Simultaneously improved heat storage rate and specific power for efficient thermal management via optimizing latent heat storage units

Abstract

The latent heat storage unit (LHSU) is crucial for effective heat regulation in high-power heat dissipation systems. However, it encounters the challenge of simultaneously increasing the heat storage rate and specific power. In light of this, a comprehensive evaluation of thermal performance for LHSU with different heat storage enhancement techniques is essential in the design and optimization of LHSU. Here, numerical and experimental investigations are conducted to compare performances of single-tube, aluminum foam, fin and multi-tube LHSUs. The multi-tube LHSU has the largest heat storage rate and specific power because it increases the heat transfer area of both fluid-side and PCMs-side and reduces the amount of heat transfer fluid. The fin LHSU has the second best performance, with the aluminum foam LHSU ranking behind it. Furthermore, based on the synergy of multi-tube and fin, a multi-tube-fin LHSU for significantly improving the heat storage rate and specific power is proposed, which can reduce the melting time of PCMs by 92.4% and improve the specific power by 1091.2%, compared to single-tube LHSU. This study deepens the understanding for the characteristics of different LHSUs and provides a guide for their selection and optimization in specific situations.