A numerical simulation study on the heat-storage performance of a flat-bottom heat storage tank

doi:10.19799/j.cnki.2095-4239.2022.0366

Abstract

Abstract:

This research was conducted to solve the problem of poor heat-transfer efficiency caused by the low thermal conductivity of phase change materials (PCMs). First, metal foams with high thermal conductivity were added to PCMs to accelerate the solid-liquid phase change process, favoring an improvement of the overall heat storage efficiency. Since the buoyancy force caused an accumulation of high-temperature fluid on top of the heat storage unit, PCMs at the bottom were quite difficult to melt. Hence, the bottom of the heat storage unit was cut off at a certain proportion to improve the refractory phenomenon at the bottom under the precise control of the PCM volume. Then, numerical models were established, and simulations were carried out to evaluate melting rate, heat storage, melting phase interface, velocity distribution, and temperature distribution during the melting process. The results demonstrated that cutting off the bottom of the heat storage unit effectively solved the refractory problem at the bottom, improving the overall heat storage efficiency. Notably, when the bottom cross-cut ratio was 0.7, the complete melting time was the shortest, 18.12% shorter than that of the original round tube. However, after managing the bottom cut, the refractory zone was transferred from the bottom to the cutting edge. This transfer reduced the distance between the heat source and the bottom of the regenerator (refractory zone), shortening the overall phase-change heat-storage time. At the end of melting, the flow rate of the melting phase interface with a cross-cut ratio of 0.7 was 2.10 times higher than that of the circular tube. Therefore, these results show that the bottom cross-cut strengthened the heat transfer at the bottom of the heat storage unit, reduced the low-temperature area at the bottom, and promoted the overall melting process.

Key words: metal foam, heat storage tank, phase change materials, flat-bottom shape, numerical simulation

CLC Number:

TK 513

Jie XUE, Jun ZHANG, Zhao DU, Rukun HU, Xiaohu YANG. A numerical simulation study on the heat-storage performance of a flat-bottom heat storage tank[J]. Energy Storage Science and Technology, 2022, 11(12): 3855-3861.

Figures/Tables 11

Fig. 1

Table 1

Table 2

Physical properties of paraffin and copper foam"

物理性质	石蜡	铜泡沫
$ρ$ /(kg/m³)	800	8920
$c p$ /[J/kg·K]	2000	380
$λ$ /[W/(m·K)]	0.1～0.2	144
$T m$ /K	326～327	—
$L$ /(kJ/kg)	200	—
$γ$ /K^-1	75	—
$μ$ /[kg/(m·s)]	2.508×10^-3	—

Table 2

Fig. 2

Table 3

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

Fig. 8

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案例	h/R	h/mm	R/mm
1	0.5	16.72	33.45
2	0.6	19.44	32.39
3	0.7	22.06	31.52
4	0.8	24.65	30.81
5	0.9	27.26	30.28
6	1.0	30.00	30.00

网格数	时间步长	200 s时P₁点温度/℃	400 s时P₁点温度/℃	600 s时P₁点温度/℃
54510	0.05	53.47	57.915	58.539
107910	0.05	53.438	57.896	58.525
153510	0.05	53.422	57.891	58.523
107910	0.01	53.438	57.897	58.525
107910	0.1	53.438	57.896	58.525

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