Abstract
A wavy shape was used to enhance the thermal heat transfer in a shell-tube latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) unit. The thermal storage unit was filled with CuO–coconut oil nano-enhanced phase change material (NePCM). The enthalpy-porosity approach was employed to model the phase change heat transfer in the presence of natural convection effects in the molten NePCM. The finite element method was applied to integrate the governing equations for fluid motion and phase change heat transfer. The impact of wave amplitude and wave number of the heated tube, as well as the volume concertation of nanoparticles on the full-charging time of the LHTES unit, was addressed. The Taguchi optimization method was used to find an optimum design of the LHTES unit. The results showed that an increase in the volume fraction of nanoparticles reduces the charging time. Moreover, the waviness of the tube resists the natural convection flow circulation in the phase change domain and could increase the charging time.
Highlights
The major threat in energy society is the expanding gap between the supply of energy and global demand, which makes it challenging for engineers to find unique solutions to fulfill the needs of this society
TThhee HHTTFF with a high temperatuurree iiss iinnjjeecctteedd iinnttootthheewwaavvyyttuubbeewwiitthhaatteemmppeerraattuurreeooffTTinin, tthhee hheeatt is transferred between the wavy wall and the nano-enhanced phase change material (NePCM), with thermal energy stored in the NePCM
This parameter shows the capacity of the phase change materials (PCMs) to store energy and depends on the amount of the energy stored at 100% melting volume fraction: CP
Summary
The major threat in energy society is the expanding gap between the supply of energy and global demand, which makes it challenging for engineers to find unique solutions to fulfill the needs of this society. A study by Mesalhy et al [8] showed that the porous foam matrix within PCM has a significant impact on the rate of heat transfer and charging time. A new sort of nano-enhanced phase change material (NePCM) was developed by Wu et al [12] by suspending a small amount of C/Cu, Cu, and Al nanoparticles paraffin to improve the heat transfer rate of paraffin. Shahsavar et al [23] investigated the solidification and melting performance in a wavy LHTES with composite PCM and copper foam They showed that a wavy enclosure could have promising advantages in the system, where strong influences of metal foams suppressed the convection heat transfer. OTfh19e current research aims to investigate the advantage of using wavy tubes in clear flows (with no porous metal foam) where the convective heat transfer effects are important. The wimhpearectthoef ucosninvgecntaivneoahdeadtittirvaenssfoenr ethffeeccthsaarrgeinimg ptiomrteaonft.thTeheenimerpgayctstoofruasgiengsynsatenmoawddililtiavlesos obne itnhveecshtiagragtiendg. time of the energy storage system will be investigated
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
