Enhancement Study of Ice Storage Performance in Circular Tank with Finned Tube

Abstract

Combined experimental and numerical studies are conducted to study ice storage performance of an ice storage tank with finned tube. Axially arranged fins on the refrigerant tube are applied to enhance the solidification. The evolution of the solid–liquid interface and the variation of temperature of the typical position is examined. The effect of natural convection is discussed in detail. In addition, the effects of refrigerant temperature and initial water temperature on the ice storage performance are analyzed. The results indicate that the ice storage performance is enhanced by the metal fins remarkably. The defection of poor heat transfer after ice is formed can be solved by applying fins in ice storage devices. Natural convection leads to unnecessary mixing of water with different temperatures, lessening the cooling energy stored and acting as a disadvantage during solidification. Decreasing the refrigerant temperature and initial water temperature is beneficial for ice storage.

Dynamic heat transfer characteristics of ice storage in smooth-tube and corrugated-tube heat exchangers

“…The relationship between the temperature and enthalpy of the PCM is defined as: (10) The physical properties of the PCM can be expressed as follows [3],…”

“…While due to the low heat transfer coefficient of ice, the thermal resistance between the refrigeration medium and water increases with the thickness of ice. This heat transfer characteristic hinders the application of ice storage technology [3]. Therefore, many experiments [4,5] and studies [6,7] focus on enhancement of the heat transfer of ice storage systems.…”

“…The active measure requires mechanical assistance or electrostatic field, while the passive one does not require any external power supply [8,9]. The passive measure can be summarized into four categories [10], including enlargement of the heat transfer area [3,10], improvement of the thermal conductivity [11], using the PCM microencapsulation [12] and adding the metal foam [13,14]. Considering the commercial cost and scheduling performance, the most commonly used measures are mainly enlargement of the heat transfer area and improvement of the thermal conductivity, including inserting fins [15] and adopting the corrugated-tube inserting fins.…”

Optimization of Heat and Mass Exchange

“…Zhou et al [9] provide an experimental and numerical study in an ice storage tank with finned tubes. The objective is to enhance the performance of the solidification process with the application of axially arranged fins and tubes.…”

Experimental Study on Forced Convection Heat Transfer from Plate-Fin Heat Sinks with Partial Heating

“…Therefore, efficient cooling of these devices is essential and various cooling methods have been developed. In addition, the efficient cooling is also essential for various thermal systems such as transcritical CO 2 refrigeration systems [3], ice storage tanks [4], wind tunnels [5], and heat exchanger/reactors [6]. The most common cooling method is the use of plate-fin heat sinks under forced convection.…”