Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Lorestan University, P.O. Box 68151-44316, Khorramabad, Iran.
School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 May;30(21):59765-59780. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-26689-9. Epub 2023 Apr 4.
The limitation of intermittent and irregular supply of the solar energy systems can be compensated through utilization of thermal energy storage systems. The design of an efficient latent heat thermal energy storage system plays a huge role in determining the overall performance. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of geometric parameters such as thermal charger interspacing and inclination angle on the charging performance of a PCM (phase change material) inside a semi-circular enclosure with two charging sources (renewable heat sources). A numerical analysis is performed using the enthalpy-porosity method. The system performance is assessed in terms of dimensionless flow parameters such as Fourier number, Rayleigh number, and Stefan number. The study shows that the variation of Rayleigh number significantly influences the natural convection in the fluid zone of a PCM. An increase of Rayleigh number from 1e4 to 5e5 reduced the overall melting time by more than half. In addition, the thermal charger interspacing and inclination angle both showed considerable effect on the flow physics which can cause significant expedition/delay of the melting process.
太阳能系统间歇性和不规则的供应限制可以通过利用热能储存系统来补偿。高效潜热热能储存系统的设计在确定整体性能方面起着巨大的作用。因此，本研究旨在研究几何参数（如热充电器间隔和倾斜角）对带有两个充电源（可再生热源）的半圆形外壳内 PCM（相变材料）充电性能的影响。使用焓-孔隙度方法进行数值分析。使用无量纲流动参数（如傅里叶数、瑞利数和斯蒂芬数）来评估系统性能。研究表明，瑞利数的变化显著影响 PCM 中流体区域的自然对流。瑞利数从 1e4 增加到 5e5，整体熔化时间减少了一半以上。此外，热充电器间隔和倾斜角都对流动物理产生了相当大的影响，这可能会导致熔化过程的显著提前/延迟。
