Abstract
The temperature of heat transfer fluid (HTF) at the inlet of thermal storage unit presents non-steady state characteristics due to the solar intensity changing with time. In order to analyze the effects of non-steady state inlet temperature on the performance of phase change thermal energy storage unit, the inlet temperature is assumed as linear variation with time and the average temperature in an hour is set to 60°C. Then the effects of inlet temperature linear increase or linear decrease over time on the melting rate, melting fraction, thermal storage capacity, solid-liquid interface location were numerically studied. The results show that both the melting time and thermal energy storage capacity in an hour decrease with the increase of initial HTF inlet temperature. The initial inlet temperature increasing from 30°C to 90°C will lead to the melting time decreasing from 42.75 min to 20.58 min and the total TES capacity in an hour reducing from 72.6 kJ to 45.3 kJ.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 32-34 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| Journal | Kung Cheng Je Wu Li Hsueh Pao/Journal of Engineering Thermophysics |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| State | Published - Jan 2012 |
Keywords
- Enthalpy method
- Non-steady state
- Phase change thermal energy storage
- Solar energy