Högskolan Dalarnas logga och länk till högskolans webbplats

The use of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) for latent thermal energy storage enhances the availability of solar energy. PCMs can store a large amount of energy in a small volume using almost entirely isothermal processes. Despite this, the poor thermal conductivity of PCMs is a significant disadvantage of current PCMs, severely limiting their energy storage capabilities. As a result, the solidification/melting rates are reduced to an unacceptable level, and the system reaction time is increased unreasonably. By combining the novel fin arrangement, nanoparticles, and metal foam, the current study improved the solidification rate of the PCM in the Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage System (LHTESS). LHTESS was numerically evaluated in ANSYS Fluent 18.1 using a solidification and melting model. The addition of cesaro fins, nanoparticles, and metal foam significantly improved PCM solidification in the LHTESS. PCM solidification time was reduced by 42.42% and 39.39% in Type-3 and Type-5 fin configurations, respectively, when compared to Type-4 fin configuration. Furthermore, a temperature difference of 27 K between the Heat Thermal Fluid (HTF) and the PCM ensures the best solidification performance. By incorporating nanoparticles into PCM and metal foam, the solidification time is reduced by 73.68%. Depending on the foam structure and volume fraction of the nanoparticles, dispersing nanoparticles in PCM with metal foam saves up to 75% of the time. © 2023 The Author(s)