IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i3p716-d490082.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of the Natural Convection Heat Transfer Coefficient in Phase Change Material (PCM) Based Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchanger

Author

Listed:
  • Saulius Pakalka

    (Department of Building Energetics, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Sauletekio ave. 11, 10223 Vilnius, Lithuania
    Applied Research Institute for Prospective Technologies, Vismaliuku str. 34, 10243 Vilnius, Lithuania)

  • Kęstutis Valančius

    (Department of Building Energetics, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Sauletekio ave. 11, 10223 Vilnius, Lithuania)

  • Giedrė Streckienė

    (Department of Building Energetics, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Sauletekio ave. 11, 10223 Vilnius, Lithuania)

Abstract

Latent heat thermal energy storage systems allow storing large amounts of energy in relatively small volumes. Phase change materials (PCMs) are used as a latent heat storage medium. However, low thermal conductivity of most PCMs results in long melting (charging) and solidification (discharging) processes. This study focuses on the PCM melting process in a fin-and-tube type copper heat exchanger. The aim of this study is to define analytically natural convection heat transfer coefficient and compare the results with experimental data. The study shows how the local heat transfer coefficient changes in different areas of the heat exchanger and how it is affected by the choice of characteristic length and boundary conditions. It has been determined that applying the calculation method of the natural convection occurring in the channel leads to results that are closer to the experiment. Using this method, the average values of the heat transfer coefficient ( h ave ) during the entire charging process was obtained 68 W/m 2 K, compared to the experimental result h ave = 61 W/m 2 K. This is beneficial in the predesign stage of PCM-based thermal energy storage units.

Suggested Citation

  • Saulius Pakalka & Kęstutis Valančius & Giedrė Streckienė, 2021. "Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of the Natural Convection Heat Transfer Coefficient in Phase Change Material (PCM) Based Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchanger," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-14, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:3:p:716-:d:490082
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/3/716/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/3/716/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mazzeo, Domenico & Oliveti, Giuseppe & de Gracia, Alvaro & Coma, Julià & Solé, Aran & Cabeza, Luisa F., 2017. "Experimental validation of the exact analytical solution to the steady periodic heat transfer problem in a PCM layer," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(P1), pages 1131-1147.
    2. Pereira da Cunha, Jose & Eames, Philip, 2016. "Thermal energy storage for low and medium temperature applications using phase change materials – A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 227-238.
    3. Vogel, J. & Felbinger, J. & Johnson, M., 2016. "Natural convection in high temperature flat plate latent heat thermal energy storage systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 184-196.
    4. Mohamed Fadl & Philip Eames, 2020. "Thermal Performance Analysis of the Charging/Discharging Process of a Shell and Horizontally Oriented Multi-Tube Latent Heat Storage System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-23, November.
    5. Sun, Xiaoqin & Zhang, Quan & Medina, Mario A. & Lee, Kyoung Ok, 2016. "Experimental observations on the heat transfer enhancement caused by natural convection during melting of solid–liquid phase change materials (PCMs)," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 1453-1461.
    6. Vogel, J. & Johnson, M., 2019. "Natural convection during melting in vertical finned tube latent thermal energy storage systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 246(C), pages 38-52.
    7. Soni, Vikram & Kumar, Arvind & Jain, V.K., 2018. "Modeling of PCM melting: Analysis of discrepancy between numerical and experimental results and energy storage performance," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 190-204.
    8. M. T. Nitsas & I. P. Koronaki, 2020. "Thermal Analysis of Pure and Nanoparticle-Enhanced PCM—Application in Concentric Tube Heat Exchanger," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-20, July.
    9. Ibrahim, Nasiru I. & Al-Sulaiman, Fahad A. & Rahman, Saidur & Yilbas, Bekir S. & Sahin, Ahmet Z., 2017. "Heat transfer enhancement of phase change materials for thermal energy storage applications: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 26-50.
    10. Liu, Lingkun & Su, Di & Tang, Yaojie & Fang, Guiyin, 2016. "Thermal conductivity enhancement of phase change materials for thermal energy storage: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 305-317.
    11. Ioan Sarbu & Calin Sebarchievici, 2018. "A Comprehensive Review of Thermal Energy Storage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-32, January.
    12. Bechiri, Mohammed & Mansouri, Kacem, 2015. "Analytical solution of heat transfer in a shell-and-tube latent thermal energy storage system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 825-838.
    13. Lamberg, Piia, 2004. "Approximate analytical model for two-phase solidification problem in a finned phase-change material storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(2), pages 131-152, February.
    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. Jesus Fernando Hinojosa & Saul Fernando Moreno & Victor Manuel Maytorena, 2023. "Low-Temperature Applications of Phase Change Materials for Energy Storage: A Descriptive Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-39, March.
    2. Mohammadreza Ebrahimnataj Tiji & Jasim M. Mahdi & Hayder I. Mohammed & Hasan Sh. Majdi & Abbas Ebrahimi & Rohollah Babaei Mahani & Pouyan Talebizadehsardari & Wahiba Yaïci, 2021. "Natural Convection Effect on Solidification Enhancement in a Multi-Tube Latent Heat Storage System: Effect of Tubes’ Arrangement," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-23, November.
    3. Lu, Shilei & Zhai, Xue & Gao, Jingxian & Wang, Ran, 2022. "Performance optimization and experimental analysis of a novel low-temperature latent heat thermal energy storage device," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PE).
    4. Daniela Dzhonova-Atanasova & Aleksandar Georgiev & Svetoslav Nakov & Stela Panyovska & Tatyana Petrova & Subarna Maiti, 2022. "Compact Thermal Storage with Phase Change Material for Low-Temperature Waste Heat Recovery—Advances and Perspectives," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-21, 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. Randeep Singh & Sadegh Sadeghi & Bahman Shabani, 2018. "Thermal Conductivity Enhancement of Phase Change Materials for Low-Temperature Thermal Energy Storage Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-20, December.
    2. Ran, Fengming & Chen, Yunkang & Cong, Rongshuai & Fang, Guiyin, 2020. "Flow and heat transfer characteristics of microencapsulated phase change slurry in thermal energy systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    3. Kasper, Lukas & Pernsteiner, Dominik & Schirrer, Alexander & Jakubek, Stefan & Hofmann, René, 2023. "Experimental characterization, parameter identification and numerical sensitivity analysis of a novel hybrid sensible/latent thermal energy storage prototype for industrial retrofit applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 344(C).
    4. Dubey, Abhayjeet kumar & Sun, Jingyi & Choudhary, Tushar & Dash, Madhusmita & Rakshit, Dibakar & Ansari, M Zahid & Ramakrishna, Seeram & Liu, Yong & Nanda, Himansu Sekhar, 2023. "Emerging phase change materials with improved thermal efficiency for a clean and sustainable environment: An approach towards net zero," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    5. Tao, Y.B. & He, Ya-Ling, 2018. "A review of phase change material and performance enhancement method for latent heat storage system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 245-259.
    6. Drissi, Sarra & Ling, Tung-Chai & Mo, Kim Hung & Eddhahak, Anissa, 2019. "A review of microencapsulated and composite phase change materials: Alteration of strength and thermal properties of cement-based materials," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 467-484.
    7. Mohamed Zbair & Simona Bennici, 2021. "Survey Summary on Salts Hydrates and Composites Used in Thermochemical Sorption Heat Storage: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-33, May.
    8. Rostami, Sara & Afrand, Masoud & Shahsavar, Amin & Sheikholeslami, M. & Kalbasi, Rasool & Aghakhani, Saeed & Shadloo, Mostafa Safdari & Oztop, Hakan F., 2020. "A review of melting and freezing processes of PCM/nano-PCM and their application in energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    9. Ahmed Hassan & Mohammad Shakeel Laghari & Yasir Rashid, 2016. "Micro-Encapsulated Phase Change Materials: A Review of Encapsulation, Safety and Thermal Characteristics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-32, October.
    10. 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.
    11. Lin, Yaxue & Jia, Yuting & Alva, Guruprasad & Fang, Guiyin, 2018. "Review on thermal conductivity enhancement, thermal properties and applications of phase change materials in thermal energy storage," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2730-2742.
    12. Abbas Sahi Shareef & Haider Nadhom Azziz & Ameer Abdul-Salam, 2022. "Techniques for extracting pure water by solar still with Fresnel lens and phase change materials," International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation, International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI), vol. 9(6), pages 45-52, June.
    13. Amaral, C. & Vicente, R. & Marques, P.A.A.P. & Barros-Timmons, A., 2017. "Phase change materials and carbon nanostructures for thermal energy storage: A literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1212-1228.
    14. Wickramaratne, Chatura & Dhau, Jaspreet S. & Kamal, Rajeev & Myers, Philip & Goswami, D.Y. & Stefanakos, E., 2018. "Macro-encapsulation and characterization of chloride based inorganic Phase change materials for high temperature thermal energy storage systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 587-596.
    15. Bazri, Shahab & Badruddin, Irfan Anjum & Naghavi, Mohammad Sajad & Bahiraei, Mehdi, 2018. "A review of numerical studies on solar collectors integrated with latent heat storage systems employing fins or nanoparticles," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 761-778.
    16. Luu, Minh Tri & Milani, Dia & Nomvar, Mobin & Abbas, Ali, 2020. "A design protocol for enhanced discharge exergy in phase change material heat battery," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    17. Modi, Nishant & Wang, Xiaolin & Negnevitsky, Michael, 2023. "Experimental investigation of the effects of inclination, fin height, and perforation on the thermal performance of a longitudinal finned latent heat thermal energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).
    18. Palacios, Anabel & Cong, Lin & Navarro, M.E. & Ding, Yulong & Barreneche, Camila, 2019. "Thermal conductivity measurement techniques for characterizing thermal energy storage materials – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 32-52.
    19. R. Andrzejczyk & P. Kozak & T. Muszyński, 2020. "Experimental Investigations on the Influence of Coil Arrangement on Melting/Solidification Processes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-19, December.
    20. Chen, C.Q. & Diao, Y.H. & Zhao, Y.H. & Ji, W.H. & Wang, Z.Y. & Liang, L., 2019. "Thermal performance of a thermal-storage unit by using a multichannel flat tube and rectangular fins," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C), pages 1280-1291.

    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:14:y:2021:i:3:p:716-:d:490082. 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.