Abstract
The present work investigates the heat transfer performance of a horizontal energy storage unit both by numerical and experimental approaches. To augment the heat transfer, high heat conducting Graphene Nanoplatelets (GNP) are added to PCM and its effect on heat transfer characteristics has been investigated. Numerical results of charging-discharging performance are evaluated in terms of contours of temperature and liquid fraction for plain PCM and composite PCM with 1–4% GNP (by mass) addition. The numerically predicted results considering HTF inlet temperatures ranging 750–90 °C and mass flow rate 1.8 lit/min are compared and verified with experimental results. The results reveal that melting pattern of paraffin wax in horizontal unit is not same in upper half and lower half of unit. It is inferred that melting rate increases with increase in inlet temperature of HTF. It is observed that addition of GNP (up to 3% by mass) to PCM helps reduce the charging & discharging duration, improves overall system performance.
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