Numerical Simulation of Heat Transfer in Shell and Tube Heat Storage Fixed Vertical Fins

2012 ◽  
Vol 614-615 ◽  
pp. 286-290
Author(s):  
Xu Liang Gao ◽  
Li Yang

The article presents a new kind of shell and tube phase change heat storage exchanger using vertical fins. And select paraffin as phase change materials, Fluent6.3 software was used to study the melting process. Some conditions of different fin height, different fin width and different fin numbers of axial direction were investigated. The results show that the higher and the wider of the fins, and the more the fin number of axial direction, the shorter is the melting time, the better is the effect of heat transfer

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 651-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Apurv Yadav ◽  
Bidyut Barman ◽  
Abhishek Kardam ◽  
S Shankara Narayanan ◽  
Abhishek Verma ◽  
...  

Phase change materials can provide large heat storage density with low volume. But their low thermal conductivity limits their heat transfer capabilities. Since carbonaceous nanoparticles have a good thermal conductivity they can be applied as an additive to phase change materials to increase their heat transfer rate. In this study, nano-graphite is used as an additive and the influences of its various concentrations on the thermal conductivity and melting and freezing rate for the nanoparticle-enhanced phase change materials is experimentally investigated. Experimental results indicates a reduction of 22% in melting time and a reduction of 75% in solidification time of 0.5% nano-graphite-embedded phase change material.


Author(s):  
Mohammad Reza Mohaghegh ◽  
Shohel Mahmud ◽  
Syeda Tasnim

Abstract The integration of thermal energy storage (TES) systems with Phase Change Materials (PCMs) is a promising technique not only for storing thermal energy, also for thermal management applications. Encapsulation is a safe and efficient integration technique of using PCM, which has various advantages such as PCM protection, mechanical stability, leakage prevention and, diversified shapes and sizes. The thermal performance of these systems is heavily dependent on the form and geometry of the encapsulating PCM. Various literature has investigated PCM encapsulation for different applications; however, they were limited to just a few common geometries, i.e., rectangular, spherical, and cylindrical. The present research is aimed to investigate the effect of shape/geometry on the thermal performance of encapsulated PCMs and visualize the PCM melting process to a further improvement in the thermal performance of TES systems for different applications. For this purpose, transient heat transfer and the melting process of the same volume of PCM encapsulated in four different geometrical configurations of the capsules, including the common encapsulation shapes such as spherical, cubical, cylindrical, and conical shape as less studied and new proposed shape, are studied. A mathematical model is developed and numerically solved to study the energy transport processes inside the enclosures. The melting process is visualized numerically to track the solid-liquid interface during the phase change. Moreover, the heat transfer characteristics such as melting fraction and energy stored in the system and their temporal variation during the phase change process are determined. A comparison of the four cases in terms of melting rate and energy storage is carried out, as well. The results show that the conical capsule exhibits the best thermal performance with a total melting time of 72 minutes. While the cubical capsule requires 111 minutes to complete the melting process.


Author(s):  
Tingting Wu ◽  
Yanxin Hu ◽  
Xianqing Liu ◽  
Changhong Wang ◽  
Zijin Zeng ◽  
...  

Background: The employment of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) provides a potential selection for heat dissipation and energy storage. The main reason that hinders the wide application is the low thermal conductivity of PCMs. Combining the proper metal fin and copper foam, the fin/composite phase change material (Fin-CPCM) structure with good performance could be obtained. However, the flow resistance of liquid paraffin among the porous structure has seldom been reported, which will significantly affect the thermal performance inside the metal foam. Furthermore, the presence of porous metal foam is primarily helpful for enhancing the heat transfer process from the bottom heat source. The heat transfer rate is slow due to the one-dimensional heat transfer from the bottom. It should be beneficial for improving the heat transfer performance by adding external fins. Therefore, in the present study, a modified structure by combining the metal fin and copper foam is proposed to further accelerate the melting process and improve the temperature uniformity of the composite. Objective: The purpose of this study is to research the differences in the heat transfer performance among pure paraffin, Composite Phase Change Materials (CPCM) and fin/Composite Phase Change Material (Fin-CPCM) under different heating conditions, and the flow resistance of melting paraffin in copper foam. Methods: To experimentally research the differences in the heat transfer performance among pure paraffin, CPCM and Fin-CPCM under different heating conditions, a visual experimental platform was set up, and the flow resistance of melting paraffin in copper foam was also analyzed. In order to probe into the limits of the heat transfer capability of composite phase change materials, the temperature distribution of PCMs under constant heat fluxes and constant temperature conditions was studied. In addition, the evolution of the temperature distributions was visualized by using the infrared thermal imager at specific points during the melting process. Results: The experimental results showed that the maximum temperature of Fin-CPCM decreased by 21°C under the heat flux of 1500W/m2 compared with pure paraffin. At constant temperature heating conditions, the melting time of Fin-CPCM at a temperature of 75°C is about 2600s, which is 65% less than that of pure paraffin. Due to the presence of the external fins, which brings the advantage of improving the heat transfer rate, the experimental result exhibited the most uniform temperature distribution. Conclusion: The addition of copper foam can accelerate the melting process. The addition of external fins brings the advantage of improving the heat transfer rate, and can make the temperature distribution more uniform.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
F. C. Spengler ◽  
B. Oliveira ◽  
R. C. Oliveski ◽  
L. A. O. Rocha

The thermal heat storage it’s an effective way to suit the energy availability with the demand schedule. It can be stored in the means of sensible or latent heat, the latter applying a material denominated Phase Change Material (PCM), which is provided as organic compounds, hydrated salts, paraffins, among others. The latent heat storage systems offer several advantages, like the practically isothermal process of loading and unloading and the high energy density. However, the low thermal conductivity makes the cycle prolonged on these systems, restricting its applicability. Applying computational fluid dynamics, the behavior of the PCM melting process was studied in cylindrical cavities with horizontal and vertical fins, aiming the optimization of the fin geometry. In this way the fin area was kept constant, varying its aspect ratio. The numerical model was validated with results from the literature and it’s composed of the continuity, momentum and energy equations increased by the phase change model. Qualitative and quantitative results are presented, referring to mesh independence, contours of velocity, net fraction and temperature at different moments of the process. The results of the study indicate that the position of the fin in the heat exchanger influences the melting process, although the vertical fins have a faster total melting process, horizontal fins can reach larger partial liquid fractions in less time in the heat exchanger. Such as the position of the fin, the increase of its length propitiates the reduction of the melting time, evidencing the optimal aspect ratio.


2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Arunachalam

Energy storage helps in waste management, environmental protection, saving of fossil fuels, cost effectiveness, and sustainable growth. Phase change material (PCM) is a substance which undergoes simultaneous melting and solidification at certain temperature and pressure and can thereby absorb and release thermal energy. Phase change materials are also called thermal batteries which have the ability to store large amount of heat at fixed temperature. Effective integration of the latent heat thermal energy storage system with solar thermal collectors depends on heat storage materials and heat exchangers. The practical limitation of the latent heat thermal energy system for successful implementation in various applications is mainly from its low thermal conductivity. Low thermal conductivity leads to low heat transfer coefficient, and thereby, the phase change process is prolonged which signifies the requirement of heat transfer enhancement techniques. Typically, for salt hydrates and organic PCMs, the thermal conductivity range varies between 0.4–0.7 W/m K and 0.15–0.3 W/m K which increases the thermal resistance within phase change materials during operation, seriously affecting efficiency and thermal response. This paper reviews the different geometry of commercial heat exchangers that can be used to address the problem of low thermal conductivity, like use of fins, additives with high thermal conductivity materials like metal strips, microencapsulated PCM, composite PCM, porous metals, porous metal foam matrix, carbon nanofibers and nanotubes, etc. Finally, different solar thermal applications and potential PCMs for low-temperature thermal energy storage were also discussed.


Proceedings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Jiang ◽  
Liu ◽  
Yuan

In order to effectively improve the thermal performance of the thermal insulation masonry wall, the thermal bridge effect of the grey joint on the heat transfer of the wall structure was studied. A brand-new form of phase change material walls, which used phase change materials in the wall parts to build ash joints, was carried out. The application of phase change material mortar, which was different from conventional "Hamburger" phase change material walls, was demonstrated to be a useful tool to reduce the thermal coefficient of the masonry wall. Furthermore, the scale-down test and numerical simulation of the heat transfer coefficient of the phase change material wall with different distribution of ash joints were experimented and discussed, and the feasibility of the new-form phase change material wall within the error range was verified.


1993 ◽  
Vol 115 (4) ◽  
pp. 240-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ch. Charach

This communication extends the thermodynamic analysis of latent heat storage in a shell-and-tube heat exchanger, developed recently, to the complete heat storage-removal cycle. Conditions for the cyclic operation of this system are formulated within the quasi-steady approximation for the axisymmetric two-dimensional conduction-controlled phase change. Explicit expressions for the overall number of entropy generation units that account for heat transfer and pressure drop irreversibilities are derived. Optimization of this figure of merit with respect to the freezing point of the phase-change material and with respect to the number of heat transfer units is analyzed. When the frictional irreversibilities of the heat removal stage are negligible, the results of these studies are in agreement with those developed recently by De Lucia and Bejan (1991) for a one-dimensional latent heat storage system.


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