Effects of fluctuating thermal sources on a shell-and-tube latent thermal energy storage during charging process

Li, Zhi; Yu, Xiaoli; Wang, Lei; Lu, Yiji; Huang, Rui; Chang, Jinwei; Jiang, Ruicheng

Abstract

The fluctuating and intermittent nature of industrial heat sources is a crucial technical barrier limiting the implementation of heat recovery energy systems. Latent Thermal Energy Storage (LTES) has the potential to overcome the issues maintaining the Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) system within the designed operational conditions for effective and efficient operation. However, the dynamic heat transfer characteristics of LTES under fluctuating heat sources need to be further studied to understand the effects of thermal fluctuation. In this work, charging performance of a shell-and-tube LTES under fluctuating and steady heat source has been investigated and compared. The effects of period and amplitude for the fluctuating heat source, as well as the Stefan number, are detailed investigated. Results indicate that large-period fluctuating heat sources can considerably reduce the total melting time but also the energy storage capacity, while small-period fluctuating heat sources almost has no effect on the melting process of LTES. For the effects of fluctuating amplitude, both the total melting time and energy storage capacity decline at a decreasing rate with the increase of fluctuating amplitude. The results can bridge the knowledge gap in the future designing of shell-and-tube LTES for fluctuating heat sources for the heat recovery applications.

Citation

Li, Z., Yu, X., Wang, L., Lu, Y., Huang, R., Chang, J., & Jiang, R. (2020). Effects of fluctuating thermal sources on a shell-and-tube latent thermal energy storage during charging process. Energy, 199, Article 117400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2020.117400

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 14, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Mar 18, 2020
• Publication Date: May 15, 2020
• Deposit Date: Mar 19, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 18, 2021
• Journal: Energy
• Print ISSN: 0360-5442
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 199
• Article Number: 117400
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2020.117400
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1267846