Second Conference on Phase Change Material & Slurry : Scientific Conference & Business Forum

15 – 17 June 2005 Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland

Three different approaches to simulate

PCM bulk elements in a solar storage tank

J. Bony1, M. Ibáñez2, P. Puschnig3, S. Citherlet1, L. Cabeza2, A. Heinz3

1
Laboratory of Solar Energetics and Building Physics (LESBAT)
Applied University of West-Switzerland (HES-SO/HEIG-VD)
CH-1401 Yverdon-les-Bains - Switzerland

2
Dept. Informàtica i Eng. Industrial, Univeritat de Lleida, JaumeII 69,
25198 Lleida – Spain

3
Institute of Thermal Engineering (IWT), Graz University of Technology (TUG),
Inffeldgasse 25 / B, A-8010 Graz – Austria

Abstract
In the framework of the IEA Task 32, which investigates advanced storage solutions in thermal
solar systems for buildings, the potential of new phase change materials (PCM) is investigated to
increase the energy density of small sized water storage tanks. This approach should have the
advantage to reduce the solar store volume for a given solar fraction, reduce the heat losses of the
store, increase the solar fraction for a given available volume and reduce the number of on/off
cycles of boilers.
This paper presents three simulation models that are developed in the framework of this Task 32,
and which will in a near future be compared to experimental data in the near future. The aim of this
work is to offer at the end of the Task 32, a suitable solution for TRNSYS users to simulate bulk
PCM elements immersed into a storage tank.

Keywords
PCM, Solar combisystem, Simulation

Introduction
At the end of 2003, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has initiated a new task in the Solar
Heating and Cooling Programme. The Task 32, entitled, Advanced Storage Concepts for Solar and
Low Energy Buildings, has the following main objectives:
• To investigate advanced solutions for heat storage systems providing heat or cold for solar
and low energy buildings
• To contribute to the development of advanced storage solutions in solar thermal systems
for buildings that lead to high solar fraction
• To propose advanced storage solutions for the benefit of other heating or cooling
technologies than solar (heat pump, boiler).

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 Second Conference on Phase Change Material & Slurry : Scientific Conference & Business Forum
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The Task 32 focuses on detached houses with storage units sized to achieve a significant solar
fraction of heating or both heating and cooling load. Standard current solutions make use of
insulated water tanks in the range of 400 to 1 000 litres.

The goal of Task 32 is to investigate new solutions to improve the storage efficiency and capacity
and the fractional energy savings by solar. Among others solutions, the potential of new phase
change materials (PCM) is investigated at the experimental and numerical level. This paper
presents three different approaches that are investigated by three different groups involved in the
Task.

The three models

For several decades, different numerical models of storage tanks using PCM for latent energy
storage have been developed; a few of these models have been elaborated to work with the
TRNSYS simulation package [1]. Unfortunately no one gave satisfaction to allow a large diffusion,
either due to a lack of time to test its reliability [1], or a lack of flexibility which does not allow the
modelling of different types of containers for PCM [3].
Within this Task 32, it appears therefore necessary to develop a model allowing to simulate
different container shapes with different types of PCM. The final goal is to provide a model to
TRNSYS users, that shows a good agreement with experimental data and which could be flexible
enough to allow various systems to be evaluated.

Mathematical approach
The mathematical approach is similar for the three models. The numeric method is based on the
explicit approach, which allows a simple coding of the PCM enthalpy calculation in 1D or 2D.
Figure 1 shows the different heat fluxes considered for the energy balance in each ith node of the
water tank [5], the hatched part being the one dedicated to the PCM.

Flow stream Conductivity

from upper node from upper node
Q& i( flow) Q& i(cond )
Storage Node i
Q& i( flow) medium Q& i( flow)
Direct inlet Direct outlet
Heat exchanger Q& i(hx )
Q& i(mod ules )
Auxiliary heater Q& i(aux ) PCM Q& i(loss )
Thermal losses
Q& i( flow) Q& i(cond )
Flow stream Conductivity
from lower node from lower node

Figure 1: Thermal flux taken into account in each ith water node

For the storage model the so called enthalpy approach has been used [4] in which the enthalpy
density h is understood to be a continuous and invertible function of the temperature T.
h = h(T ), T = T (h ) (1)

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 Second Conference on Phase Change Material & Slurry : Scientific Conference & Business Forum
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The energy balance equation for each storage node leads to the time evolution of the enthalpy hi
and via the enthalpy / temperature relation also to the temperature Ti of a given node, according to
the following equation

Q& i( medium ) = Q& i( flow ) + Q& i( hx ) + Q& i( aux ) + Q& i( cond ) + Q& i( loss ) + Q& i( modules )
(2)

Here, Q(medium) is the energy of the storage medium of node i, while the terms on the right hand side
of the above equation represent the energy change of node i due to charging / discharging via
direct inlet / outlet flow including the flow upward / downward in the tank (flow). The term (hx)
represents the energy change due to internal heat exchanger, (aux) is the energy input due to a
built-in electrical heater, (cond) represents the thermal conduction to neighboring nodes, (loss)
losses through the tank envelope to the ambient, and finally (modules) which correspond to the
energy exchange between the storage medium and PCM modules. For the three different models,
the left hand side of equation (2) is:
dT
Model A and B (Type60) Q& i( medium ) = mi ⋅ Cp ⋅ i (3)
dt
dh
Model C (Type240) Q& i( medium ) = mi ⋅ i (4)
dt
With: mi = mass of node i
Cp = heat capacity of the storage medium

The energy balance in the water tank is modified when PCM modules are included. To take into
account this new element a TRNSYS component has been developed. The energy exchange
between the storage medium and the PCM modules (compare last term on the right hand side of
equation (2)) is governed by the following UA-like equation:

{ [ (
Q& i( modules ) = − N ( modules ) U i AiPCM ⋅ Ti (hi ) − Ti PCM hiPCM )]} (5)

Here, N(modules) denotes the number of PCM modules, Ti and TiPCM the temperatures of node i of,
respectively, the storage medium and the PCM nodes, Ui the heat transfer coefficient and AiPCM the
heat exchange area between the storage medium and the PCM modules. For UiAiPCM the thermal
resistance of the PCM container material has been taken into account as well as the heat transfer
in the storage liquid due to forced and/or free convection at the PCM surface.

Model A: TYPE 60PCM-1

The first and simplest storage tank model including PCM modules is based on a standard TRNSYS
component, Type 60. This stratified fluid tank model assumes that a water-filled sensible energy
storage subject to stratification can be modelled considering that the tank consists of n fully mixed
stacked volume segments. It allows to divide the tank in several vertically arranged layers
(maximum 100). The degree of stratification is determined by the value of n, which gives a 1D
model of the stratification temperature in the tank. Options for fixed or variable inlets, unequal size
nodes, temperature dead band on heater thermostats, incremental loss coefficients, internal
submersed heat exchangers, non-circular tanks, horizontal tanks, and losses to the flue of a gas
auxiliary heater are available in the standard model. It has 3 internal heat exchangers, 2 direct

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 Second Conference on Phase Change Material & Slurry : Scientific Conference & Business Forum
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input-output and an auxiliary heater. More detailed information is given in Klein et al. (2000). Thus,
it is possible to focus on the PCM model.
Different modelling hypothesis have been carefully evaluated to adapt Type 60 in order to take into
account of the PCM. After a detailed study the following ones have been considered acceptable for
PCM modules composed of containers with high conductibility (metal) and a phase change
material mixed with graphite composite:
• The PCM modules have a cylindrical shape and they are located in vertical position close to
the upper part of the water tank.
• The thermal conductivity of the metallic containers is high enough to consider their
temperature homogeneous in normal operating conditions.
• The heat flux from the phase change material to the containers is high enough to consider
that the heat exchange between the PCM modules and the water only depends on the free
and forced convection coefficients on the container external surface. Internal module
resistance to heat transfer is not modelled.
Type 60PCM-1 needs additional parameters not required in the original Type 60. These user-
defined inputs are related to the module geometry and the phase change material thermal
properties such as: the number of cylindrical PCM modules introduced in the tank, the modules
height and diameter and the phase change temperature at the initial simulation conditions. The
PCM properties involved in the model are the densities and the specific heat in both material
phases. The change of phase is modelled with an experimental enthalpy – temperature curve. An
experimental data file is imported and used by Type 60PCM-1.

Model B: TYPE 60PCM-2

As model A, this second model is also based on the standard TRNSYS model for water storage
tanks (Type60). While, model A can only handle homogenous cylinders (one node), the model B,
as the model C that will be described in the next section, can simulate a PCM bulk element for
different possible shapes (cylinder, sphere or plate) with a user-defined number of layer as shown
in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Calculations 2D for the parallelogram and the cylinder,

1D for the sphere for model B and C

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 Second Conference on Phase Change Material & Slurry : Scientific Conference & Business Forum
15 – 17 June 2005 Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland

Figure 3, Figure 4 and equations (6)-(7) give the conventional approach to calculate the conduction
heat transfer in 2D mode used in model B and C.
Enthalpy change
k
Δhi ,k
i-1,k = Q& i ,k −1→i ,k + Q& i ,k +1→i ,k + Q& i −1,k →i ,k + Q& i +1,k →i ,k (6)
i Δt
i,k-1 i,k i,k+1
Heat transfer between 2 nodes
i+1,k
⎛ λi ,k λi ,k −1 ⎞
Xi,k-1 Xi,k Q& i ,k −1→i ,k = ⎜⎜ + ⎟ ⋅ Ai ,k −1→i ,k ⋅ (Ti ,k −1 − Ti ,k ) (7)
x x ⎟
⎝ i ,k i , k −1 ⎠

Figure 3: PCM mesh With : i and k = the two directional axes of meshing
= thermal conductivity coefficient
x = distance between two nodes
A = heat exchange area between two nodes

i=N
mikPCM , hikPCM , TikPCM

hi , Ti
mi k =1 k = nr

UAiPCM

i=2

i =1

Figure 4: Rrepresentation of the nodes structure of the storage model including cylindrical PCM
modules.

In this second model Type 60PCM-2, the phase change is characterized by an enthalpy-
temperature curve represented by 5 lines in order to approach the reality (Figure 5). Thus, we can
use the equation (1) for PCM node.
The model also permits to simulate 10 PCM zones at different heights. Every zone is characterized
by 27 parameters to define PCM thermal characteristics, as well as the dimensions and the shape
of the container.

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 Second Conference on Phase Change Material & Slurry : Scientific Conference & Business Forum
15 – 17 June 2005 Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland

350

300

67.5; 263
250

Enthalpie [kJ/kg]
200
64.1; 187 Enthalpy
150
Approximation
Points
100 54; 102

48; 73
50

0
20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Temperature [°C]

Figure 5: Enthalpy curve according to the temperature

Model C: Type240
In addition to integrated modules of PCM materials of various shapes (Figure 2), the new Type240
is a storage model developed for TRNSYS 16 which is also capable of treating micro-PCM-slurries
as storage medium. A PCM slurry is a dispersion of micro-encapsulated PCM material in water
resulting in a pumpable fluid. Regarding the integrated modules of PCM materials of various
shapes the same flexibility as for model B is available. As an example for cylindrical PCM modules
Figure 4 shows a schematic representation of the node structure of the storage model C.
The present storage model (“Type 240”) allows for the inclusion of up to 5 double port connections,
where each double port can be either a direct inlet / outlet or an internal heat exchanger. The
storage fluid can be either water or PCM slurry. In the latter case, all relevant temperature
dependent thermal properties (enthalpy, viscosity, thermal conductivity) must be supplied as an
external text file. So in contrast to model B, the enthalpy curve is not approximated by 5 lines only
(compare Figure 4) but the precise enthalpy curve available from experiments can be used in the
simulation.
For each geometry (cylinders, spheres, plates) the heat conduction inside the PCM modules is
simulated using a 2-dimensional node structure suitable for the symmetry of the problem (Figure 3,
Figure 4 and equations (6)-(7)). The heat transfer between the storage fluid and the PCM modules
is accounted for by considering free as well as forced convection, where different formulae for the
forced and free convection are implemented according to the geometry of the PCM modules. In
this respect we want to emphasize the importance of an appropriate treatment of the heat transfer
between the storage fluid and the PCM modules. This heat transfer will be driven by free
convection of the storage fluid around the internal heat exchanger and be the limiting factor for the
maximum achievable charge / discharge power in the PCM storage. Therefore, a careful validation
of the heat transfer model is very important and one of the tasks that are currently performed (see
also below).

U ( z ) = ξ ⋅ Gr ( z ) 4
1
(8)

Here, Gr denotes the Grashof number which takes into account the free convection over the whole
storage height, and is an empirical parameter that has to be determined from experiment for a
given geometry of the storage tank plus internal heat exchanger. Due to the height dependence of
the buoyancy forces it is understood that the heat transfer coefficient U depends on the height z
above the lower edge of the internal heat exchanger in the case of charging, while in the case of
discharging z is the distance to the upper edge of the heat exchanger.

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 Second Conference on Phase Change Material & Slurry : Scientific Conference & Business Forum
15 – 17 June 2005 Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland

Comparison
The following table summarizes the different aspects of the three PCM tank models.
Kind of model A B C
Model base Standard Type60 Standard Type60 New Type 240
PCM shape Cylinder Cylinder, Plate, Cylinder, Plate,
Sphere Sphere
Slurry function No No Yes
Enthalpy curve Data file 5 lines Data file
Container No Yes Yes
Maximum PCM 1 20 20
node for each
water node
Lambda No Mean value between Mean value between
Solid/Liquid solid and liquid phase solid and liquid
phase
Or
Temperature
dependent value
Convection No No No
inside PCM
(see below) (see below) (see below)
module
Hysteresis or No No No
Subcooling
(see below) (see below) (see below)
To limit the complexity and accordingly the computational time, some simplifications or hypotheses
have been made for all models. Therefore, some limitations exist in the current models:

- The low value of the PCM thermal conductivity implies that the heat transfer is greatly
influenced by convective effects inside these materials (in liquid phase). In a solar heating
system and domestic hot water, the power demand to supply enough energy is very high.
So we need to strongly increase the heat transfer between PCM and water. The
improvement of the thermal transfer can be achieved in different ways. One approach is to
decrease the size of the PCM modules in order to increase the surface area on the one
hand and reduce the conduction barrier on the other. Another tactic is to enhance the
thermal conduction inside the PCM module by incorporating materials having a high
thermal conductivity coefficient (graphite, aluminium honeycomb,…). These different
manners strongly reduce the convective effect inside the material compare to the
conduction. Thus the models don't take into account this kind of convective effect. It permits
to avoid a phenomenon difficult to define mathematically and depends on the physical state
(liquid or solid). We could see experimentally that there is not any convection in the liquid
state with the sodium acetate + graphite.
- The subcooling and hysteresis phenomena for the phase change are not taken into account
in the models. The reason is that these phenomena have to be avoided in PCM materials
applied in energy storage applications and the material choice should be such that this kind
of problem can be eliminated.

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 Second Conference on Phase Change Material & Slurry : Scientific Conference & Business Forum
15 – 17 June 2005 Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland

The table shows the different complexity of the three models. Currently, we are going to validate
them with sets of measurements achieved in different laboratories and thus it will permit a
comparison from a point of view of precision and speed calculations as well as simplicity of use.

Conclusion
This paper has presented three TRNSYS models which attempt to simulate the PCM behaviour in
a storage water tank, and have been developed in the framework of the IEA Task 32.
All models are based on the enthalpy approach and used the explicit approach for solving the
energy balance equations. Two models are adapted versions of the existing Type60 model, while
the Type240 is a new one which additionally allows for PCM slurries representation.
The modelling of PCM is very complex because of the material phase change which implies a time
dependence of parameters such as the specific heat or conductibility. The presented models
include different levels of simplification, which should allow a better understanding of their influence
on the simulation results when confronted to experimental data.
Currently a first stage of comparisons between simulation results and experimental data is under
way. In the near future, several experimental configurations will be undertaken and compared to
simulation results. These results will be presented in a future paper.

Acknowledgment
All authors would like to thank their national government (Switzerland: Federal Office of Energy
(OFEN/BFE), Spain: for substantial funding by the MCYT (DPI2002-04082-C02-02) and Austria:
The European Commission for funding the work concerning PC slurries as part of the project
ENK6-CT2001-00507, the Austrian Ministry BM-VIT with for funding a the EdZ-project
“Fortschrittliche Waermespeicher” for funding this work.)
The project partners also thank for the material supply and their involvement the following
companies: SGL Technologies, BASF, Cristopia Energy Systems, and Rubitherm.
We also would like to deeply thank Jean-Christophe Hadorn, representative of the International
Energy Agency (IEA) for having initiated the Task 32.

References
[1] Jokisalo J., et al., Thermal Simulation of PCM Structures with TRNSYS, Terrastock 2000,
8th International Conference on Thermal Energy Storage, Stuttgart, Germany, 2000.
[2] Huib Visser, Energy storage in phase-change materials – Development of a component
model compatible with the TRNSYS transient simulation program, Delft University of
Technology, 1986.
[3] Peter Egolf, Project Latentwärmespeicher für die Sonnenenergienutzung: Lade- und
Entladevorgänge, 1997
[4] V. R. Voller: Fast implicit finite-difference method for the analysis of phase change
problems, Numerical Heat Transfer 17B, 155 (1990).
[5] TRNSYS reference manual.
[6] A. Heinz, and W. Streicher, Experimental testing of a storage tank filled with
microencapsulated PCM slurries, 2nd Phase Change Material and Slurry Scientific
Conference & Business Forum, Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland, June 15-17, 2005.

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[7] P. Puschnig, A. Heinz, and W. Streicher, Trnsys simulation model for an energy storage for
PCM slurries and/or PCM modules, 2nd Phase Change Material and Slurry Scientific
Conference & Business Forum, Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland, June 15-17, 2005.
[8] Franck P. Incropera, David P. De Witt, Fundamentals of heat and mass transfer, 1990.
[9] Sadik Kakaç, Ramesh K. Shah, Win Aung, Handbook of single-phase convective heat
transfer, 1987.
[10] E. Achenbach, Heat and flow characteristics of packed beds, Experimental Thermal and
Fluid Science, 10: p 17-27, 1995.
[11] H. Hofmann, cours EPFL "Phénomène de transfert".

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