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ISSN Online: 2379-1748

ISBN Flash Drive: 978-1-56700-469-4

ISBN Online: 978-1-56700-470-0

Second Thermal and Fluids Engineering Conference
April, 2-5, 2017, Las Vegas, NV, USA

LIMITS OF LATENT HEAT STORAGE CHARGING

Get access (open in a dialog) pages 1081-1093
DOI: 10.1615/TFEC2017.est.018440

Abstract

Charging latent heat storages is limited by the low thermal conductivity of Phase Change Materials (PCMs). In the present work, a combined numerical-analytical study reveals the limits of PCM charging in terms of the governing non-dimensional properties. A Pareto front between energy and power density is obtained, presenting the trade-off between storage capacity and charging rate for these idealised limits. The results show that the characteristic length, i.e. the maximum distance between PCM material and a heat exchanging surface, should be reduced as much as possible in order to reach the highest performance. The Pareto front reveals that, depending on the PCM/metal combination, the maximal metal volume fraction should not exceed 70 to 95%. Furthermore, the optimal metal volume fraction depends on energy density versus charging power requirements. The performance of existing latent heat storages are situated in the developed framework for charge limits.