Abstract
Solar energy has been considered as one of the promising solutions to replace the fossil fuels. To generate electricity beyond normal daylight hours, thermal energy storage systems (TES) play a vital role in concentrated solar power (CSP) plants. Thus, a significant focus has been given on the improvement of TES systems from the past few decades. In this study, a numerical model is developed to obtain the detailed heat transfer characteristics of lab-scale latent thermal energy storage system, which consists of molten salt encapsulated spherical capsules and air. The melting process and the corresponding temperature and velocity distributions in every capsule of the system are predicted. The enthalpy-porosity approach is used to model the phase change region. The model is validated with the reported experimental results. Influence of initial condition on the thermal performance of the TES system is predicted.
Highlights
One of the important advantages of concentrated solar power (CSP) technology is the thermal energy storage system, which stores the heat for later use and increases the hours of electricity generation and dispatch ability [1,2]
Suitable phase change materials for high temperature processes have been investigated since the Latent thermal energy storage (LTES) system with PCM has been identified as a promising low-cost system for CSP plants; molten salt has been found as promising material to be used as the PCM for high temperature storage systems, range from 100 °C to above 600 °C
As a good agreement has been found between the numerical and experimental results of single capsule melting process, the same approach has been extended to a high temperature lab scale packed bed system developed by Tanvir et al, [18]
Summary
One of the important advantages of CSP technology is the thermal energy storage system, which stores the heat for later use and increases the hours of electricity generation and dispatch ability [1,2]. Latent thermal energy storage (LTES) system with phase change materials (PCM) is considered as one of the attractive methods since it provides high volumetric energy storage density resulting in low capital cost than the sensible heat storage systems [3,4]. Suitable phase change materials for high temperature processes have been investigated since the LTES system with PCM has been identified as a promising low-cost system for CSP plants; molten salt has been found as promising material to be used as the PCM for high temperature storage systems, range from 100 °C to above 600 °C. Numerical models have been developed to investigate the thermal performance characteristics of the LTES system with molten salt as the PCM [2,11,13,14,15,16,17].
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