Review on heat transfer analysis in thermal energy storage using latent heat storage systems and phase change materials

Thermal energy storage (TES) is a technology that stocks thermal energy by heating or cooling a storage medium so that the stored energy can be used later for heating and cooling applications and for power generation. TES has recently attracted increasing interest to thermal applications such as space and water heating, waste heat utilisation, cooling, and air conditioning. Phase change materials (PCMs) used for the storage of thermal energy as latent heat are special types of advanced materials that substantially contribute to the efficient use and conservation of waste heat and solar energy. This paper provides a comprehensive review on the development of latent heat storage (LHS) systems focused on heat transfer and enhancement techniques employed in PCMs to effectively charge and discharge latent heat energy, and the formulation of the phase change problem. The main categories of PCMs are classified and briefly described, and heat transfer enhancement technologies, namely dispersion of low‐density materials, use of porous materials, metal matrices and encapsulation, incorporation of extended surfaces and fins, utilisation of heat pipes, cascaded storage, and direct heat transfer techniques, are also discussed in detail. Additionally, a two‐dimensional heat transfer simulation model of an LHS system is developed using the control volume technique to solve the phase change problem. Furthermore, a three‐dimensional numerical simulation model of an LHS is built to investigate the quasi‐steady state and transient heat transfer in PCMs. Finally, several future research directions are provided.     

金属基相变材料的研究进展及应用

金属基相变材料由于具有储能密度高、热稳定性好、热导率高等优点,在潜热热能储存系统中具有极大的优势。本文回顾了金属基相变材料的发展历程,归纳了金属基相变材料的性能参数,总结了各种热物性的测量方法,探讨了金属基相变材料与容器材料的相容性问题,分析了金属基相变材料在太阳能热发电、工业余热回收和电力削峰填谷中的应用前景。金属基相变材料的高温腐蚀性是目前限制其在热控制中应用的主要因素。为了实现金属基相变材料的广泛应用,需要重点解决金属基相变材料的封装问题。     

有机相变储能材料的研究进展

有机相变储能材料（PCMs）具有储能密度高、腐蚀性小、性能稳定、毒性小、不易出现相分离和过冷现象等优点,成为目前蓄能技术领域主流应用材料之一。本文主要综述了各类有机PCMs的材料特性,针对其导热系数普遍较低的共性问题,介绍了通过添加高热导率材料和封装PCMs两种强化传热途径的最新研究成果,并浅谈了有机PCMs在建筑节能、太阳能利用及冷却电子设备等中低温储能技术中的实际应用情况。最后,总结了有机PCMs目前存在的一些瓶颈问题及未来研究的重点方向。     

Experimental study of the phase change and energy characteristics inside a cylindrical latent heat energy storage system: Part 2 simultaneous charging and discharging

The time mismatch between energy availability and energy demand with solar domestic hot water (SDHW) systems is often solved using energy storage. Energy storage systems typically employ water for thermal energy storage, however, water storage takes up considerable space and weight due to the large volumes required under certain conditions. A latent heat energy storage system (LHESS) may provide a valuable solution to the space and weight issue, while also correcting the energy mismatch by storing energy in phase change materials (PCMs) when it is available, dispensing energy when it is in demand, and acting as a heat exchanger when there is supply and demand simultaneously. PCMs are advantageous as energy storage materials due to their high energy density which reduces the space requirements for energy storage. However, heat transfer problems arise due to the inherently low thermal conductivity of PCMs. Simultaneous charging and discharging has not been addressed in literature making questionable the ability of a LHESS to operate as a heat exchanger during the mode of operation. The main objective of this research is to study the heat transfer processes and phase change behavior of a PCM during simultaneous charging and discharging of a LHESS.In Part 2 of this paper, experiments are performed using a vertical cylindrical LHESS which is charged and discharged simultaneously to replicate latent heat energy storage paired with a SDHW system with simultaneous energy supply and demand. Dodecanoic acid is used as the PCM. Experimental results for simultaneous operations are presented, under various scenarios and flow rates for both the hot and cold heat transfer fluids. The ability of the system to directly transfer heat between the hot and cold heat transfer fluids is studied, and the results found during consecutive, or separate, charging and discharging, presented in Part 1 of this paper, are compared to the results found during simultaneous charging and discharging. It was found that natural convection in the melted PCM clearly provides an advantage towards direct heat exchange between the hot and cold heat transfer fluid; while the low thermal conductivity of solid PCM provides a barrier to this direct energy exchange.     

Tetradecane and hexadecane binary mixtures as phase change materials (PCMs) for cool storage in district cooling systems

As the demand for refrigeration and air-conditioning has increased during the last decade, district cooling systems have been introduced in some major European cities. In a district cooling system, the combination of central cooling facilities and cool storage systems provides economic advantages over older conventional cooling plants. A cool storage system can meet the same total cooling load as a non-storage system over a given period of time with a smaller chiller. Cool storage systems using Phase Change Materials (PCMs) have a low temperature range and high energy density in the melting solidification of PCMs compared to sensible heat storage. Thus they are advantageous in reducing the storage volume, heat loss, and size of the chilling equipment. In this paper we describe some paraffin waxes and their binary mixtures. We discuss the thermal properties of laboratory-grade tetradecane, hexadecane and their binary mixtures, and we demonstrate their potential for use as PCMs for cool storage. The thermal properties include freezing point, the heat of fusion, thermal stability and volume expansion during the phase change process. In the study, a Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) was used to determine the heat of fusion of these materials and to generate thermal data for study and analysis. The results show that these materials are attractive candidates as potential PCMs for cool storage in district cooling systems. However, because of the high cost of laboratory-grade materials, technical-grade materials must be used for cool storage.     

Review on thermal energy storage with phase change materials and applications

The use of a latent heat storage system using phase change materials (PCMs) is an effective way of storing thermal energy and has the advantages of high-energy storage density and the isothermal nature of the storage process. PCMs have been widely used in latent heat thermal-storage systems for heat pumps, solar engineering, and spacecraft thermal control applications. The uses of PCMs for heating and cooling applications for buildings have been investigated within the past decade. There are large numbers of PCMs that melt and solidify at a wide range of temperatures, making them attractive in a number of applications. This paper also summarizes the investigation and analysis of the available thermal energy storage systems incorporating PCMs for use in different applications.     

固液相变蓄热技术的研究进展

综述了相变蓄热材料、相变传热问题求解方法、典型相变传热过程以及相变潜热蓄热系统(LHTES)优化设计及强化传热等诸多固液相变蓄热技术相关问题的研究进展情况     

Experimental and numerical investigation of the melting process and heat transfer characteristics of multiple phase change materials

The melting and heat transfer characteristics of multiple phase change materials (PCMs) are investigated both experimentally and numerically. Multiple PCMs, which consist of three PCMs with different melting points, are filled into a rectangle-shaped cavity to serve as heat storage unit. One side of the cavity is set as heating wall. The melting rate of multiple PCMs was recorded experimentally and compared with that of single PCM for different heating temperatures. A two-dimensional mathematical model to describe the phase change heat transfer was developed and verified experimentally. The properties of multiple PCMs, including the effect of the melting point difference (combined type), thermal conductivity, and latent heat, on the heat transfer performance of the PCM were analyzed numerically. The results show that, the melting time decreases before it increases, with an increasing melting point difference for the multiple PCMs. In addition, the melting point decreases with increasing distance from the heating wall. Most of these types of multiple PCMs melt faster than the single PCM, and the multiple PCMs, with the melting point arranged as 322 K/313 K/304 K, has the shortest melting time in this study. The melting rate of the multiple PCMs, 322 K/313 K/304 K, accelerates faster than for the single PCM as the thermal conductivity, latent heat, and heating wall temperature increase. Finally, generalized results are obtained using a dimensionless analysis for both single and multiple PCMs.     

Micro-encapsulated paraffin/high-density polyethylene/wood flour composite as form-stable phase change material for thermal energy storage

Six novel polymer-based form-stable composite phase change materials (PCMs), which comprise micro-encapsulated paraffin (MEP) as latent heat storage medium and high-density polyethylene (HDPE)/wood flour compound as supporting material, were prepared by blending and compression molding method for potential latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) applications. Micro-mist graphite (MMG) was added to improve thermal conductivities. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) images revealed that the form-stable PCMs have homogeneous constitution and most of MEP particles in them were undamaged. Both the shell of MEP and the matrix prevent molten paraffin from leakage. Therefore, the composite PCMs are described as form-stable PCMs. The differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) results showed that the melting and freezing temperatures as well as latent heats of the prepared form-stable PCMs are suitable for potential LHTES applications. Thermal cycling test indicated the form-stable PCMs have good thermal stability although it was subjected to 100 melt–freeze cycles. The thermal conductivity of the form-stable PCM was increased by 17.7% by adding 8.8 wt% MMG. The results of mechanical property test indicated that the addition of MMG has no negative influence on the mechanical properties of form-stable composite PCMs. Taking one with another, these novel form-stable PCMs have the potential for LHTES applications in terms of their proper phase change temperatures, improved thermal conductivities, outstanding leak tightness of molten paraffin and good mechanical properties.     

组合式相变材料组分配比与储热性能研究

采用焓法对组合式相变材料(PCM)储热系统的相变过程进行了数值计算,分析了组合式相变材料中各个PCM组分质量分数的变化对系统储热性能的影响。结果表明,对于组合式相变材料储热系统,存在着最优组分配比,使得系统的储热性能达到最佳。     

Heat transfer enhancement of high temperature thermal energy storage using metal foams and expanded graphite

Latent heat storage (LHS) can theoretically provide large heat storage density and significantly reduce the storage material volume by using the material’s fusion heat, Δh_m. Phase change materials (PCMs) commonly suffer from low thermal conductivities, being around 0.4 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ for inorganic salts, which prolong the charging and discharging period. The problem of low thermal conductivity is a major issue that needs to be addressed for high temperature thermal energy storage systems. Since porous materials have high thermal conductivities and high surface areas, they can be used to form composites with PCMs to significantly enhance heat transfer. In this paper, the feasibility of using metal foams and expanded graphite to enhance the heat transfer capability of PCMs in high temperature thermal energy storage systems is investigated. The results show that heat transfer can be significantly enhanced by both metal foams and expanded graphite, thereby reducing the charging and discharging period. Furthermore, the overall performance of metal foams is superior to that of expanded graphite.     

The micro‐/nano‐PCMs for thermal energy storage systems: A state of art review

With advancement in technology—nanotechnology, various thermal energy storage (TES) materials have been invented and modified with promising thermal transport properties. Solid‐liquid phase change materials (PCMs) have been extensively used as TES materials for various energy applications due to their highly favourable thermal properties. The class of PCMs, organic phase change materials (OPCMs), has more potential and advantages over inorganic phase change materials (IPCMs), having high phase change enthalpy. However, OPCMs possess low thermal conductivity as well as density and suffer leakage during the melting phase. The encapsulation technologies (ie, micro and nano) of PCMs, with organic and inorganic materials, have a tendency to enhance the thermal conductivity, effective heat transfer, and leakage issues as TES materials. The encapsulation of PCMs involves several technologies to develop at both micro and nano levels, called micro‐encapsulated PCMs (micro‐PCM) and nano‐encapsulated PCMs (nano‐PCM), respectively. This study covers a wide range of preparation methods, thermal and morphological characteristics, stability, applications, and future perspective of micro‐/nano‐PCMs as TES materials. The potential applications, such as solar‐to‐thermal and electrical‐to‐thermal conversions, thermal management, building, textile, foam, medical industry of micro‐ and nano‐PCMs, are reviewed critically. Finally, this review paper highlights the emerging future research paths of micro‐/nano‐PCMs for thermal energy storage.     

Photo-to-thermal conversion and energy storage of lauric acid/expanded graphite composite phase change materials

To make better use of solar energy, lauric acid/expanded graphite (LA/EG) composite phase change materials (PCMs) were synthesized to collect and store solar energy as latent heat thermal energy. The results of thermal characteristics show that when the mass fraction of EG is 5%, 10%, and 15%, the latent heat of LA/EG is 164.5, 156.9, and 148.0 J/g, and the thermal conductivity is 2.73, 7.98, and 10.54 W/(m·K). Leakage test shows that LA/EG PCMs with EG mass fraction of 10% and 15% are form stable after phase change. One thousand thermal cycles prove good thermal reliability of LA/EG. TG analysis indicates LA/EG PCMs have good thermal stability within operating temperature range. The Ultraviolet-visible spectra reveal that the absorbance of LA/EG composite PCMs would increase as the mass fraction of EG increases. Photothermal conversion experiment results indicate that the photothermal conversion efficiency of LA/EG composite PCMs increases as the mass fraction of EG increases, and the efficiency can reach 95% when the mass fraction of EG is 15%. Moreover, it was also found that the process of photothermal conversion can be accelerated with stronger illumination intensity or smaller heat transfer size. All the results show that the prepared LA/EG PCMs can convert solar energy into thermal energy and store it in the form of latent heat at the same time, which indicates it has promising prospect in the application of solar energy conversion and storage.     

Medium‐ and high‐temperature latent heat thermal energy storage: Material database,system review,and corrosivity assessment

Latent heat thermal energy storage refers to the storage and recovery of the latent heat during the melting/solidification process of a phase change material (PCM). Among various PCMs, medium‐ and high‐temperature candidates are attractive due to their high energy storage densities and the potentials in achieving high round trip efficiency. Although a few review studies on high‐temperature PCMs have emerged in the past few years, the quantity, completeness, and accuracy of the presented data are relatively poor. Also, an efficient indexing methodology for retrieving useful PCM data is missing in the open literature. In this article, we created an up‐to‐date PCM database following a holistic review of the PCMs in medium‐ and high‐temperature applications over a temperature range of 100°C to 1680°C. Such effort then allows us to develop an accurate indexing tool for the fast selection of suitable PCM candidates and extraction of the related property data. More specifically, the created PCM database covers 496 entries of PCM materials, which are extracted from the scattered research works published during the year 1956 to 2017. The collected information includes both the basic thermo‐physical properties of PCMs (eg, melting temperature, heat of fusion, and thermal conductivity) and crucial design factors during construction and engineering phases (eg, energy storage density, volume expansion, liquid/solid densities, and cost). The reviewed PCMs comprise a wide variety of materials, including fluorides, chlorides, hydrates, nitrates, carbonates, metals and alloys, and other uncommon compounds and salts. In addition, the current work presents a brief review on high‐temperature latent heat thermal energy storage systems categorized into metallic and non‐metallic systems. The corrosivity and stability of PCMs, which are commonly ignored in previous studies, are also examined.     

Analysis of collector-storage building walls using phase-change materials

The use of thermal storage walls that serve both as solar collector and thermal storage is well known. The wall is usually composed of masonry or containers filled with water to provide sensible heat storage, i.e., storage resulting from the specific heat capacity of a material as it increases in temperature. An interesting alternative to the standard materials are phase-change materials (PCMs) which employ latent heat storage. Latent heat storage utilizes the energy associated with a change of state of a material such as the transition from a solid-to-liquid, or liquid-to-gas. The solid-to-liquid phase change is preferred for many applications because of the much smaller volume change resulting in this transition for a given amount of energy storage. This paper summarizes the results of a simulation study of the use of PCMs as a collector-storage wall.     

Thermal performance of stearic acid/carbon nanotube composite phase change materials for energy storage prepared by ball milling

In this work, stearic acid/carbon nanotubes composite phase change materials (SA/CNTs composite PCMs) were fabricated by ball milling for the first time to enhance the heat conduction of SA and prevent the delamination of SA and CNTs components. The results of suspension stability study conducted using a gravity sedimentation method showed that polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) used as dispersant has the best effect on the stability of composite PCMs. Then, the thermal cycling test further proved the stability of prepared composite. The SEM and FT‐IR results revealed that ball milling led to the formation of highly homogeneous composites. The thermal properties of the fabricated SA/CNTs composites with CNTs contents of 2, 6, and 10 wt.% characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) demonstrated that their phase change temperatures varied slightly while the latent heat decreased with the increased CNTs content. Furthermore, the thermal conductivity of the SA/CNTs composites were greater than that of pure SA by 61.5%, 92.3%, and 119.2%, respectively. The addition of CNTs also increased the thermal release rates of the prepared PCMs and decreased their storage rates. Therefore, the produced materials can be potentially used in thermal management.     

High latent heat storage and high thermal conductive phase change materials using exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets

Using exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets (xGnP), paraffin/xGnP composite phase change materials (PCMs) were prepared by the stirring of xGnP in liquid paraffin for high electric conductivity, thermal conductivity and latent heat storage. xGnP of 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7 wt% was added to pure paraffin at 75 °C. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) morphology showed uniform dispersion of xGnP in the paraffin wax. Good dispersion of xGnP in paraffin/xGnP composite PCMs led to high electric conductivity. The percolation threshold of paraffin/xGnP composite PCMs was between 1 and 2 wt% in resistivity measurement. The thermal conductivity of paraffin/xGnP composite PCMs was increased as xGnP loading contents. Also, reproducibility of paraffin/xGnP composite PCMs as continuous PCMs was manifested in results of electric and thermal conductivity. Paraffin/xGnP composite PCMs showed two peaks in the heating curve by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) measurement. The first phase change peak at around 35 °C is lower and corresponds to the solid-solid phase transition of the paraffin, and the second peak is high at around 55 °C, corresponding to the solid-liquid phase change. The latent heat of paraffin/xGnP composite PCMs did not decrease as loading xGnP contents to paraffin. xGnP can be considered as an effective heat-diffusion promoter to improve thermal conductivity of PCMs without reducing its latent heat storage capacity in paraffin wax.     

Heat transfer of phase change materials (PCMs) in porous materials

In this paper, the feasibility of using metal foams to enhance the heat transfer capability of phase change materials (PCMs) in low- and high-temperature thermal energy storage systems was assessed. Heat transfer in solid/liquid phase change of porous materials (metal foams and expanded graphite) at low and high temperatures was investigated. Organic commercial paraffin wax and inorganic calcium chloride hydrate were employed as the low-temperature materials, whereas sodium nitrate was used as the high-temperature material in the experiment. Heat transfer characteristics of these PCMs embedded with open-cell metal foams were studied. Composites of paraffin and expanded graphite with a graphite mass ratio of 3%, 6%, and 9% were developed. The heat transfer performances of these composites were tested and compared with metal foams. The results indicate that metal foams have better heat transfer performance due to their continuous inter-connected structures than expanded graphite. However, porous materials can suppress the effects of natural convection in liquid zone, particularly for PCMs with low viscosities, thereby leading to different heat transfer performances at different regimes (solid, solid/liquid, and liquid regions). This implies that porous materials do not always enhance heat transfer in every regime.     

Review of thermal energy storage for air conditioning systems

Thermal energy storage is very important to eradicate the discrepancy between energy supply and energy demand and to improve the energy efficiency of solar energy systems. Latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) is more useful than sensible energy storage due to the high storage capacity per unit volume/mass at nearly constant temperatures. This review presents the previous works on thermal energy storage used for air conditioning systems and the application of phase change materials (PCMs) in different parts of the air conditioning networks, air distribution network, chilled water network, microencapsulated slurries, thermal power and heat rejection of the absorption cooling. Recently, researchers studied the heat transfer enhancement of the thermal energy storage with PCMs because most phase change materials have low thermal conductivity, which causes a long time for charging and discharging process. It is expected that the design of latent heat thermal energy storage will reduce the cost and the volume of air conditioning systems and networks.     

Thermal energy storage of phase change materials in the solidification process inside the quasi-square heat exchanger: CFD simulation

The high latent heat of phase change materials (PCMs) makes them one of the most important sources of heat energy storage systems. However, due to the slow rate of heat transfer in these materials, using conductive materials such as fins and nanoparticles could improve the thermal efficiency of these energy storage systems. So in this article, cross-shaped fins and Copper(II) oxide nanoparticles with different synthesized forms and various volume fractions have been employed to increase the thermal efficiency of paraffin PCMs. In this simulation, three fin models based on the installed size, the shape of the synthesized nanoparticles in brick, cylindrical, and platelet forms, and the nanoparticle volume fraction of the Copper(II) oxide is 1%–4% are studied. Increasing the volumetric ratio of nanoparticle and shape coefficient decrease the time of solidification, while increasing the length of the cross-shaped fins raises the solidification rate and improves heat transfer. Finally, it was found that when the inner and outer walls play a role in the solidification process at the same time, the solidification rate will increase by more than 66% as more zone of the surface is exposed to cold.