Study of Heat and Mass Transfer in MgCl2/NH3 Thermo-Chemical Batteries

Author(s):  
Seyyed Ali Hedayat Mofidi ◽  
Kent S. Udell

Intermittency of sustainable energy or waste heat availability calls for energy storage systems such as thermal batteries. Thermo-chemical batteries are particularly appealing for energy storage applications due to their high energy densities and ability to store thermal energy as chemical energy for long periods of time without any energy loss. Thermo-chemical batteries based on a reversible solid-gas (MgCl2 - NH3) reactions and NH3 liquid-gas phase change are of specific interest since the kinetics of absorption are fast and the heat transfer rates for liquid — vapor phase change are high. Thus, a thermo-chemical battery based on reversible reaction between magnesium chloride and ammonia was studied. Experimental studies were conducted on a reactor in which temperature profiles within the solid matrix and pressure and flow rates of gas were obtained during charging processes. A numerical model based on heat and mass transfer within the salt and salt-gas reactions was developed to simulate the absorption processes within the solid matrix and the results were compared with experimental data. The studies were used to determine dominant heat and mass transfer processes within the salt. It is shown that for high permeability materials, heat transfer is the dominant factor in determining reaction rates. However increasing thermal conductivity might decrease permeability and reduce reaction rates. The effect of constraining mass flow rate on the temperature and reaction propagation is also studied. These results show that optimized heat and mass transfer within the solid-gas reactor will lead to improved performance for heating and air conditioning applications.

2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyyed Ali Hedayat Mofidi ◽  
Kent S. Udell

Intermittency of sustainable energy or waste heat availability calls for energy storage systems such as thermal batteries. Thermochemical batteries based on a reversible solid–gas (MgCl2–NH3) reactions and NH3 liquid–gas phase change are of specific interest since the kinetics of absorption are fast and the heat transfer rates for liquid–vapor phase change are high. Thus, a thermochemical battery based on reversible reaction between magnesium chloride and ammonia was studied. Two-dimensional experimental studies were conducted on a reactor in which temperature profiles within the solid matrix and pressure and flow rates of gas were obtained during discharging processes. A numerical model based on heat and mass transfer within the salt and salt–gas reactions was developed to simulate the NH3 absorption processes within the solid matrix, and the results were compared with experimental data to determine dominant heat and mass transfer processes within the salt. It is shown that for high permeability salt beds, the reactor uniformly adsorbs gaseous ammonia until the bed reaches the equilibrium temperature, then adsorbs gas near the cooled boundaries as the reaction front moves inward. In that mode, the heat transfer is the dominant factor in determining reaction rates.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 2858-2874
Author(s):  
Mostafa Abd El-Rady Abu-Zeid ◽  
Xiaolong Lu ◽  
Shaozhe Zhang

Abstract The low flux and high energy consumption problems of the conventional three-stage air-gap membrane distillation (AG-AG-AG)MD system caused by the low temperature difference between hot and cold feed at both sides of the membrane and high boundary layer thickness were solved successfully by replacing one of the three stages of air gaps by a water gap. The novel three-stage air-gap–water-gap membrane distillation (AG-AG-WG)MD system reduced energy consumption and increased flux due to efficient internal heat recycling by virtue of a water-gap module. Heat and mass transfer in novel and conventional three-stage systems were analyzed theoretically. Under a feed temperature of 45 °C, flow rate of 20 l/h, cooling temperature of 20 °C, and concentration of 340 ppm, the (AG-AG-WG)MD promoted flux by 17.59% and 211.69%, and gained output ratio (GOR) by 60.57% and 204.33% compared with two-stage (AG-WG)MD and one-stage AGMD, respectively. This work demonstrated the important role of a water gap in changing the heat and mass transfer where convection heat transfer across the water gap is faster by 24.17 times than conduction heat transfer through the air gap. The increase in flux and GOR economized the heating energy and decreased waste heat input into the system. Additionally, the number of MD stages could increase the achieving of a high flux with operation stability.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (5 Part B) ◽  
pp. 3185-3193
Author(s):  
Sina Dang ◽  
Hongjun Xue ◽  
Xiaoyan Zhang ◽  
Chengwen Zhong

To strengthen the heat and mass transfer capacity and improve the temperature regulation rate, potential storage is taken as the research object in this research to study the heat energy storage of the battery in the low temperature environment. Lattice Boltzmann method is adopted to study the heat energy storage influence mechanism of the temperature regulation system of the low temperature phase-change materials. In addition, the influence of different physical parameters (thermal conductivity and latent heat of phase change) on the thermal insulation of the system in the process of temperature control is revealed. The results show that the mechanism of heat and mass transfer in the process of heat storage and temperature control is related to the different physical properties of phase change materials. The decrease of thermal conductivity and the increase of latent heat of phase change materials will greatly increase the effect of heat energy storage. Therefore, under the action of phase change latent heat, phase change material can effectively extend the holding time of the battery in the low temperature environment.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Nazia Afrin

Heat transfer describes the exchange of thermal energy, between physical systems depending on the temperature and pressure, by dissipating heat. The fundamental modes of heat transfer are conduction or diffusion, convection and radiation. Heat and mass transfer are kinetic processes that may occur and be studied separately or jointly. Studying them apart is simpler, but both processes are modeled by similar mathematical equation in the case of diffusion and convection. There are complex problems where heat and mass transfer processes are combined with chemical reactions, as in combustion. The resulting behavior of heat transport in microscale will be very different from macroscale heat transfer based on the averages taken over hundreds of thousands of grains (in space) and collision (in time). From the microscopic point of view, the process of heat transport is governed by phonon-electron interaction in metallic films and by phonon scattering in dielectric films, insulators and semi-conductors. For extremely heated surfaces by high energy laser pulse, it is very difficult to measure temperature of flux at the heated surface because of the unendurable capacity of the conventional sensors. Laser is the tool of choice when drill holes ranging in diameter from several millimeters to less than one micro-meter. Instead of having advanced melting and resolidification modeling process recently, the inherent uncertainties of the input parameters can directly cause unstable characteristics of the output results which means the parametric uncertainties may influence the characteristics of the phase change processes (melting and resolidification) which will affect the predictions of interfacial properties i.e., temperature, velocity and mainly the location of solid-liquid interface. All of those processes can be considered under high energy laser interaction with materials.


Author(s):  
M. Boutaous ◽  
E. Pe´rot ◽  
A. Maazouz ◽  
P. Bourgin ◽  
P. Chantrenne

The process of rotational moulding consists in manufacturing plastic parts by heating a polymer powder in a biaxial rotating mould. In order to optimise the production cycle of this process, a complete simulation model has to be used. This model should describe the phenomena of heat and mass transfer in a moving granular media with phase change, coalescence, sintering, air evacuation and crystallization during the cooling stage. This paper focus on the study of heat and mass transfer in a quiescent polymer powder during the heating stage. An experimental device has been built. It consists in an open plane static mold on which an initial thickness, e, of a polymer powder is deposited. This powder is then heated until it melts. An inverse heat conduction method is used to determine the heat flux and temperature at the interface between the mold and the powder. This interfacial heat flux is taken as a boundary condition in a numerical heat transfer model witch takes into account the heat transfer in granular media with phase change, coalescence, sintering, air bubbles evacuation and rheological behaviour of the polymer. For the numerical simulation of the heat transfer, the apparent specific heat method is used. This approach allows to solve the same energy equation for all the material phases, so one do not have to calculate the melting front evolution. This fine modelling, close to the real physical phenomena makes it possible to estimate the temperature profile and the evolution of the polymer powder characteristics (phase change, air diffusion, viscosity, evolution of the thermophysical properties of the equivalent homogeneous medium, thickness reduction, air volume fraction...). Several results are then presented, and the influence of different parameters, like the thermal contact resistance, the process initial conditions and the polymer’s rheological characteristics are studied and commented. Indeed the predictions of the temperature rises in the polymer bed, agree well with the experimental measurements.


TecnoLógicas ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (49) ◽  
pp. 53-70
Author(s):  
David Gamboa ◽  
Bernardo Herrera

A heat pipe can be considered a highly effective thermal conduction device, which is especially desirable in heat transfer operations in order to ensure high energy efficiency. However, the operation of heat pipes comprises different heat and mass transfer phenomena, such phase change, heat conduction and convection, solid-liquid and vapor-liquid surface interactions, surface vaporization, and nucleate boiling. Therefore, modelling heat pipes is a highly complex task that demands detailed knowledge of the physical phenomena involved and choosing suitable theoretical models to obtain a good representation of the real nature of the heat and mass transfer processes. In this study, some models and parameters available in the commercial CFD software ANSYS Fluent for turbulence, density, phase change, and phase interfaces were examined to determine their influence on the prediction of the heat and mass transfer in a two-phased closed thermosyphon (TPCT). The numerical results show that using a turbulence viscous model is not necessary and that a variable density model improves the temperature distribution inside the TPCT. Furthermore, using high mass and energy transfer coefficients during condensation makes the vapor remain close to the saturation temperature. Finally, a sharp interphase model is strongly recommended for this type of process.


2008 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Claudio Caprara ◽  
Giovanni Stoppiello

The continuous increase in the mechanization of farm activities, the rise in fuel prices and the environmental aspects concerning gas emissions are the main driving forces behind efforts toward more effective use of renewable energy sources and cogeneration systems even in agricultural and cattle farms. Nevertheless these systems are still not very suitable for this purpose because of their little flexibility in following the changing energy demand as opposed to the extremely various farm load curves, both in daytime and during the year. In heat recovery systems, the available thermal energy supply is always linked to power production, thus it does not usually coincide in time with the heat demand. Hence some form of thermal energy storage (TES) is necessary in order to reach the most effective utilization of the energy source. This study deals with the modelling of a packed bed latent heat TES unit, integrating a cogeneration system made up of a reciprocating engine. The TES unit contains phase change materials (PCMs) filled in spherical capsules, which are packed in an insulated cylindrical storage tank. Water is used as heat transfer fluid (HTF) to transfer heat from the tank to the final uses, and exhausts from the engine are used as thermal source. PCMs are considered especially for their large heat storage capacity and their isothermal behaviour during the phase change processes. Despite their high energy storage density, most of them have an unacceptably low thermal conductivity, hence PCMs encapsulation technique is adopted in order to improve heat transfer. The special modular configuration of heat exchange tubes and the possibility of changing water flow through them allow to obtain the right amount of thermal energy from the tank, according to the hourly demand of the day. The model permits to choose the electrical load of the engine, the dimensions of the tank and the spheres, thickness and diameter of heat exchanger and the nature of PCMs. According to the energy loads of the farm, a daily thermal energy balance is obtained and charging and discharging cycles during the day are showed as solid/ liquid percentages of the PCM. As an example, load curves of a milk cattle farm (100 heads of cattle), were considered in two different conditions, such as in summer and winter seasons, and model functioning was detected in both of the cases. Different PCMs were investigated for this application and TES unit dimensions were consequently changed in order to achieve optimal operating conditions. Results are presented and technical and economical issues are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 204-212
Author(s):  
Hong Chang ◽  
Lihan Jin

Accompanied by a large amount of heat absorption and release during the phase change process, phase change concrete has the advantages of high energy storage density, low volume expansion ratio and approximate isotherm in the heat exchange. It is widely used in the building field. For this, using steel balls as the carrier material and butyl stearate as the phase change material (PCM), the authors combined the phase change energy storage material with the energy pile to prepare a new type of concrete energy pile enhanced with the PCMs. Then, the tests and numerical simulations were conducted to study the optimal mix ratio and thermal conductivity of the phase change concrete. The results show that adding steel balls (10% of the coarse aggregate volume), and slag and fly ash (5% of the cementitious material mass) to the ordinary concrete C30 can greatly improve the heat transfer efficiency of the energy pile. The research findings provide a guidance for engineering practice.


2013 ◽  
Vol 456 ◽  
pp. 456-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Ma ◽  
Yan Qin

Energy storage plays important roles in conserving available energy and improving its utilization, since many energy sources are intermittent in nature. Energy storage, in particular the thermal energy storage becomes increasingly popular and technically attractive as one of the possible solutions for energy conservation and leveling of energy demand patterns. Because of advantages of high energy storage density and nearly constant temperature in phase change process, phase change materials (PCMs) have been becoming one of the key researches. This paper reviews the application of PCMs on heat transfer and the development trend in future is prospected. In view of the problem of low thermal conductivity, some heat transfer enhancement methods on PCMs are reviewed, such as adding mental, fins, graphite, carbon brushes, etc.


Author(s):  
Vladimir V. Kuznetsov

In recent years considerable attention has been paid to the study of microscale flow and heat transfer with phase change and chemical reactions. This article reviews the patterns of the microscale two-phase gas-liquid flow, the statistical parameters of slug flow and capillary phenomena in annular flow for a rectangular microchannel. The evaporative and condensing heat transfer model for the curved liquid microfilm in microchannel and near contact line is developed and discussed. The influence of forced convection, nucleate boiling and thin film evaporation on microscale flow boiling heat transfer is reviewed and analyzed. The model of forced boiling heat transfer in microchannel is developed and compared with the existing experimental data. The mechanism and patterns of microscale explosive evaporation in the MEMS system is determined at high external heat flux density and the acousto-thermal model of the explosive evaporation is considered. The results of calculations are compared with the experimental data. The peculiarities of heat and mass transfer in a micro channel with surface catalytic reactions producing the hydrogen are presented. The kinetics of sequence of chemical reactions at nanoscale catalyst under conditions of significant nonuniformity of temperature and species concentration fields is considered.


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