Numerical simulation of high-temperature phase transition thermal energy storage container for solar thermal power generation applications

Abstract

The heat storage process of the high temperature thermal energy storage container using single-stage PCM for solar thermal power generation is numerically simulated. The change curves of the PCM's temperature and liquid rate over time during the single-stage thermal stage melting process and its cloud distributions of the liquid rate at different time have been obtained. Through the analysis of the curves and cloud figures, in the premise of ensuring the heat accumulation amount, three kinds of PCM cascade regenerative high temperature thermal energy storage container design schemes are derived and simulated on their regenerative performance. The result indicates that the cascade heat storage schemes greatly reduce the total heat storage time and the "dead zones" effects effectively on the performance of heat storage during the single-stage regenerative terminal stage, which can make the PCM liquid rate distribution to be more uniform. It provides the theoretical basis for the optimization design of the high temperature phase change thermal energy storage container for solar thermal power generation applications.

Keywords

• solar energy
• solar thermal power generation
• high temperature thermal energy storage container
• heat storage of phase transition
• numerical simulation