Solidification enhancement in triplex thermal energy storage system via triplets fins configuration and hybrid nanoparticles

Abstract

Latent thermal energy storage dependent on Phase Change Materials (PCMs) proposes a possible answer for modifying the availability of alternating energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar. They can possibly store large amounts of energy in moderately tiny dimensions as well as through almost isothermal procedures. Notwithstanding, low thermal conductivity values is a significant disadvantage of the present PCMs which critically restrict their energy storage usage. Likewise, this unacceptably decreases the solidification/melting rates, hence causing the system response time to be excessively lengthy. The present examination accomplished a better PCM solidification rate with a combination of hybrid nanoparticle (MoS2 - Fe3O4) and novel fin configuration in triplex-tube storage. A computational model that considers the natural conduction was represented and validated against previous experimental data. The influences of applying various nanoparticle volume fractions, radiation parameter, and shape factor on the assessment of the liquid-solid interfaces, phase change rate, and solidification process time over the whole solidification procedure was calculated and reported. The outputs demonstrate that PCM solidification is becoming better by utilizing the aforementioned methods. The obtained results disclose that the radiation parameter has a significant impact on the phase change rate, which shows a 74.58% contribution to the full solidification process time (FST). Additionally, the optimum parameters have designed to optimize the full solidification process time in the triplex-tube latent heat energy storage system (LHESS) system by using the Taguchi and Response Surface Methodology (RSM) methods. As a novelty, an accurate correlation for FST is developed with sensibly great precision.