Phase Change Process in a Zigzag Plate Latent Heat Storage System during Melting and Solidification

Abstract

Applying a well-performing heat exchanger is an efficient way to fortify the relatively low thermal response of phase-change materials (PCMs), which have broad application prospects in the fields of thermal management and energy storage. In this study, an improved PCM melting and solidification in corrugated (zigzag) plate heat exchanger are numerically examined compared with smooth (flat) plate heat exchanger in both horizontal and vertical positions. The effects of the channel width (0.5 W, W, and 2 W) and the airflow temperature (318 K, 323 K, and 328 K) are exclusively studied and reported. The results reveal the much better performance of the horizontal corrugated configuration compared with the smooth channel during both melting and solidification modes. It is found that the melting rate is about 8% faster, and the average temperature is 4 K higher in the corrugated region compared with the smooth region because of the large heat-exchange surface area, which facilitates higher rates of heat transfer into the PCM channel. In addition to the higher performance, a more compact unit can be achieved using the corrugated system. Moreover, applying the half-width PCM channel accelerates the melting rate by eight times compared to the double-width channel. Meanwhile, applying thicker channels provides faster solidification rates. The melting rate is proportional to the airflow temperature. The PCM melts within 274 s when the airflow temperature is 328 K. However, the melting time increases to 460 s for the airflow temperature of 308 K. Moreover, the PCM solidifies in 250 s and 405 s in the cases of 318 K and 328 K airflow temperatures, respectively.

Solidification Enhancement in a Triple-Tube Latent Heat Energy Storage System Using Twisted Fins

“…Still, a major concern for the LHTES system is PCM's minimal thermal Energies 2021, 14, 7179 2 of 23 efficiency, which decreases the phase change rate [14][15][16][17]. Researchers developed several techniques to improve the heat transfer rate of such systems, including the expansion of the heat transfer surface area [18][19][20], adding micro or nano-sized particles [21][22][23][24], using cascade layer PCM [25], encapsulation techniques [26,27], changing the location of the heat transfer fluid (HTF) channel [28][29][30], fins combinations [31][32][33], conductive foams [34][35][36], and using magnetic fields [37,38].…”

Numerical Predication of Solidification Phenomena of Phase Change Material in Concentric Annulus Pipe

“…Enthalpy -porosity method is used [12,13,14,15] to simulate the solidification process of the PCM due to its ability resolve explicit tracking of the solid-liquid interface position as well as ease to solve issues related to the phase change [16]. This method affords the exact simulation results and the best image of the required operations.…”

“… There is no explicit requirement for the solid/liquid interface.  All researchers depend on it now [12,13,14,15]. Numerical models were used to simulate the cases of the present study, passing through four steps which are:…”

Discharge improvement of a phase change material‐air‐based thermal energy storage unit for space heating applications using metal foams in the air sides

“…These faults lead to shrinking the utilization of the LHS units. 15 Various techniques are applied to enhance the efficiency of the thermal units, including shape modification, [16][17][18] adding fins, 19,20 nano or microparticles, 21,22 encapsulation, 23 and metal foam as a porous medium. 22,[24][25][26][27][28] Each technique could be utilized alone or combined with the other, for example, the nanoparticles could use with the fins or the metal foam, which provides extra thermal improvement.…”