Numerical analysis of discharging process acceleration in LHTESS by immersing innovative fin configuration using finite element method

Discharging process of Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage Systems (LHTESS) containing Phase Change Material (PCM) has been discussed in the present paper. In these systems, thermal energy storage and retrieval occur during solid-liquid phase change. They are used to establish balance between energy supply and demand, but the main restriction for these systems is the weak thermal conductivity of working fluid. In recent years, several enhancement techniques have been employed in order to overcome this problem. In the present study, the method of nanoparticles dispersion in pure PCM to make Nano-Enhanced Phase Change Material (NEPCM) and adding fins with innovative configuration are applied to accelerate solidification process. The abovementioned techniques are analyzed separately. First the geometry parameters of the fin are changed to find the best fin array. Then the effect of nanoparticles volume fraction on solidification rate is studied. The numerical approach in this paper is Standard Galerkin Finite Element Method. In this work, an innovative fin configuration, based on snowflake crystal structure, has been employed to enhance the performance of LHTESS during the discharging process, also the efficiency of nanoparticle dispersion in PCM and adding fin with different structures on LHTESS performance has been examined from the viewpoint of either discharging expedition or maximum energy storage capacity, which are proposed as the novelties here. Results indicate that enhancement of discharging process in LHTESS by applying Snowflake shaped fin structure in comparison with nanoparticle dispersion is higher significantly, although it doesn't reduce maximum energy storage capacity considerably. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.