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Charging and discharging enhancement of a vertical latent heat storage unit by fractal tree-shaped fins

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  • Huang, Yongping
  • Liu, Xiangdong

Abstract

The popular application of latent heat storage (LHS) units using phase change materials is limited in converting and utilizing renewable energy due to their poor thermal efficiency. To address this deficiency, a tree-shaped fin inspired by nature is employed for the thermal enhancement of vertical LHS units. A three-dimensional mathematical model using the enthalpy-porosity method is developed to comprehensively evaluate the heat charging/discharging process of the new and traditional LHS units, focusing on the role of heat transfer fluid (HTF) direction. The results indicate that tree-shaped fins improve the temperature uniformity and facilitate the melting/solidification rate, which exhibits a preferable advantage that the full melting/solidification duration shortens by 34.5% and 49.2%, and the time-averaged heat storage/release rate augments by 49.4% and 96.4%. Interestingly, natural convection significantly improves the heat charging performance, while the role of natural convection can be considered negligible during discharging processes. Moreover, the HTF temperature seriously affects the performance of LHS units, while the role of HTF flow rate is less prominent. It is found that the upward flow of HTF is beneficial to the heat charging improvement while a downward flow mode facilitates the discharging performance, providing useful advice for practical applications of vertical LHS units.

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  • Huang, Yongping & Liu, Xiangdong, 2021. "Charging and discharging enhancement of a vertical latent heat storage unit by fractal tree-shaped fins," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 199-217.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:174:y:2021:i:c:p:199-217
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2021.04.066
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    3. Wołoszyn, Jerzy & Szopa, Krystian, 2023. "A combined heat transfer enhancement technique for shell-and-tube latent heat thermal energy storage," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 1342-1356.
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    5. Yin, Jianbao & Wang, Shisong & Hou, Xu & Wang, Zixian & Ye, Mengyan & Xing, Yuming, 2023. "Transient prediction model of finned tube energy storage system based on thermal network," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 336(C).
    6. Zheng, Zhang-Jing & Cai, Xiao & Yang, Chao & Xu, Yang, 2022. "Improving the solidification performance of a latent heat thermal energy storage unit using arrow-shaped fins obtained by an innovative fast optimization algorithm," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 566-577.
    7. Zhang, Shuai & Yan, Yuying, 2023. "Energy, exergy and economic analysis of ceramic foam-enhanced molten salt as phase change material for medium- and high-temperature thermal energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PA).
    8. Grzegorz Czerwiński & Jerzy Wołoszyn, 2022. "Influence of the Longitudinal and Tree-Shaped Fin Parameters on the Shell-and-Tube LHTES Energy Efficiency," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-24, December.
    9. Fei Ma & Tianji Zhu & Yalin Zhang & Xinli Lu & Wei Zhang & Feng Ma, 2023. "A Review on Heat Transfer Enhancement of Phase Change Materials Using Fin Tubes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-25, January.
    10. Huang, Xinyu & Li, Fangfei & Xiao, Tian & Guo, Junfei & Wang, Fan & Gao, Xinyu & Yang, Xiaohu & He, Ya-Ling, 2023. "Investigation and optimization of solidification performance of a triplex-tube latent heat thermal energy storage system by rotational mechanism," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).
    11. Huang, Xinyu & Yao, Shouguang & Yang, Xiaohu & Zhou, Rui, 2022. "Melting performance assessments on a triplex-tube thermal energy storage system: Optimization based on response surface method with natural convection," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 890-910.
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