Abstract
Phase change energy storage technology holds immense potential in the field of energy storage, and enhancing the efficiency of energy storage systems has long been a focal point of industry attention. This study aims to optimize the design of an L-shaped fin structure to improve the melting rate of the phase change material (PCM) within a rectangular phase change energy storage unit and enhance the overall system performance. Through the utilization of numerical simulations and the response surface method (RSM), the influence of fin design parameters - specifically, the length and thickness of the main segment and the length and thickness of the branch segment - on the energy storage per unit mass (Em) and energy storage efficiency (Pt) of the energy storage unit is evaluated. The results reveal that the length of both the main and branch segments of the L-shaped fin significantly impacts the melting rate of the PCM, whereas the thickness of these segments has a comparatively lesser effect. Additionally, when the length of the main segment reaches a sufficient value, increasing the length of the branch segment effectively addresses the challenge of PCM melting difficulties at the bottom of the rectangular phase change cavity caused by natural convection. The Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II) is employed for the multi-objective optimization of the L-shaped fin shape, and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) with entropy weighting is applied for decision-making to determine the optimal solution. Notably, when the weights of Em and Pt are set at 44.9 % and 55.1 % respectively, the overall performance of the energy storage unit is optimized. The Pareto-optimal decision solution exhibits a significant improvement of nearly threefold in Pt compared to the case without fins, while the reduction in Em is only 5.24 %. This design approach presents a novel perspective for determining fin parameters in phase change energy storage devices and is expected to drive advancements in phase change energy storage technology.
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