Experimental Study on Two PCM Macro-Encapsulation Designs in a Thermal Energy Storage Tank

The use of latent heat thermal energy storage is an effective way to increase the efficiency of energy systems due to its high energy density compared with sensible heat storage systems. The design of the storage material encapsulation is one of the key parameters that critically affect the heat tra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied sciences 2021-07, Vol.11 (13), p.6171
Main Authors: Vérez, David, Borri, Emiliano, Crespo, Alicia, Mselle, Boniface Dominick, de Gracia, Álvaro, Zsembinszki, Gabriel, Cabeza, Luisa F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
Alternative energy sources
Charging
Design
Encapsulation
Energy storage
experimental study
Flow rates
Flow velocity
Fluid dynamics
Fluid flow
Flux density
Heat conductivity
Heat storage
Heat transfer
Latent heat
latent heat thermal energy storage
macro-encapsulation
Phase change materials
phase change materials (PCM)
Phase transitions
rectangular slab
Sensible heat
Slabs
Storage systems
Storage tanks
System effectiveness
Temperature distribution
Thermal energy
thermal energy storage
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Summary:The use of latent heat thermal energy storage is an effective way to increase the efficiency of energy systems due to its high energy density compared with sensible heat storage systems. The design of the storage material encapsulation is one of the key parameters that critically affect the heat transfer in charging/discharging of the storage system. To fill the gap found in the literature, this paper experimentally investigates the effect of the macro-encapsulation design on the performance of a lab-scale thermal energy storage tank. Two rectangular slabs with the same length and width but different thickness (35 mm and 17 mm) filled with commercial phase change material were used. The results show that using thinner slabs achieved a higher power, leading to a reduction in the charging and discharging time of 14% and 30%, respectively, compared with the thicker slabs. Moreover, the variation of the heat transfer fluid flow rate has a deeper impact on the temperature distribution and the energy charged/released when thicker slabs were used. The macro-encapsulation design did not have a significant impact on the discharging efficiency of the tank, which was around 85% for the operating thresholds considered in this study.
ISSN:2076-3417
2076-3417
DOI:10.3390/app11136171