Numerical Study on Enhancement of Heat pipe-nickel foam to High Temperature Phase Change Thermal Storage

Abstract

High temperature phase change thermal energy storage could be widely applied in the fields of solar power systems, industrial waste heat recovery, etc., while the drawback of low thermal conductivity constrains the application of phase change thermal energy storage. The enthalpy-porosity technique was employed to analyze the performance of a thermal energy storage unit with square container and high melting temperature phase change material enhanced by heat pipes and nickel foam. The melting performance of the phase change material with different thermal enhancement methods has been studied. The obtained results reveals that heat pipe is more effective than the nickel foam, and the heat pipe-nickel foam mode could effectively shorten the melting process and decrease the temperature difference within the phase change material in the container. The simulation could provide a significant reference to the phase change energy storage system enhanced by heat pipes.