NUMERICAL SIMULATION ON THE EFFECT OF LATENT HEAT THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE UNIT

Abstract

Thermal energy storage is a practical and important way in
conserving available energy and improving its utilization.
Unlike the sensible heat storage method, the latent heat storage
method provides much higher storage density, with a smaller
temperature difference between charging and discharging heat
phase. This work presents a numerical study of a latent heat
storage exchanger filled with phase change material (PCM).
Water flows by forced convection through the inner tube and
transfers the heat to PCMs. A mathematical model based on the
conservation energy equations was numerically resolved by a
commercial FLUENT 6.3.2 code. Several numerical
investigations were conducted in order to examine the impact of
the key parameters: mass quantity of PCM used, number of pass
and the mass flow rate of the water. This parametric study
provides guidelines for system thermal performance and design
optimization.

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