A comparative study of latent heat thermal energy storage (LTES) system using cylindrical and elliptical tubes in a staggered tube arrangement

Abstract

Numerical analysis was performed to compare the thermal and hydraulic performance of the elliptical and circular tube geometries in the prototype-scale latent heat thermal energy storage (LTES) system. A staggered tube array configuration was used for the analysis where the tubes were placed horizontally. Commercial grade hexahydrate calcium chloride (CC6) was selected as a phase change material (PCM) due to its phase change occurring at room temperature. The study included a numerical analysis of the melting and solidification processes of the PCM within the tube array for both tube shapes, employing transient two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations and a Realizable k-ɛ turbulence model to predict fluid flow and heat transfer. The enthalpy-porosity technique was used to model PCM melting and solidification. Numerical predictions indicate that the thermal performance for both tube shapes is almost indistinguishable during the melting and freezing processes. However, due to the aerodynamic shape of the elliptical tube, the pressure drop across the horizontal elliptical tube array is approximately 80% lower compared to that of the circular geometry. This reduced pressure drop implies that less pumping power will be required to achieve the desired flow rate across the tube bank, leading to economic advantages for the horizontal elliptical tube array. The proposed design can be used as a dry cooling technique employing an Air Cooled Condenser (ACC) in a thermal power plant.