Numerical simulation of single media thermocline based storage system

[Display omitted] •Performance of single media tank for different operation conditions is studied.•Effect of tank aspect ratio on thermocline thickness is investigated.•Effect of different tank configurations on performance is investigated. Thermocline based single media tanks (SMTs) have emerged as...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Solar energy 2018-11, Vol.174, p.207-217
Main Authors: Shaikh, W., Wadegaonkar, A., Kedare, S.B., Bose, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Computational fluid dynamics
Computer simulation
Dimensionless numbers
Energy storage
Mathematical models
Molten salts
Motivation
Numerical simulation
Porous tube
Power plants
Péclet number
Simulation
Single media tank
Solar energy
Solar power
Solar power plants
Storage tanks
Thermal energy
Thermal stratification
Thermocline
Thermocline thickness
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:[Display omitted] •Performance of single media tank for different operation conditions is studied.•Effect of tank aspect ratio on thermocline thickness is investigated.•Effect of different tank configurations on performance is investigated. Thermocline based single media tanks (SMTs) have emerged as a popular choice for storage of thermal energy in concentrated solar power plants. The motivation of the current work is to investigate the effect of various parameters on the thermocline thickness which decides the performance of SMTs. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the single media thermocline based thermal energy storage system through numerical simulations performed using COMSOL Multiphysics Two different fluids, i.e. water and molten salt are selected for the current analysis. Performance of SMT toward achieving the thermal stratification for different configurations and under various operating conditions is investigated. The results obtained from simulations are compared against the experimental observations. Simulations confirm that the vertical porous flow distributor eccentrically placed in the tank, helps in reducing the thermocline thickness. The results also suggest that the two non-dimensional numbers, i.e. the Péclet and the Atwood number have significant influence on the thermal stratification.
ISSN:0038-092X
1471-1257
DOI:10.1016/j.solener.2018.08.084