Improving the melting performance of a horizontal shell-tube latent-heat thermal energy storage unit using local enhanced finned tube

By Sheng-xiang Deng, C. Nie, G. Wei, Wei-Biao Ye. Energy and Buildings, 2019

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Abstract Latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) with novel fin configuration to enhance heat transfer was proposed. The fins were placed in the lower half of the LHTES unit and were symmetrical along the vertical centerline. A transient two-dimensional numerical model was developed to study the melting characteristics of lauric acid (phase change material, PCM). The local double-fin at different fined angles (θ = 30°, 60°, 90°, 120°, 150° and 180°) were investigated and the results were compared with the uniform double-fin (base case), in which the two fins were placed on the top and bottom. It was found that with special θ, using local double-fin can greatly enhance melting than using the uniformly arranged. The effects of shell conductivity, dimensionless fin length (l) and heat-transfer fluid temperature on PCM melting were investigated. Results showed that the conductivity of shell had a remarkable effect on the melting behaviors and the performance of local double-fin. The complete melting time for the optimum θ can be saved by 66.7% when the dimensionless fin length increases from 0.50 (optimum at θ = 30°) to 1.00 (optimum at θ = 120°). The complete melting time decreases by 53.1% when heat-transfer fluid temperature increases from 333.15 to 353.15 K under l = 1.00 and θ = 120° Furthermore, it was found that the use of longer fins can improve the LHTES performance more greatly for the local double-fin than that of the base case.

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