SIMULTANEOUS CHARGING AND DISCHARGING PERFORMANCE OF A LATENT ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM

The performance of simultaneous charging and discharging process of a thermal energy storage system is experimentally investigated in this study. The microencapsulated phase change material (MEPCM) is used as the energy storage medium. The different combinations of the inlet cooling/heating water flow rates are adopted when the PCM in the ESU is initially in solid phase and melted, respectively. During the experiment, the system shows a high heat transfer rate between the cooling water and the heating water due to the thermal enhancement by the carbon fiber. The final states of the ESU are different under the same working condition with different initial states. The results of this experiment shows a great potential of the system in the practical application scenarios where the request of heat exchange and energy storage needs to be both satisfied.