Thermal response of a packed bed of spheres containing a phase-change material |
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| Authors: | D E Beasley C Ramanarayanan H Torab |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Thermal-Fluid Sciences Research Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-0921, USA;2. Department of Mechanical Engineering Gannon University, Erie, PA, USA |
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| Abstract: | A computational model of the transient thermal response of a packed bed of spheres containing a phase-change material (PCM) is presented. A one-dimensional separate phases formulation is used to develop a numerical analysis of the dynamic response of the bed which is subject to the flow of a heat transfer fluid, for arbitrary initial conditions and inlet fluid temperature temporal variations. Phase-change models are developed for both isothermal and nonisothermal melting behaviours. Axial thermal dispersion effects are modelled, including intraparticle conduction (Biot number) effects. Regenerative thermal storage applications involve flow reversals to recover the stored energy; this aspect of operation is included in the present model. Results from the model for a commercial sized thermal storage bed for both the energy storage and recovery periods are presented. Experimental measurements of transient temperature distributions in a randomly packed bed of uniform spheres containing a PCM for a step-change in inlet air temperature are reported for a range of Reynolds number. |
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| Keywords: | Thermal storage Packed bed Phase-change |
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