Abstract
Hot water storage tank is the crucial element in solar energy utilization systems. Phase change material can significantly improve the thermal efficiency and the heat storage of hot water tank. In this study, a 3-D model for hot water tank with low melting point metals, sodium acetate trihydrate, and paraffin wax was established and validated by the experimental results. The influence of the inlet flow rates, the thermal conductivity and positions of the phase change materials on thermal characteristics of the hot water tank had been investigated. Results show that the hot water tank with low melting point metals has better performance due to its high thermal conductivity. Besides, with the inlet flow rate of 9 L/min, the released heat energy of the low melting point metals, the sodium acetate trihydrate and the paraffin wax water tanks are 17.22 MJ, 16.77 MJ and 16.37 MJ with the melting rates at the end time of 0%, 28% and 47%, respectively. In addition, as the inlet flow rate varies from 5 L/min to 9 L/min, the distances between the isothermal surfaces (35 °C and 75 °C) of the low melting point metals, the sodium acetate trihydrate and the paraffin wax water tanks increases from 3.98 cm to 7.96 cm, 5.49 cm to 8.57 cm and 5.82 cm to 8.87 cm, respectively, thus, the filling efficiency and Richardson number of the hot water tank with low melting point metals are the highest at the same inlet flow rate and position of the phase change material balls. Therefore, the application of low melting point metals as a phase change material in hot water tank not only can improve the heat storage capacity, but also increase thermal stratification.
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