Experimental evaluation of energy and exergy efficiency of a seasonal latent heat storage system for greenhouse heating

In the following work, a seasonal thermal energy storage using paraffin wax as a PCM with the latent heat storage technique was attempted to heat the greenhouse of 180 m² floor area. The system consists mainly of five units: (1) flat plate solar air collectors (as heat collection unit), (2) latent heat storage (LHS) unit, (3) experimental greenhouse, (4) heat transfer unit and (5) data acquisition unit. The external heat collection unit consisted of 27 m² of south facing solar air heaters mounted at a 55° tilt angle. The diameter and the total volume of the steel tank used as the latent heat storage unit were 1.7 m and 11.6 m³, respectively. The LHS unit was filled with 6000 kg of paraffin, equivalent to 33.33 kg of PCM per square meter of the greenhouse ground surface area. Energy and exergy analyses were applied in order to evaluate the system efficiency. The rate of heat transferred in the LHS unit ranged from 1.22 to 2.63 kW, whereas the rate of heat stored in the LHS unit was in the range of 0.65–2.1 kW. The average daily rate of thermal exergy transferred and stored in the LHS unit were 111.2 W and 79.9 W, respectively. During the experimental period, it was found that the average net energy and exergy efficiencies were 40.4% and 4.2%, respectively. The effect of the temperature difference of the heat transfer fluid at the inlet and outlet of the LHS unit on the computed values of the energy and exergy efficiency is evaluated during the charging period.     

Numerical investigation on latent heat thermal energy storage in a phase change material using a heat exchanger

The use of a heat exchanger using phase change material (PCM) is an example of latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES). In this study, the charging of PCM (RT50) is studied in a double pipe heat exchanger. The designing of the heat exchanger needs to be optimized for operating and boundary conditions to store latent heat efficiently. The size of the equipment and the amount of PCM are also important to calculate the latent heat storage capacity of the LHTES device. In this study, the amount of PCM taken is quite high to avoid sensible heat transfer and to maximize the heat content of PCM. The charging process of PCM is numerically simulated using an enthalpy-porosity model. The study includes the effect of inlet temperature and flow rate of high-temperature-fluid (HTF) and concludes that both play an important role in determining the charging time. The continuous increase in inlet temperature of HTF can decrease the charging time of PCM in the heat exchanger. However, the continuous increase in the HTF flow rate cannot show the same effect. The charging time can only be minimized with a specified flow rate regime for a specific inlet temperature of HTF. These factors consequently affect the efficiency of the heat exchanger.     

Thermal Characteristics of Paraffin Wax for Solar Energy Storage

A thermal energy storage medium must meet the requirements of a stable storage material with high heat capacity. Heat storage based on the sensible heating of media such as water, rock, and earth represents the first generation of solar energy storage subsystems and technology for their utilization is well developed. However, recently the heat storage based on the latent heat associated with a change in phase of a material offers many advantages over sensible heat storage. The most important characteristic of such a subsystem is its sufficient storage capacity. The PCM (phase change material) behavior is visualized by constructing an idealized model thermal capacitor subjected to simulated solar system environmental conditions which include thermal cycling utilizing the latent heat of paraffin for heating and cooling. The proposed model of the capacitor is of a flat plate geometry consisting of two panel compartments forming the body of the capacitor containing the paraffin, leaving at their inner surfaces a thin passage allowing the water flow. The whole structure is assumed to be insulated to minimize heat loss. Analysis solution is used to generate data about the temperature distribution, the melt thickness, and the heat stored in the PCM under two conditions of: (a) constant mass flow rate tests for various water inlet temperatures, and (b) constant water inlet temperature for various mass flow rates. A FORTRAN computer program is constructed to perform the analysis. It is found that water outlet temperature increases with time until it becomes nearly equal to the inlet temperature. Increasing the mass flow rate for a given inlet temperature, decreases the time required for outlet temperature to reach a given value. Increasing inlet temperature for a given mass flow rate gives a very rapid decrease in the time required for the outlet water temperature to reach a given value. Instantaneous rate of heat storage is determined from the inlet-to-exit temperature differential and measured flow rate. This rate is then integrated numerically to determine the cumulative total energy stored as a function of time. It is found that the instantaneous rate of heat storage decreases till reaching a nearly constant value. The total or cumulative heat storage as a function of time, showed a nearly linear trend in the mid-range time, and it increased with increasing inlet temperature.     

Experimental investigation on a combined sensible and latent heat storage system integrated with constant/varying (solar) heat sources

The objective of the present work is to investigate experimentally the thermal behavior of a packed bed of combined sensible and latent heat thermal energy storage (TES) unit. A TES unit is designed, constructed and integrated with constant temperature bath/solar collector to study the performance of the storage unit. The TES unit contains paraffin as phase change material (PCM) filled in spherical capsules, which are packed in an insulated cylindrical storage tank. The water used as heat transfer fluid (HTF) to transfer heat from the constant temperature bath/solar collector to the TES tank also acts as sensible heat storage (SHS) material. Charging experiments are carried out at constant and varying (solar energy) inlet fluid temperatures to examine the effects of inlet fluid temperature and flow rate of HTF on the performance of the storage unit. Discharging experiments are carried out by both continuous and batchwise processes to recover the stored heat. The significance of time wise variation of HTF and PCM temperatures during charging and discharging processes is discussed in detail and the performance parameters such as instantaneous heat stored and cumulative heat stored are also studied. The performance of the present system is compared with that of the conventional SHS system. It is found from the discharging experiments that the combined storage system employing batchwise discharging of hot water from the TES tank is best suited for applications where the requirement is intermittent.     

A comparative study on the performances of different shell-and-tube type latent heat thermal energy storage units including the effects of natural convection

Numerical modeling was performed to simulate the melting process of a fixed volume/mass phase-change material (PCM) in different shell-and-tube type latent thermal energy storage units with identical heat transfer area. The effect of liquid PCM natural convection (NC) on the latent heat storage performance of the pipe and cylinder models was investigated using a 3D numerical model with FLUENT software. Result shows that NC can cause a non-uniform distribution of the solid–liquid interface, which accelerates PCM melting rate. The PCM melting rate and heat storage rate in the horizontal cylinder model are higher than those in the horizontal pipe model because of the combined effects of heat conduction and NC. A comparative study was conducted to determine the effects of horizontal and vertical shell-and-tube models with different heat transfer fluid (HTF) inlets including the effects of NC. The results indicate that the vertical model with an HTF inlet at the bottom exhibits the highest PCM melting rate and heat storage rate for the pipe models. For the cylinder models, the horizontal model and the vertical model with an HTF inlet at the bottom can achieve nearly the same completed melting time. In addition, NC has minimal effect on any model with an HTF inlet at the top.     

Experimental research on thermal characteristics of PCM thermal energy storage units

To explore thermal management integration in electric vehicles (EVs), a phase change materials (PCMs) thermal energy storage unit using flat tubes and corrugated fins is designed. The investigation focuses on the thermal characteristics of the PCM unit, such as the temperature variation, heat capacity, and heat transfer time, etc. Meanwhile, the heat storage and release process will be influenced by different inlet temperature, liquid flow rate, melting point of the PCM, and the combination order of the units. Under the same inlet temperature and flow rate condition, the PCM unit with higher melting point enters the latent heat storage stage slowly and enters the phase change melting release stage quickly. Furthermore, the heat storage and release rates increase with increasing liquid flow rates, but the effects are diminishing in the middle and later periods. The multiple PCM units with different melting temperatures are cascaded to help recycle low-grade heat energy with different temperature classes and exhibit well heat storage and release rates.     

Numerical simulation of a multi-layer latent heat thermal energy storage system

A computational model for the prediction of the thermal behaviour of a compact multi-layer latent heat storage unit is presented. The model is based on the conservation equations of energy for the phase change material (PCM) and the heat transfer fluid (HTF). Electrical heat sources embedded inside the PCM are used for heat storage (melting) while the flow of an HTF is employed for heat recovery (solidification). Parametric studies are performed to assess the effect of various design parameters and operating conditions on the thermal behaviour of the unit. Results indicate that the average output heat load during the recovery period is strongly dependent on the minimum operating temperature, on the thermal diffusivity of the liquid phase, on the thickness of the PCM layer and on the HTF inlet mass flowrate and temperature. It is, on the other hand, nearly independent of the wall thermal diffusivity and thickness and of the maximum operating temperature. Correlations are proposed for the total energy stored and the output heat load as a function of the design parameters and the operating conditions. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical analysis of an integrated storage solar heater

This work aims to evaluate the performance of an integrated phase change material (PCM) solar collector. The dynamic behavior of the system is investigated via a theoretical model based on the first law of thermodynamics and oriented to deliver a maximum outlet water temperature. A parametric study is used to assess the effects of the inlet water temperature, the PCM thicknesses and properties and the mass flow rates on the outlet water temperature and the melt fraction. A comparison with a conventional solar water heater without heat storage is made. Results indicate that charging and discharging processes of PCM offer six stages. It is observed that the complete solidification time is longer than the melting one. The latent heat storage system increases the heating requirements at night. The rise is most enhanced for higher inlet water temperature, melting PCM temperature and PCM thickness and for lower mass flow rate.     

Numerical study on performance enhancement of latent heat storage unit

建立了考虑液态相变材料自然对流的壳管式相变蓄热单元的三维模型,数值分析了自然对流对相变蓄热过程的影响.对比研究了外侧强化传热管和双侧强化传热管对相变蓄热单元蓄热性能的强化效果.结果表明,液态相变材料的自然对流,会引起固-液界面分布不均匀现象,采用外翅片管可以有效削弱这一现象;采用外侧强化传热管和双侧强化传热管,都可以缩短相变材料完全熔化以及整个蓄热过程所需时间.与采用光管时相比,采用外侧强化传热管时,完全熔化时间减少了18.0%;采用双侧强化传热管时,完全熔化时间减少52.5%.可见,采用带有外翅片的强化传热管,不仅可以削弱自然对流引起的固-液界面不均匀性问题,而且可以强化相变蓄热单元的蓄热性能.     

Thermal performance of myristic acid as a phase change material for energy storage application

Thermal performance and phase change stability of myristic acid as a latent heat energy storage material has been studied experimentally. In the experimental study, the thermal performance and heat transfer characteristics of the myristic acid were tested and compared with other studies given in the literature. In the present study is included some parameters such as transition times, temperature range, and propagation of the solid–liquid interface as well as heat flow rate effect on the phase change stability of myristic acid as a phase change material (PCM). The experimental results showed that the melting stability of the PCM is better in the radial direction than the axial direction. The variety of the melting and solidification parameters of the PCM with the change of inlet water temperature is also studied. The results show that the better stability of the myristic acid was accomplished at low inlet water temperature compared with the obtained results at high inlet water temperature. We also observed that while the heat exchanger tube is in the horizontal position, the PCM has more effective and steady phase change characteristics than in the vertical position. The heat storage capacity of the container (PCM tube) is not as good as we expected in this study and the average heat storage efficiency (or heat exchanger effectiveness) is 54%. It means that 46% of the heat acrually lost somewhere.     

Heat transfer enhancement in water when used as PCM in thermal energy storage

Efficient and reliable storage systems for thermal energy are an important requirement in many applications where heat demand and supply or availability do not coincide. Heat and cold stores can basically be divided in two groups. In sensible heat stores the temperature of the storage material is increased significantly. Latent heat stores, on the contrary, use a storage material that undergoes a phase change (PCM) and a small temperature rise is sufficient to store heat or cold. The major advantages of the phase change stores are their large heat storage capacity and their isothermal behavior during the charging and discharging process. However, while unloading a latent heat storage, the solid–liquid interface moves away from the heat transfer surface and the heat flux decreases due to the increasing thermal resistance of the growing layer of the molten/solidified medium. This effect can be reduced using techniques to increase heat transfer. In this paper, three methods to enhance the heat transfer in a cold storage working with water/ice as PCM are compared: addition of stainless steel pieces, copper pieces (both have been proposed before) and a new PCM-graphite composite material. The PCM-graphite composite material showed an increase in heat flux bigger than with any of the other techniques.     

Determination of the enthalpy of PCM as a function of temperature using a heat‐flux DSC—A study of different measurement procedures and their accuracy

Thermal energy storage by latent heat allows storing high amounts of energy working in narrow margins of temperature. The use of phase change material (PCM) for the latent heat storage has been studied in different applications and it has been commercialized in containers to transport blood, products sensible to temperature, to decrease their energy demand. The use of PCM in cooling and refrigeration has been attracting a lot of interest lately, but for all applications, the properties of these materials need to be known with sufficient accuracy. Regarding heat storage, it is necessary to know the enthalpy as a function of temperature. The most widely used calorimeter is the heat‐flux differential scanning calorimetry (hf‐DSC). The objective of this study is to investigate different methods for hf‐DSC analysis, namely the dynamic method and the step method, and to test their accuracy in the determination of enthalpy–temperature relationship of PCM. For the dynamic method, a strong influence of heating/cooling rate was observed. For the step method, the resulting enthalpy–temperature relationship is independent of heating/cooling rate. Commercial PCM RT27 was chosen as sample material to avoid subcooling and kinetic effects in the test measurements. The approach introduced in this study can be used to carry out similar investigations for other classes of PCM and/or other DSC instruments. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical analysis of latent heat thermal energy storage using encapsulated phase change material for solar thermal power plant

Thermal energy storage improves the load stability and efficiency of solar thermal power plants by reducing fluctuations and intermittency inherent to solar radiation. This paper presents a numerical study on the transient response of packed bed latent heat thermal energy storage system in removing fluctuations in the heat transfer fluid (HTF) temperature during the charging and discharging period. The packed bed consisting of spherical shaped encapsulated phase change materials (PCMs) is integrated in an organic Rankine cycle-based solar thermal power plant for electricity generation. A comprehensive numerical model is developed using flow equations for HTF and two-temperature non-equilibrium energy equation for heat transfer, coupled with enthalpy method to account for phase change in PCM. Systematic parametric studies are performed to understand the effect of mass flow rate, inlet charging system, storage system dimension and encapsulation of the shell diameter on the dynamic behaviour of the storage system. The overall effectiveness and transient temperature difference in HTF temperature in a cycle are computed for different geometrical and operational parameters to evaluate the system performance. It is found that the ability of the latent heat thermal energy storage system to store and release energy is significantly improved by increasing mass flow rate and inlet charging temperature. The transient variation in the HTF temperature can be effectively reduced by decreasing porosity.     

Exergy analysis of latent heat storage systems with sensible heating and subcooling of PCM

The effect of sensible heating of the phase-change material (PCM) before melting and subcooling after solidification, on the performance of the latent heat storage system (LHSS), is studied in terms of first- and second-law efficiencies for the overall charge–discharge cycle. The external heat transfer irreversibilities on account of the interaction between the heat transfer fluid and the storage element are characterized and the optimum phase-change temperature for maximum second-law efficiency is studied. The performance of the LHSS operation is assessed with and without sensible heating before melting and subcooling after solidification. It is observed that the optimum phase-change temperature is higher, and, the overall second-law efficiency is greater for LHSS with sensible heating and subcooling beyond a certain phase-change temperature compared to latent heat storage alone. In addition, the first-law overall efficiency is found to exhibit a minimum and a pre-heated discharge stream is shown to result in a substantial improvement of the second-law efficiency. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Energy analysis of space solar dynamic heat receivers

Energy analysis of space solar dynamic heat receivers employing solid–liquid phase change storage is developed. The heat receiver is a critical component of a solar dynamic system. Phase change thermal energy storage is used in the heat receiver. The energy analysis presented here can be used to understand the energy transfer in the heat receiver and thermal energy storage in phase change materials (PCM). The heat receiver cavity radiation mathematical model and the working fluid tube heat model are established. Energy loss, energy absorbed by gas, the latent and sensible thermal energy storage in PCM, maximum tube temperature, gas outlet temperature and liquid PCM fraction were calculated. The results are analyzed and could be used in heat receiver design.     

Thermal characterization of phase change materials based on linear low-density polyethylene,paraffin wax and expanded graphite

Thermal characterization of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) based on linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), paraffin wax (W) and expanded graphite (EG) is reported in this paper. Investigated PCMs showed high potential for application in energy storage systems.The latent heat, L_m, sensible heat Q_sens, and the ability of the prepared PCMs to store and release thermal energy were investigated using specific home-made equipment based on the transient guarded hot plane method (TGHPT). The sensible heat of PCM containing 40 wt.% of paraffin wax was investigated in the temperature range 25–35 °C, they exhibited a drop in Q_sens from 31 to 24 J/g depending on the concentration of EG. A similar decrease in sensible heat with increased loading of EG was observed for PCMs containing 50 wt.% of EG.The storage and release of thermal energy during phase change which is associated with the latent heat of the materials were investigated within the temperature range 20–50 °C. PCMs containing 40 wt.% of paraffin wax exhibited latent heat of 36 J/g, whereas the latent heat of PCMs containing 50 wt.% of paraffin wax was 49 J/g. The addition of EG decreased the time needed to melt and solidify PCMs due to increase in thermal conductivity of PCMs with increase in EG content. This behavior was confirmed by the thermal conductivity measurements, where thermal conductivity increased from 0.252 for sample without EG to 1.329 W/m × °C for PCM containing 15 wt.% of EG.The reproducibility of storage and release of thermal energy by PCMs was demonstrated by subjecting them to repeated heating and cooling cycles (over 150 cycles).     

Thermal energy storage system using stearic acid as a phase change material

The thermal performance and phase change stability of stearic acid as a latent heat energy storage material has been studied experimentally. The thermal performance and heat transfer characteristics of the stearic acid were tested and compared with other studies given in the literature. In the present study, parameters such as transition times, temperature range and propagation of the solid–liquid interface as well as the effect of the heat flow rate on the phase change stability of stearic acid as a phase change material (PCM) were studied. The experimental results showed that the melting stability of the PCM is better in the radial direction than in the axial direction. The variation in the melting and solidification parameters of the PCM with the change of inlet water temperature is also studied. We observed that while the heat exchanger tube is in the horizontal position, the PCM has more effective and steady phase change characteristics than in the vertical position. The heat storage capacity of the container (PCM tube) is not as good as we expected in this study and the average heat storage efficiency (or heat exchanger effectiveness) is 50.3%. This indicates that 49.7% of the heat is actually lost somewhere.     

Lauric and myristic acids eutectic mixture as phase change material for low‐temperature heating applications

Lauric acid (m.p.: 42.6°C) and myristic acid (m.p.: 52.2°C) are phase change materials (PCM) having quite high melting points which can limit their use in low‐temperature solar applications such as solar space heating and greenhouse heating. However, their melting temperatures can be tailored to appropriate value by preparing a eutectic mixture of lauric acid (LA) and myristic acid (MA). In the present study, the thermal analysis based on differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique shows that the mixture of 66.0 wt% LA forms a eutectic mixture having melting temperature of 34.2°C and the latent heat of fusion of 166.8 J g^?1. This study also considers the experimental establishment of thermal characteristics of the eutectic PCM in a vertical concentric pipe‐in‐pipe heat storage system. Thermal performance of the PCM was evaluated with respect to the effect of inlet temperature and mass flow rate of the heat transfer fluid on those characteristics during the heat charging and discharging processes. The DSC thermal analysis and the experimental results indicate that the LA–MA eutectic PCM can be potential material for low‐temperature solar energy storage applications in terms of its thermo‐physical and thermal characteristics. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Solar water heaters with phase change material thermal energy storage medium: A review

Latent heat thermal energy storage is one of the most efficient ways to store thermal energy for heating water by energy received from sun. This paper summarizes the investigation and analysis of thermal energy storage incorporating with and without PCM for use in solar water heaters. The relative studies are classified on the basis of type of collector and the type of storage used i.e. sensible or latent. A thorough literature investigation into the use of phase change material (PCM) in solar water heating has been considered. It has been demonstrated that for a better thermal performance of solar water heater a phase change material with high latent heat and with large surface area for heat transfer is required.