Charging/discharging performance and corrosion behavior of a novel latent heat thermal energy storage device with different fin plate materials

Abstract

The use of low-grade industrial waste heat for building heating could facilitate the decarbonization of heat sector, which accounts for a large share of energy consumption worldwide. However, the uncontrollable fluctuation characteristics of heat source and mismatch between energy supply and demand greatly limit its large-scale application. Notably, latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) technology, showing remarkable advantages in terms of energy storage density, heat storage temperature (nearly constant), technology maturity and cost, could effectively solve the above problem. Hence, this work specially focused on LHTES device that utilized fin plate for improving performance of heat harvesting and reuse. Furthermore, charging/discharging performance and corrosion behavior of a novel device with different fin plate materials (brass, aluminum and stainless steel) were investigated. Results showed that temperature difference between plate surface and melting point above 10 °C effectively shortened charging time more than 45.7 %. A higher thermal conductivity of fin material contributed to a better thermal performance. Aluminum and stainless steel preferred to be used as fin plate materials of targeted hydrated salt owing to their low corrosion rate of 0.016 and 0.002 mg/(cm2·yr), respectively. This work was expected to provide a guidance on designing a LHTES device applied in building heating.