Enhancing the thermal performance of PCM in a shell and tube latent heat energy storage system by utilizing innovative fins

Abstract

The main obstacle of the PCMs which restricts their usage for thermal energy storage (TES) applications is their poor thermal conductivity. Utilizing metal fins is the most popular solution to enhance the performance of PCM-TES. In this work, PCM thermal performance enhancement in a shell and tube heat exchanger (STHX) was numerically investigated. Tee shaped fins is suggested as an innovative fin shape to accelerate the PCM melting process in the STHX. The tee fin was compared with the traditional longitudinal fin shape to evaluate its thermal performance. In this test, many heat exchangers with various fin shapes were tested and compared. These heat exchangers were: heat exchanger without fins, heat exchanger with six tee fins, heat exchanger with six longitudinal fins and heat exchanger with six tree fins. 2D numerical models were developed. The melting process was considered during the simulation. The results showed that the case without fins had about 15% of the PCM melted after 6 h, while, with the tee fins the PCM totally melted after 3.5 h. The total PCM melting time reduced by 33% when the tee fins were used, as compared to utilizing the longitudinal fins. It is observed that the geometry of the fins has an important influence on the PCM melting.

Keywords

• Thermal energy storage
• PCM
• Fins
• Melting