The solidification process in a multi-tube latent heat energy system is affected by the natural convection and the arrangement of heat exchanger tubes, which changes the buoyancy effect as well. In the current work, the effect of the arrangement of the tubes in a multi-tube heat exchanger was examined during the solidification process with the focus on the natural convection effects inside the phase change material (PCM). The behavior of the system was numerically analyzed using liquid fraction and energy released, as well as temperature, velocity and streamline profiles for different studied cases. The arrangement of the tubes, considering seven pipes in the symmetrical condition, are assumed at different positions in the system, i

Abstract

One of the most suitable materials to be used in latent heat thermal energy storage system (LHTES) are Phase change materials, but a problem of slow melting and solidification processes made many researchers focusing on how to improve their thermal properties. This experimental work concerned with the enhancing of thermal conductivity of phase change material. The enhancing method was by the addition of copper Lessing rings in phase change material (paraffin wax). The effect of diameter for the used rings was studied by using two different diameters (0.5 cm and 1cm). Also, three volumetric percentages of rings addition (3%, 6% and 10%) were tested for each diameter. The discharging process was done with

A twisted-fin array as an innovative structure for intensifying the charging response of a phase-change material (PCM) within a shell-and-tube storage system is introduced in this work. A three-dimensional model describing the thermal management with charging phase change process in PCM was developed and numerically analyzed by the enthalpy-porosity method using commercial CFD software. Efficacy of the proposed structure of fins for performing better heat communication between the active heating surface and the adjacent layers of PCM was verified via comparing with conventional longitudinal fins within the same design limitations of fin material and volume usage. Optimization of the fin geometric parameters including the pitch, numb

Different parameters of double pipe helical coil were investigation experimentally. Four coils were used; three with a curvature ratio (0.037, 0.031, and 0.028) and 11mm diameter of the inner tube while the fourth with 0.033 curvature ratio and 13 mm diameter of the inner tube. The hot water flow in the inner tube whereas the cold water flows in the annulus. The inlet temperatures of hot and cold water are 50 ⁰C and 18 ⁰C respectively. The inner mass flow rate ranges from 0.0167 to 0.0583 kg/s. The results show the Nusselt number increase with increase curvature ratio. The Nusselt number of the coil with 0.037 curvature ratio increases by approximately 12.3 % as compare with 0.028 curvature ratio. The results also r

The present work deals with an experimental investigation of charging and discharging processes in thermal storage system using a phase change material PCM. Paraffin wax was used as the PCM which is formed in spherical capsules and packed in a cylindrical packed column which acted as an energy storage system. Air was used as the heat transfer fluid HTF in thermal storage unit. The effect of flow rate and inlet temperature of HTF on the time of charging and discharging process were studied. The results showed that the faster storage of thermal energy can be made by high flow rate of heat transfer fluid HTF and high inlet temperature of heat transfer fluid. It was found that at 65°C HTF inlet temperature, the melting and solidification pr

In this paper, an experimental study was conducted to enhance the thermal performance of a double-pass solar air heater (SAH) using phase change material (PCM) for thermal storage at climatic conditions of Baghdad city - Iraq. The double-pass solar air heater integrated with thermal storage system was manufactured and tested to ensure that the air heating reserved after the absence of the sun. The rectangular cavity filled with paraffin wax was used as a latent heat storage and incorporated into the lower channel of solar air heater. Experiments were carried out to evaluate the charging and discharging characteristics of two similar designed solar air collectors with and without using phase change material at a constant

Numerical study has been conducted to investigate the thermal performance enhancement of flat plate solar water collector by integrating the solar collector with metal foam blocks.The flow is assumed to be steady, incompressible and two dimensional in an inclined channel. The channel is provided with eight foam blocks manufactured form copper. The Brinkman-Forchheimer extended Darcy model is utilized to simulate the flow in the porous medium and the Navier-Stokes equation in the fluid region. The energy equation is used with local thermal equilibrium (LTE) assumption to simulate the thermofield inside the porous medium. The current investigation covers a range of solar radiation intensity at 09:00 AM, 12:00 PM, and 04:00

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 melti