IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v217y2023ics0960148123010728.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Experimental and numerical investigations on the thermal performance enhancement of a latent heat thermal energy storage unit with several novel snowflake fins

Author

Listed:
  • Luo, Mengxi
  • Zhang, Yongxue
  • Niu, Yaoyu
  • Lu, Bohui
  • Wang, Zixi
  • Zhang, Jinya
  • Wang, Ke
  • Zhu, Jianjun

Abstract

This article introduces a novel snowflake fin inspired by the crystal structure of snowflake to enhance the heat transfer performance of Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage (LHTES) units. Initially, a numerical simulation model for transient heat transfer units with snowflake fin was established in a shell and tube LHTES unit. The accuracy and dependability of the model are verified through comparison with experimental results. Then, the effects of three placement methods of LHTES unit (vertical, horizontal-Ⅰ, and horizontal-Ⅱ) on melting and solidification performance are explored. Additionally, the effects of traditional longitudinal fins, snowflake fin, and four novel snowflake fins on melting and solidification behaviors are quantitatively compared. The single-factor method and response surface methodology (RSM) were employed to further optimize the selected optimal novel snowflake fin design. The research results show that the heat transfer performance of the vertically placed LHTES unit is the best. In comparison to traditional longitudinal fins and conventional snowflake fin designs, the novel snowflake fin design reduced the total melting and solidification time by 45.15% and 18.14%, respectively. The optimal size of the branch fins is a radial length of the root of 22.9 mm, self-length of 8 mm, and an angle of 60.3°.

Suggested Citation

  • Luo, Mengxi & Zhang, Yongxue & Niu, Yaoyu & Lu, Bohui & Wang, Zixi & Zhang, Jinya & Wang, Ke & Zhu, Jianjun, 2023. "Experimental and numerical investigations on the thermal performance enhancement of a latent heat thermal energy storage unit with several novel snowflake fins," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:217:y:2023:i:c:s0960148123010728
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2023.119158
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148123010728
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2023.119158?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhang, Ji & Cao, Zhi & Huang, Sheng & Huang, Xiaohui & Liang, Kun & Yang, Yan & Zhang, Haoran & Tian, Mi & Akrami, Mohammad & Wen, Chuang, 2022. "Improving the melting performance of phase change materials using novel fins and nanoparticles in tubular energy storage systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    2. Zhong, Yajuan & Zhao, Bingchen & Lin, Jun & Zhang, Feng & Wang, Haoran & Zhu, Zhiyong & Dai, Zhimin, 2019. "Encapsulation of high-temperature inorganic phase change materials using graphite as heat transfer enhancer," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 240-247.
    3. Huang, Yongping & Deng, Zilong & Chen, Yongping & Zhang, Chengbin, 2023. "Performance investigation of a biomimetic latent heat thermal energy storage device for waste heat recovery in data centers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    4. Zhang, Chengbin & Li, Jie & Chen, Yongping, 2020. "Improving the energy discharging performance of a latent heat storage (LHS) unit using fractal-tree-shaped fins," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    5. Hamidi, E. & Ganesan, P.B. & Sharma, R.K. & Yong, K.W., 2023. "Computational study of heat transfer enhancement using porous foams with phase change materials: A comparative review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    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. Ait Laasri, Imad & Charai, Mouatassim & Mghazli, Mohamed Oualid & Outzourhit, Abdelkader, 2024. "Energy performance assessment of a novel enhanced solar thermal system with topology optimized latent heat thermal energy storage unit for domestic water heating," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).

    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. Hong, Yuxiang & Cheng, Zihao & Li, Qing & Du, Juan, 2024. "Energy storage, thermal-hydraulic, and thermodynamic characteristics of a latent thermal energy storage system with 180-degree bifurcated fractal fins," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).
    2. Wang, Zhen & Wang, Yanlin & Yang, Laishun & Cui, Yi & Song, Lei & Yue, Guangxi, 2024. "Multi-objective optimization of heat charging performance of phase change materials in tree-shaped perforated fin heat exchangers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    3. Wang, Jiahao & Liu, Xiaomin & Desideri, Umberto, 2024. "Performance improvement evaluation of latent heat energy storage units using improved bi-objective topology optimization method," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 364(C).
    4. Yan, Peiliang & Fan, Weijun & Han, Yu & Ding, Hongbing & Wen, Chuang & Elbarghthi, Anas F.A. & Yang, Yan, 2023. "Leaf-vein bionic fin configurations for enhanced thermal energy storage performance of phase change materials in smart heating and cooling systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 346(C).
    5. Liu, Lijun & Zhang, Quan & Zou, Sikai & Du, Sheng & Meng, Fanxi, 2023. "Experimental study on dynamic thermal characteristics of novel thermosyphon with latent thermal energy storage condenser," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    6. Zhao, Kai & Tian, Zhenyu & Zhang, Jinrui & Lu, Buchu & Hao, Yong, 2023. "Methanol steam reforming reactor with fractal tree-shaped structures for photovoltaic–thermochemical hybrid power generation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 330(PB).
    7. Facundo Bre & Antonio Caggiano & Eduardus A. B. Koenders, 2022. "Multiobjective Optimization of Cement-Based Panels Enhanced with Microencapsulated Phase Change Materials for Building Energy Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-17, July.
    8. Yang, Xiaohu & Guo, Junfei & Yang, Bo & Cheng, Haonan & Wei, Pan & He, Ya-Ling, 2020. "Design of non-uniformly distributed annular fins for a shell-and-tube thermal energy storage unit," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    9. Zhangyang Kang & Wu Zhou & Kaijie Qiu & Chaojie Wang & Zhaolong Qin & Bingyang Zhang & Qiongqiong Yao, 2023. "Numerical Simulation of an Indirect Contact Mobilized Thermal Energy Storage Container with Different Tube Bundle Layout and Fin Structure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-13, March.
    10. Liu, Zhan & Liu, Zihui & Guo, Junfei & Wang, Fan & Yang, Xiaohu & Yan, Jinyue, 2022. "Innovative ladder-shaped fin design on a latent heat storage device for waste heat recovery," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    11. Bai, Xiao-Shuai & Yang, Wei-Wei & Tang, Xin-Yuan & Yang, Fu-Sheng & Jiao, Yu-Hang & Yang, Yu, 2021. "Optimization of tree-shaped fin structures towards enhanced absorption performance of metal hydride hydrogen storage device: A numerical study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    12. Chen, C.Q. & Diao, Y.H. & Zhao, Y.H. & Wang, Z.Y. & Liang, L. & Wang, T.Y. & An, Y., 2021. "Optimization of phase change thermal storage units/devices with multichannel flat tubes: A theoretical study," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 700-717.
    13. Zhang, Lu & Liu, Jie & Du, Shaojie & Zhao, Chen, 2024. "Multiphase flow dynamics in metal foam proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    14. Carnie, Jada-Tiana & Hardalupas, Yannis & Sergis, Antonis, 2024. "Decarbonising building heating and cooling: Designing a novel, inter-seasonal latent heat storage system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PA).
    15. Zhang, Shuai & Li, Ying & Yan, Yuying, 2024. "Hybrid sensible-latent heat thermal energy storage using natural stones to enhance heat transfer: Energy, exergy, and economic analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 286(C).
    16. Qin, Siyu & Ji, Ruiyang & Miao, Chengyu & Jin, Liwen & Yang, Chun & Meng, Xiangzhao, 2024. "Review of enhancing boiling and condensation heat transfer: Surface modification," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PA).
    17. Wang, Ji-Xiang & Zhong, Mingliang & Wu, Zhe & Guo, Mengyue & Liang, Xin & Qi, Bo, 2022. "Ground-based investigation of a directional, flexible, and wireless concentrated solar energy transmission system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    18. 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.
    19. Zhu, Chen & Mou, Xiaofeng & Bao, Zewei, 2024. "Optimization of tree-shaped fin structures towards enhanced discharging performance of metal hydride reactor for thermochemical heat storage based on entransy theory," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    20. Ji Li & Weiqing Wang & Yimin Deng & Long Gao & Junchao Bai & Lei Xu & Jun Chen & Zhi Yuan, 2023. "Thermal Performance Analysis of Composite Phase Change Material of Myristic Acid-Expanded Graphite in Spherical Thermal Energy Storage Unit," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-24, June.

    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:eee:renene:v:217:y:2023:i:c:s0960148123010728. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    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.