IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v13y2020i24p6634-d462936.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Thermodynamic Analysis of a High-Temperature Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage System

Author

Listed:
  • David W. MacPhee

    (Mechanical Engineering, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401, USA)

  • Mustafa Erguvan

    (Mechanical Engineering, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401, USA)

Abstract

Thermal energy storage (TES) technologies are becoming vitally important due to intermittency of renewable energy sources in solar applications. Since high energy density is an important parameter in TES systems, latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) system is a common way to store thermal energy. Though there are a great number of experimental studies in the field of LHTES systems, utilizing computational codes can yield relatively quick analyses with relatively small expense. In this study, a numerical investigation of a LHTES system has been studied using ANSYS FLUENT. Results are validated with experiments, using hydroquinone as a phase-change material ( PCM ), which is external to Therminol VP-1 as a heat transfer fluid ( HTF ) contained in pipes. Energy efficiency and entropy generation are investigated for different tube/pipe geometries with a constant PCM volume. HTF inlet temperature and flow rate impacts on the thermodynamic efficiencies are examined including viscous dissipation effects. Highest efficiency and lowest entropy generation cases exist when when flow rates are lowest due to low viscous heating effects. A positive relation is found between energy efficiency and volume ratio while it differs for entropy generation for higher and lower velocities. Both efficiency and entropy generation decreased with decreasing HTF inlet temperature. The novelty of this study is the analysis of the effect of volume ratio on system performance and PCM melting time which ultimately proved to be the most dominant factor among those considered herein. However, as PCM solidification and melting time is of primary importance to system designers, simply minimizing entropy generation by decreasing volume ratio in this case does not lead to a practically optimal system, merely to decrease heat transfer entropy generation. Therefore, caution should be taken when applying entropy analyses to any LHTES storage system as entropy minimization methods may not be appropriate for practicality purposes.

Suggested Citation

  • David W. MacPhee & Mustafa Erguvan, 2020. "Thermodynamic Analysis of a High-Temperature Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-19, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:24:p:6634-:d:462936
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/24/6634/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/24/6634/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mustafa Erguvan & David W. MacPhee, 2018. "Energy and Exergy Analyses of Tube Banks in Waste Heat Recovery Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-15, August.
    2. Gil, Antoni & Oró, Eduard & Peiró, Gerard & Álvarez, Servando & Cabeza, Luisa F., 2013. "Material selection and testing for thermal energy storage in solar cooling," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 366-371.
    3. MacPhee, David & Dincer, Ibrahim & Beyene, Asfaw, 2012. "Numerical simulation and exergetic performance assessment of charging process in encapsulated ice thermal energy storage system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 491-498.
    4. Ioan Sarbu & Calin Sebarchievici, 2018. "A Comprehensive Review of Thermal Energy Storage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-32, January.
    5. Guelpa, Elisa & Sciacovelli, Adriano & Verda, Vittorio, 2013. "Entropy generation analysis for the design improvement of a latent heat storage system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 128-138.
    6. Peiró, Gerard & Gasia, Jaume & Miró, Laia & Prieto, Cristina & Cabeza, Luisa F., 2016. "Experimental analysis of charging and discharging processes, with parallel and counter flow arrangements, in a molten salts high temperature pilot plant scale setup," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 394-403.
    7. Jegadheeswaran, S. & Pohekar, S.D. & Kousksou, T., 2010. "Exergy based performance evaluation of latent heat thermal storage system: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(9), pages 2580-2595, December.
    8. Rahimi, M. & Ardahaie, S. Saedi & Hosseini, M.J. & Gorzin, M., 2020. "Energy and exergy analysis of an experimentally examined latent heat thermal energy storage system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P1), pages 1845-1860.
    9. Meng, Z.N. & Zhang, P., 2017. "Experimental and numerical investigation of a tube-in-tank latent thermal energy storage unit using composite PCM," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 524-539.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yousef Haseli, 2021. "The Concept of Entropy and Its Application in Thermal Engineering," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-2, December.
    2. Meng Yu & Xiaowei Sun & Wenjuan Su & Defeng Li & Jun Shen & Xuejun Zhang & Long Jiang, 2022. "Investigation on the Melting Performance of a Phase Change Material Based on a Shell-and-Tube Thermal Energy Storage Unit with a Rectangular Fin Configuration," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-15, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pakrouh, R. & Hosseini, M.J. & Ranjbar, A.A. & Bahrampoury, R., 2017. "Thermodynamic analysis of a packed bed latent heat thermal storage system simulated by an effective packed bed model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(P1), pages 861-878.
    2. Li, Gang, 2015. "Energy and exergy performance assessments for latent heat thermal energy storage systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 926-954.
    3. Shahsavar, Amin & Majidzadeh, Amir Hossein & Mahani, Roohollah Babaei & Talebizadehsardari, Pouyan, 2021. "Entropy and thermal performance analysis of PCM melting and solidification mechanisms in a wavy channel triplex-tube heat exchanger," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(P2), pages 52-72.
    4. Ewelina Radomska & Lukasz Mika & Karol Sztekler & Lukasz Lis, 2020. "The Impact of Heat Exchangers’ Constructions on the Melting and Solidification Time of Phase Change Materials," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-44, September.
    5. Shao, Y.L. & Soh, K.Y. & Wan, Y.D. & Kumja, M. & Khin, Z. & Islam, M.R. & Chua, K.J., 2020. "Simulation and experimental study of thermal storage systems for district cooling system under commercial operating conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    6. Mohammed Algarni & Mashhour A. Alazwari & Mohammad Reza Safaei, 2021. "Optimization of Nano-Additive Characteristics to Improve the Efficiency of a Shell and Tube Thermal Energy Storage System Using a Hybrid Procedure: DOE, ANN, MCDM, MOO, and CFD Modeling," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(24), pages 1-30, December.
    7. Shabgard, Hamidreza & Bergman, Theodore L. & Faghri, Amir, 2013. "Exergy analysis of latent heat thermal energy storage for solar power generation accounting for constraints imposed by long-term operation and the solar day," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 474-484.
    8. Yang, Kun & Zhu, Neng & Li, Yongzhao & Du, Na, 2021. "Effect of parameters on the melting performance of triplex tube heat exchanger incorporating phase change material," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 359-371.
    9. Bi, Yuehong & Liu, Xiao & Jiang, Minghe, 2014. "Exergy analysis of a gas-hydrate cool storage system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 908-915.
    10. Wang, C. & Zhu, Y., 2018. "Entransy analysis on optimization of a double-stage latent heat storage unit with the consideration of an unequal separation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 386-396.
    11. Du, Kun & Calautit, John & Eames, Philip & Wu, Yupeng, 2021. "A state-of-the-art review of the application of phase change materials (PCM) in Mobilized-Thermal Energy Storage (M-TES) for recovering low-temperature industrial waste heat (IWH) for distributed heat," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 1040-1057.
    12. Sciacovelli, A. & Verda, V. & Sciubba, E., 2015. "Entropy generation analysis as a design tool—A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1167-1181.
    13. Dacheng Li & Yulong Ding & Peilun Wang & Shuhao Wang & Hua Yao & Jihong Wang & Yun Huang, 2019. "Integrating Two-Stage Phase Change Material Thermal Storage for Cascaded Waste Heat Recovery of Diesel-Engine-Powered Distributed Generation Systems: A Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-20, June.
    14. Pahamli, Y. & Hosseini, M.J. & Ardahaie, S. Saedi & Ranjbar, A.A., 2022. "Improvement of a phase change heat storage system by Blossom-Shaped Fins: Energy analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 192-215.
    15. Rezaei, M. & Anisur, M.R. & Mahfuz, M.H. & Kibria, M.A. & Saidur, R. & Metselaar, I.H.S.C., 2013. "Performance and cost analysis of phase change materials with different melting temperatures in heating systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 173-178.
    16. Beyne, W. & T'Jollyn, I. & Lecompte, S. & Cabeza, L.F. & De Paepe, M., 2023. "Standardised methods for the determination of key performance indicators for thermal energy storage heat exchangers," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    17. Chaomurilige & Geng Qiao & Peng Zhao & Yang Li & Yongliang Li, 2023. "Numerical Study of a High-Temperature Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage Device with AlSi 12 Alloy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-22, July.
    18. Guelpa, Elisa & Verda, Vittorio, 2019. "Thermal energy storage in district heating and cooling systems: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C), pages 1-1.
    19. Riahi, Soheila & Saman, Wasim Y. & Bruno, Frank & Belusko, Martin & Tay, N.H.S., 2018. "Performance comparison of latent heat storage systems comprising plate fins with different shell and tube configurations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1095-1106.
    20. Kalapala, Lokesh & Devanuri, Jaya Krishna, 2020. "Energy and exergy analyses of latent heat storage unit positioned at different orientations – An experimental study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:24:p:6634-:d:462936. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.