Thermal characteristics of conical heat storage tank filled by metal foam: Optimization by response surface analysis

The heat storage efficiency of heat storage tank is a challenge to optimize the utilization of solar energy. Therefore, improving the efficiency of heat storage tank has become the main research focus. In this study, the conical tank design optimized for natural convection and the metal foam addition enhanced for thermal conduction are combined. However, there are some mutual constraints between two optimization methods. Therefore, the single factor analysis coupled response surface optimization method was used in this study to optimize the conical heat storage tank filled with metal foam. Firstly, the influence and optimization interval of each factor are discussed through single factor analysis. Then, the comprehensive influence of three factors is analyzed by response surface method. Finally, the heat storage characteristics, natural convection characteristics, melting fraction and temperature uniformity of the optimized model were evaluated. The results show that the optimized heat storage tank has stronger natural convection intensity and stronger melting heat storage performance than three comparative heat storage tanks.