Latent Heat Thermal Storage Using Phase Change Materials (PCM)

ABSTRACT

Various methods are employed in production of energy throughout the globe. Some prove as perennial resource, however many of them undergoes many loses in the intermediate conversion process from initial stage to the final stage of power production. Also supply and demand dont quite meet their ends often. To reduce this mismatch storage systems are employed in almost all the mechanisms from small flywheels to high efficient storage systems in spacecrafts. Though storage system is a vast medium, thermal energy storage concepts and ideas are presented in this paper. Thermal energy storage is becoming a very attractive means of storing and retrieving thermal energy. TES using Phase changing materials (PCM), pros and cons of using it are discussed here. Since TES is a vast division, this paper doesnt cover everything but it gives a brief introduction about what is thermal energy storage, its types, methods of storing, and its drawbacks [1]. This paper also deals with the processes involved in analyzing those storage systems for its physical property changes using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Keywords: Thermal energy storage, Heat recovery system, PCM, Latent heat thermal storage 1 Introduction Energy is an important entity for the economic development of any country. Considering the environmental protection and also in the context of great uncertainty over future energy supplies, attention is concentrated on the utilization of sustainable energy sources and the energy conservation methodologies. Concentrated solar thermal power generation is becoming a very attractive renewable energy production system among all the different renewable options, as it has a better potential for dispatch ability. Solar thermal power plants produce electricity in the same way as other conventional power plants, but using solar radiation as energy input. This energy can be transformed to hightemperature steam, to drive a turbine or a motor engine. Mainly, four elements are required in these plants: concentrator, receiver, transport/storage media system, and power conversion device. Of all components, thermal storage is a key component. Dispatching inevitably requires the need for efficient and cost-effective storage systems. Thus storage systems become the key one here. In spite of the advantages the TES provides, it is one of the less developed. Here the concept of thermal energy storage is presented along with its classification, methods, materials, its pros and cons [1]. Also steps involved in analysis for the property changes during the storing and retrieving process is highlighted using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). 2 Energy Storage Energy storage is storing some form of energy so that it can be retrieved and used later. Energy storage device are sometimes called as accumulators. All forms of energy come under one of the following classification: Potential energy, kinetic energy, electrical energy or thermal energy. Each of this energy can be stored with its appropriate type of accumulator. Fig.1 shows variety of energy storage systems [2]. Thermal energy storage is discussed in this document. 2.1 Thermal energy storage Thermal energy storage systems are used to correct the mismatch between supply and demand. A thermal energy unit essentially consists of three important processes: Charging, storing and discharging/retrieving.

Energy Storage System

Mechanical Energy Storage - Hydro storage - Compressed air storage - Flywheels

Chemical Energy Storage

Biological Energy Storage

Magnetic Energy Storage

Thermal Energy Storage - Sensible heat storage - Latent heat storage - Chemical heat storage

- Electrochemical batteries - Organic molecular storage

Fig. 1 Classification of energy storage system [2]

As shown in fig. 1, TES is divided into three types. Chemical heat storage is obtained through some components undergoing reversible endothermic chemical reactions to

store and discharge the heat stored within them. This type is not domestically practiced as it is unsafe and hazardous and

can lead to fatal accidents if not proper care and maintenance is taken. As the temperature increases the energy content of the substance also increases. The energy released by the substance when its temperature is reduced is known as sensible heat storage. On the other hand, the energy required to convert a solid material into liquid material, or a liquid material into gas material is known as heat of fusion at the melting point (solid to liquid) and heat of vaporization (liquid to gas), respectively. Heat associated with these change of phases is known as latent heat. As already mentioned, a complete storage process has three main steps: charging, storing and discharging. 2.2 Sensible and Latent heat storage Though sensible and latent heat storage seems to have same type of process for storing heat, they are not. In practical conditions, latent heat storage proves to be highly efficient compared to sensible heat storage. Example: Consider ice, latent heat of fusion of ice () = 334 kJ/kg, specific heat (Cp) = 4.178 kJ/kgK. Latent Heat: Let change in temperature (T) = 1 C, mass (m) = 1 kg. Energy required to melt the ice Q = m x = 1 x 334 = 334 kJ Sensible Heat: Let mass (m) = 1 kg, heat supplied = 334kJ. Energy required to melt the ice Q = m x Cp x T = 334. 1 x 4.178 x T = 334, T = 79.94 C 80 C It can be seen that it takes 80 times as much energy to melt a given mass of water (ice) than to raise the same amount of water (ice) by 1C [2]. Latent heat storage is of particular interest because it provides high energy storage density and has the capacity to store energy at a constant temperature or over a limited range of temperature variation which is the temperature that corresponds to the phase transition temperature of the material. Table 1 provides a
Table 1

comparison between properties of different thermal storage materials used at room temperature. 3 Phase change materials (PCM) Heat can be stored nearly isothermally in some substances as the latent heat of phase change, as heat of fusion (solidliquid transition) or heat of vaporization (liquid-vapour transition). Mainly solid-liquid transition is used, and substances under this technology are called phase change materials (PCM) [2]. From table 1, is can seen that utilizing PCM appreciably reduces size compared to sensible heating systems and it allows large amounts of energy to be stored in relatively small volumes, resulting in some of the lowest storage media costs of any storage systems. PCMs are available from a range of -30 C to 1000 C. In spite of the advantages of PCMs over other medium of storage systems, it has an important drawback that holds the PCM from being commonly used. PCMs have a very poor thermal conductivity. Thermal conductivity of PCM ranges between 0.2 to 0.5 W/mK. 3.1 Promoting thermal conductivity of PCM Low thermal conductivity of PCM strongly suppresses the energy charging/discharging rates. Introduction of highly conductive materials to form a composite to the PCM and thermal conductivity promoter is a logical solution. The insertion of metal fins, foams, configurations of these fixed, non-moving structures and their interactions with conduction, convection, and phase change heat transport mechanisms pose challenging issues [3]. 3.2 General structure of a PCM shell and tube unit It consists of a shell and tube with a moderately high thickness than commonly used pipes. This space is used to accumulate PCM in it. Heat transfer fluid (HTF) passes through the tube and it carries the heat during charging and discharging from the PCM. Fig. 2 shows the work by Anica, Kristian, Bernard [4] utilizing shell and tube unit.

Property Density Storage mass for 109J, avg [kg] Storage volume for 109J, avg [m3]

Rock 2240 67,000 30

Water

Organic PCM

Inorganic PCM

They investigated this type of problem, experimented with it and produced the results. They quoted this type of PCM storage unit process as a conjugate problem of transient forced convective heat transfer between the HTF and the wall, heat conduction through the wall and solid-liquid phase change of the PCM. They have solved the problem using

1000 800 1600 16,000 5300 4350 16 6.6 2.7 dimensionless continuity, momentum and energy equations based on the following assumptions: HTF, tube wall and PCM temperature variations in an angular direction are assumed to be negligible, thermo physical properties of the HTF, the tube wall and the PCM are constant, natural convection in PCM liquid phase is ignored.

Fig. 2. Latent thermal energy storage system: (a) storage tank; (b) shell-and-tube storage unit; (c) experimental test unit. (Reproduced from Anica, Kristian, Bernard [])

They concluded that numerical solutions match quite well with the experimental results. Also they added that the selection of the operating conditions and geometric 3.3 Solid Liquid interface inside the side during

parameters depend on the required heat transfer rate and the time in which the energy has to be stored or delivered.

Interface Solid Liquid HTF in Liquid Solid PCM HTF out

PCM

Fig 3. Solid-liquid interface inside the shell during melting of the PCM

Fig. 3 shows the solid-liquid interface of the PCM during the melting stage. Now this arouses the main problem of our concern. During the initial stage of the melting process, HTF heats up the walls and PCM melts due to convective heat from the wall. As this goes on, and the solid gets drilled down and turning to liquid, the solid adjacent to this liquid layer gets heat from the liquid layer through conduction. We have discussed earlier that PCM have very low thermal conductivity and now it dominates the entire melting process and slows it down, thus both charging and discharging slows down. This is an undesirable parameter that is more checked while installing a latent thermal heat storage unit using PCM as the storage medium. Several researches are going on

world wide to overcome this thermal conductivity problem. Fig. 4 visualizes the concept more clearly. Interface Interface

Initially (Convection only)

After some time (Convection and Conduction)

3.4 PCM in space heating As PCMs are continually used in solar energy storage units, it becomes inevitable to discuss their usage in space heating and cooling system where solar energy production is the major source of energy. Energy storage unit requires more priority there. Well consider a model developed by Halawa & Saman [5]. They performed an experiment in number of PCM slabs contained in a rectangular duct where air passes between the slabs. They studied many things including the effects of charge and discharge temperature differences, air mass flow rate, slab thicknesses, air gaps and slab dimensions on the air outlet temperatures and heat transfer rates of the thermal storage unit. Their numerical study was carried out using TRNSYS 16 Simulation package.

3.5 PCM in heat recovery system PCMs are employed in a wide variety of applied thermal applications and devices. Heat recovery system is always one among them. Heat recovery system reduces the pollutant amount ejected to the environment, increases efficiency, reduces cost effectiveness, and provides with many more waste utilizing ways. We consider the work by Pandiyarajan, Chinna Pandian, Malan, Velraj, and Seeniraj [6]. They conducted experiments to investigate heat recovery from diesel engine exhaust using finned shell and tube heat exchanger and thermal storage system. They quote that energy available n the exit stream of many energy conversion devices goes as waste, if not utilized properly. They used paraffin as the PCM. Schematic diagram of the setup is shown in fig 7.

Fig. 4. The thermal storage unit modeled in the study. (Reproduced from Anica, Kristian, Bernard [5])

Fig. 5. PCM slab dimensions (Reproduced from Anica, Kristian, Bernard [5])

Fig. 7. Schematic diagram of the experimental setup. (Reproduced from [6])

Table 2 (Reproduced from [6]) Heat exchanger specification.

Fig. 6. Schematic of the melting front of PCM slabs. (Reproduced from Anica, Kristian, Bernard [5])

They numerically studied the model and made a number of suggestions and observations based on the model. They concluded that a high mass flow rate increases the heat transfer rate at the initial period of melting/freezing which results in a shorter melting/freezing time and reduced outlet temperature. Thicker slabs reduce the heat transfer rate during early and second stages of melting/freezing and therefore prolong the melting/freezing time and air gap has an effect similar to that of slab thickness. As long as the mass and the surface area of the PCM are kept constant, the change of the dimensions of the PCM does not have an effect on the outlet temperature and heat transfer rate magnitude. Natural convection is found to have an insignificant effect on the thermal performance of their PCM thermal storage unit.

The results of their experiment reported that about 1015% of fuel power is stored as heat in the storage system, at a reasonably higher temperature. They report that the major technical constraint that prevents successful implementation of such a system is the time mismatched demand and availability of energy. When the demand arises, the recovered heat is not available and vice-versa. This constraint is overcome by using a thermal storage unit. A

suitable waste heat recovery system with a large capacity of thermal energy storage tank can store heat energy. They also indicate that the presence of stainless steel containers and the high conductivity storage wall transfer the heat by conduction in the axial direction of the storage tank and stratification is not found and near uniform temperature is observed throughout the TES tank.

Fig. 8. Layout of thermal storage tank. (Reproduced from [6])

4 Computational Fluid Dynamics Applying the fundamental laws of mechanics to a fluid gives the governing equations for a fluid. The conservation of mass equation is

and the conservation of momentum equation is

4.1 Applications CFD is useful in a wide variety of applications. CFD can be used to simulate the flow over a vehicle. For instance, it can be used to study the interaction of propellers or rotors with the aircraft fuselage, however here were going to discuss about the fluid flow during charging/discharging of a TES, and many variation in parameter of the system. A CFD process consists of essentially six basic steps: Modeling, setting boundary conditions, meshing, setting physical parameters, analyzing and reporting. 4.2 In thermal energy storage As already mentioned it is used to analyze the variation of many parameter, effects of change in them, to plot the velocity, pressure etc. variations. We will consider the parametric study of PCM based heat sinks by Xiang-Q, Christopher, and Arun S. Mujumdar [8]. They conducted numerical study of a PCM based heat sink used for cooling of mobile electronic devices such as notebooks and laptops. We wont go deep into this paper, but well have a general look at just the simulation counters to get an idea about how the result of CFD based analysis will look like.

These equations [7] along with the conservation of energy equation form a set of coupled, nonlinear partial differential equations. It is not possible to solve these equations analytically for most engineering problems. However, it is possible to obtain approximate computer-based solutions to the governing equations for a variety of engineering problems. This is the subject matter of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).

selecting correct PCM. For the selection of correct PCM, CFD analysis proves to be a very assistive guidance, as it reduces both time and cost effectively. Apart from this, latent heat thermal storage using PCM seems to be a good field that requires more research over the thermal conductivity criteria. References [1] Yvan Dutil, Danile R. Rousse, Nizar Ben Salah, Stephane Lassue, Laurent Zalewskei. A review on phase-change materials: Mathematical modeling and simulations. Renewable Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2011; 15:112130. [2] Antoni Gil , Marc Medrano , Ingrid Martorell , Ana Lazaro , Pablo Dolado , Belen Zalba , Luisa F. Cabeza. State of the art on high temperature thermal energy storage for power generation. Part 1- Concepts, materials and modellization. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2010; 14:3155. [3] Liwu Fan, J.M. Khodadadi. Thermal conductivity enhancement of phase change materials for thermal energy storage: A review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2011; 15:2446. [4] Anica Trp, Kristian Lenic, Bernard Frankovic. Analysis of the influence of operating conditions and geometric parameters on heat transfer in water-paraffin shell-andtube latent thermal energy storage unit. Applied Thermal Engineering 2006; 26:18301839. [5] E. Halawa, W. Saman. Thermal performance analysis of a phase change thermal storage unit for space heating. Renewable Energy 2011; 36: 259-264. [6] V. Pandiyarajan, M. Chinna Pandian, E. Malan, R. Velraj, R.V. Seeniraj. Experimental investigation on heat recovery from diesel engine exhausts using finned shell and tube heat exchanger and thermal storage system. Applied Energy 2011; 88:7787.

Fig. 9. Velocity contours at different slices (Reproduced from [8])

Fig. 10. Contours of the melt fraction of PCM for case: (a)

T = 20 K; (c) T = 30 K. (Reproduced from [8])

T = 10 K; (b)

[7] https://confluence.cornell.edu/display/SIMULATION/F LUENT+-+Introduction+to+CFD+Basics. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNoncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. [8] Xiang-Qi Wang, Christopher Yap, Arun S. Mujumdar. A parametric study of phase change material (PCM)based heat sinks. International Journal of Thermal Sciences 2008; 47:10551068.

5 Conclusion The concept of energy storage is discussed its types, advantage of latent heat storage over the sensible storage, the material used in latent heat storage i.e., phase changing materials (PCM). Some case studies are considered for more knowledge about the PCM concept. Its application in solar thermal storage, use in heat recovery system and numerical analysis of such systems are considered. The important drawback of PCM, its thermal conductivity seems to be a huge hurdle to be applied in common use, besides cost consideration, space availability and the