Experimental investigation of the cubic thermal energy storage unit with coil tubes

This study presented experimental investigations on the thermal performance of a thermal energy storage (TES) unit with coil tubes. A designed test rig was built and the melting heat transfer characteristics (melting front and temperature distribution) inside the TES unit were examined. The effects of charging flow rate on the overall phase change process were examined. The results showed that natural convection accelerated the thermal energy transport in the melt phase in the top region, but weakened the heat transfer in the bottom region; this resulted in the unmelt PCM at the bottom. The melting heat transfer was overall enhanced by the increase in inlet flow rate, indicating that the full charging time can be shortened by a larger flow rate.