Evaluation on branching fins towards improving latent heat thermal storage

Latent heat storage (LHS) system has obvious advantages in balancing energy supply and demand. However, the heat conductivity of PCM is extraordinarily low, which makes it difficult for the latent heat storage system to be applied in practice. For the sake of enhancing the productivity of phase transformation, the way of adding the area of heat conduction is adopted in this paper, such as adding fins. Two different fin combinations are designed under the condition that the total area of fins is unchanged. They design and analyze from two aspects of fins complexity and angle. The two dimensional model of energy storage equipment was established, and the system containing paraffin RT35 was numerically solved. The melting rate, total time required for melting, melting and temperature changes clouds. According to the analysis of the research results, it is found that the complex fin arranged at the bottom of the phase change material can penetrate deeper into the interior and enhance the melting of the phase change material at the bottom, thereby improving the overall melting rate of the system. When the angle between the fin and the horizontal axis is 0°, the melting rate of the system is faster. From the inner tube to the outer tube, the fins are arranged from short to long. Compared with the simple straight fins, the total melting time is reduced by 52.2%.