy storage.

Numerical Analysis of Charging Process of a Shell and Tube Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage System With PCM Embedded in Highly Conductive Porous Material

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahboobe Mahdavi ◽  
Saeed Tiari ◽  
Carley Sawyer
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Energy Storage ◽  
Porous Material ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Storage System ◽  
Energy Storage System ◽  
Filling Ratio ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage System ◽  
Shell And Tube

Abstract The purpose of this study was to ascertain the effects of impregnation of porous material with the PCM on the thermal performance of a shell and tube latent heat thermal energy storage system. The heat transfer fluid flows in the tube while the phase change material is stored in the shell. A transient numerical model was developed to simulate the charging process of the system. The effects of porous material filling ratio, and its properties such as porosity and permeability, were studied on the performance of the system. The results showed that the porosity of the material or the metal foam has the greatest effect on the heat transfer and charging time of the system specifically for a filling ratio of one, or when the entire annular gap between the inner and outer tube is filled with the metal foam. As the filling ratio decreases, the effect of the porosity decreases; however, there is no linear relationship between the filling ratio and the decrease in the melting time as the porosity changes.

scholarly journals Numerical Study of Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage Enhancement by Nano-PCM in Aluminum Foam

Inventions ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernardo Buonomo ◽  
Anna di Pasqua ◽  
Davide Ercole ◽  
Oronzio Manca
Keyword(s):  
Energy Storage ◽  
Phase Change ◽  
Phase Change Material ◽  
Latent Heat ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Storage System ◽  
Melting Time ◽  
Change Material

Thermal storage system (TES) with phase change material (PCM) is an important device to store thermal energy. It works as a thermal buffer to reconcile the supply energy with the energy demand. It has a wide application field, especially for solar thermal energy storage. The main drawback is the low value of thermal conductivity of the PCM making the system useless for thermal engineering applications. A way to resolve this problem is to combine the PCM with a highly conductive material like metal foam and/or nanoparticles. In this paper a numerical investigation on the metal foam effects in a latent heat thermal energy storage system, based on a phase change material with nanoparticles (nano-PCM), is accomplished. The modelled TES is a typical 70 L water tank filled with nano-PCM with pipes to transfer thermal energy from a fluid to the nano-PCM. The PCM is a pure paraffin wax and the nanoparticles are in aluminum oxide. The metal foam is made of aluminum with assigned values of porosity. The enthalpy-porosity theory is employed to simulate the phase change of the nano-PCM and the metal foam is modelled as a porous media. Numerical simulations are carried out using the Ansys Fluent code. The results are shown in terms of melting time, temperature at varying of time, and total amount of stored energy.

scholarly journals Thermodynamic Analysis of a High-Temperature Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage System

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 6634
Author(s):  
David W. MacPhee ◽  
Mustafa Erguvan
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Storage ◽  
Entropy Generation ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Storage System ◽  
Volume Ratio ◽  
Melting Time ◽  
Inlet Temperature

Thermal energy storage (TES) technologies are becoming vitally important due to intermittency of renewable energy sources in solar applications. Since high energy density is an important parameter in TES systems, latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) system is a common way to store thermal energy. Though there are a great number of experimental studies in the field of LHTES systems, utilizing computational codes can yield relatively quick analyses with relatively small expense. In this study, a numerical investigation of a LHTES system has been studied using ANSYS FLUENT. Results are validated with experiments, using hydroquinone as a phase-change material (PCM), which is external to Therminol VP-1 as a heat transfer fluid (HTF) contained in pipes. Energy efficiency and entropy generation are investigated for different tube/pipe geometries with a constant PCM volume. HTF inlet temperature and flow rate impacts on the thermodynamic efficiencies are examined including viscous dissipation effects. Highest efficiency and lowest entropy generation cases exist when when flow rates are lowest due to low viscous heating effects. A positive relation is found between energy efficiency and volume ratio while it differs for entropy generation for higher and lower velocities. Both efficiency and entropy generation decreased with decreasing HTF inlet temperature. The novelty of this study is the analysis of the effect of volume ratio on system performance and PCM melting time which ultimately proved to be the most dominant factor among those considered herein. However, as PCM solidification and melting time is of primary importance to system designers, simply minimizing entropy generation by decreasing volume ratio in this case does not lead to a practically optimal system, merely to decrease heat transfer entropy generation. Therefore, caution should be taken when applying entropy analyses to any LHTES storage system as entropy minimization methods may not be appropriate for practicality purposes.

Numerical Investigation on the Effect of Aluminum Foam in a Latent Thermal Energy Storage

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernardo Buonomo ◽  
Davide Ercole ◽  
Oronzio Manca ◽  
Hasan Celik ◽  
Moghtada Mobedi
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Energy Storage ◽  
Phase Change ◽  
Numerical Investigation ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Local Thermal Equilibrium ◽  
Melting Time ◽  
High Porosity

In this paper, a numerical investigation on Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage System (LHTESS) based on a phase change material (PCM) is accomplished. The geometry of the system under investigation is a vertical shell and tube LHTES made with two concentric aluminum tubes. The internal surface of the hollow cylinder is assumed at a constant temperature above the melting temperature of the PCM to simulate the heat transfer from a hot fluid. The other external surfaces are assumed adiabatic. The phase change of the PCM is modeled with the enthalpy porosity theory while the metal foam is considered as a porous media that obeys to the Darcy-Forchheimer law. The momentum equations are modified by adding of suitable source term which it allows to model the solid phase of PCM and natural convection in the liquid phase of PCM. Both local thermal equilibrium (LTE) and local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) models are examined. Results as a function of time for the charging phase are carried out for different porosities and assigned pore per inch (PPI). The results show that at high porosity the LTE and LTNE models have the same melting time while at low porosity the LTNE has a larger melting time. Moreover, the presence of metal foam improves significantly the heat transfer in the LHTES giving a very faster phase change process with respect to pure PCM, reducing the melting time more than one order of magnitude.

scholarly journals Thermal Performance of a PCM-Based Thermal Energy Storage with Metal Foam Enhancement

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 3275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xue Chen ◽  
Xiaolei Li ◽  
Xinlin Xia ◽  
Chuang Sun ◽  
Rongqiang Liu
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Energy Storage ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Storage System ◽  
Fluid Phase ◽  
Heat Transfer Fluid ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Release Process

The energy transport inside a phase change material (PCM) based thermal energy storage system using metal foam as an enhancement technique is investigated numerically. The paraffin is used as the PCM and water as the heat transfer fluid (HTF). The transient heat transfer during the charging and discharging processes is solved, based on the volume averaged conservation equations. The flow in PCM/foam and HTF/foam composites is modelled by the Forchheimer-extended Darcy equation, while the two-temperature model is employed to account for the local thermal non-equilibrium effect between the foam matrix and fluid phase. The results show that the overall performance is greatly improved by inserting metal foam in both HTF and PCM sides. A nearly 84.9% decrease in the time needed for the total process is found compared with the case of pure PCM, and 40% compared with the case of metal foam insert only in the PCM side. Foam porosity and HTF inlet temperature greatly affect the dynamic heat storage/release process.

Numerical Investigation on a Latent Thermal Energy Storage With Aluminum Foam

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernardo Buonomo ◽  
Davide Ercole ◽  
Oronzio Manca ◽  
Sergio Nardini
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Energy Storage ◽  
Phase Change ◽  
Numerical Investigation ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Local Thermal Equilibrium ◽  
Melting Time ◽  
High Porosity

In this paper, a numerical investigation on Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage System (LHTESS) based on a phase change material (PCM) in a metal foam is accomplished. A vertical shell and tube LHTESS made with two concentric aluminum tubes is investigated. The internal surface of the hollow cylinder is at a constant temperature above the PCM melting temperature to simulate the heat transfer from a hot fluid. The other external surfaces are assumed adiabatic. The phase change of the PCM is modeled with the enthalpy porosity theory while the metal foam is considered as a porous media that obeys to the Darcy-Forchheimer law. Local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) model is assumed to analyze the metal foam and some comparison are accomplished with the local thermal equilibrium model assumption. The governing equations are solved employing the Ansys-Fluent 15 code. Numerical simulations for PCM, PCM in the porous medium in LTE and in LTNE assumptions are obtained. Results as a function of time for the charging phase are carried out for different porosities and assigned pore per inch (PPI). The results show that at high porosity the LTE and LTNE models have the same melting time while at low porosity the LTNE has a larger melting time. Moreover, the presence of metal foam improves significantly the heat transfer in the LHTESS giving a very faster phase change process with respect to pure PCM, reducing the melting time more than one order of magnitude.

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