Experimental study on the melting behavior of a phase change material in a conical coil latent heat thermal energy storage unit. (5th July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mahdi, Mustafa S.; Mahood, Hameed B.; Campbell, Alasdair N.; Khadom, Anees A.
• Is Part Of: Applied thermal engineering. Volume 175(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-07-05
• Subjects: Latent heat storage -- Helical coil -- Conical coil -- Natural convection -- Phase change material (PCM); Heat engineering -- Periodicals; Heating -- Equipment and supplies -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 621.40205
• DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2019.114684
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-4311

Abstract

Highlights: A new conical coil LHSU is designed and tested experimentally. Charging process of conical coil LHSU is studied and compared with normal coil LHSU. Charging time of conical coil storage was shorter than of normal coil storage. Energy storage with conical coil storage was faster than of normal storage. HTF temperature has equally shortened charging time of both storages. Abstract: An experimental study on the melting behavior of paraffin wax used as a phase change material (PCM) in a conical coil latent heat energy storage unit (LHSU) was performed. The experiments were conducted concurrently for conical coil and normal coil LHSUs to compare their thermal performances. The effect of heat transfer fluid (HTF) inlet temperature was examined. The evolution of the temperature during charging, the spatial variation in temperatures and captured images of the melting PCM in both LHSUs were compared. The results indicated that the melting rate in the conical coil LHSU was enhanced by 20.97%, 22.13% and 28.32% in comparison with that of normal coil LHSU at HTF inlet temperature of 70 °C, 75 °C and 80 °C respectively. Moreover, the rate of energy stored in the conical coil LHSU was a notably faster than that of the normal coil LHSU. The HTF inlet temperature has a similar effect on both LHSUs by substantially decreasing their melting time.