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Thermal performance of a shell-and-tube latent heat thermal energy storage unit: Role of annular fins

•Natural convection in melt phase causes a remarkable promotion of melting interface evolution.•LHTES unit with annular fins exhibits promising potential for enhancing melting heat transfer.•An optimal group fin parameter is recommended towards maximizing phase change heat transfer.•Fins should be e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied energy 2017, Vol.202, p.558-570
Main Authors: Yang, Xiaohu, Lu, Zhao, Bai, Qingsong, Zhang, Qunli, Jin, Liwen, Yan, Jinyue
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:•Natural convection in melt phase causes a remarkable promotion of melting interface evolution.•LHTES unit with annular fins exhibits promising potential for enhancing melting heat transfer.•An optimal group fin parameter is recommended towards maximizing phase change heat transfer.•Fins should be equipped with proper design other than excessive numbers to maximize heat transfer. This study conducts numerical investigations on melting process in a shell-and-tube latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) unit with annular fins. Commercial grade paraffin is employed as the phase change material (PCM) and water serves as the heat transfer fluid (HTF). Finite-volume-method (FVM) based numerical simulations are performed to investigate the effects of fin number, height and thickness on the phase change process. Particular attention is made to justify the contribution of local natural convection to the overall phase change process. Results demonstrate that the full melting time could be maximally reduced by 65% by inserting annular fins into PCM. For maximizing thermal performance, an optimal group fin parameter (fin number N=31, thickness t/l=0.0248 and interval l/L=0.0313) is recommended for the present study.
ISSN:0306-2619
1872-9118
1872-9118
DOI:10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.05.007