Energy Conversion and Management 210 (2020) 112679

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Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Experimental investigation of the effect of perforated fins on thermal T

performance enhancement of vertical shell and tube latent heat energy
storage systems
⁎
Ramin Karami, Babak Kamkari
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yadegar-e-Imam Khomeini (RAH) Shahre-Rey Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: A key challenge in the deployment of practical latent heat energy storage systems employing phase change
Latent heat energy storage (LHES) materials is the inherent low thermal conductivity of these materials. The present research is motivated by the
Phase change material (PCM) need to intensify the buoyancy-driven convection flow in the phase change material to enhance the thermal
Perforated fin performance of the system. In this paper, for the first time, the effect of applying perforated fins on the thermal
Natural convection
performance enhancement of a vertical shell and tube latent heat energy storage heat exchanger is experi-
mentally investigated and the results are compared with those of the unfinned and solid finned heat exchangers
as the base cases. Lauric acid as the phase change material is placed in the shell side and the water is passed
through the inner tube. The shells of the heat exchangers were made of transparent Plexiglas tubes to enable the
visual comparison of the melting processes. The fins and tubes were made of copper. The melting process of
phase change material is studied under different inlet water flow rates (0.5 and 1 l/min) and temperatures (55
and 65 °C). The experimental results showed that the time-averaged Nusselt number of the perforated finned
heat exchanger is about 30% higher than that of the solid finned heat exchanger due to the minor hindering
effect of the perforated fins on the development of the convection flows. Moreover, the total melting time of the
perforated finned heat exchanger is about 7% lower than that of the solid finned heat exchanger.

1. Introduction
The continuous increase in energy demand and global warming due
to the greenhouse gas emissions have motivated intensive research for
efficient use of energy and development of energy storage systems [1].
Thermal energy storage (TES) which stores heat in a material and re-
leases it when it is needed is one of the efficient techniques to reduce
the gap between energy supply and demand. There are many practical
applications for TES including solar thermal systems, waste heat re-
covery, district heating and cooling, thermal power plants and build-
ings [2]. There are three kinds of TES: sensible heat storage, latent heat
storage, and reversible thermochemical reaction. Among different types
of TES, the use of phase change materials (PCMs) for latent heat
thermal energy storage (LHTES) systems is receiving growing attention
due to the absorb and release of thermal energy at an almost constant
temperature during the solid–liquid phase change processes [3].
PCMs have a broad variety of applications such as solar heating
systems [4,5], temperature regulation of photovoltaic panels [6,7],
buildings [8,9], electronics cooling [10,11], temperature control of the
batteries [12,13], refrigeration [14] and waste heat recovery [15].
However, a significant downside of PCMs is their low thermal con-
ductivity, which decreases the heat transfer rate and restricts the de-
ployment of PCMs in large-scale LHTES units [16]. In order to enhance
the thermal performance of the LHTES, many techniques have been
established to improve the thermal conductivity of PCMs such as using
fins [17,18], porous structures with high thermal conductivity [19,20],
heat pipes [21] and nanoparticles [22].
Among the above-mentioned enhancement techniques, the utiliza-
tion of high conductivity fins is one of the most efficient, cost-effective
and dependable methods for heat transfer augmentation in LHTES
systems. However, fins may have an undesirable influence on the de-
velopment of natural convection flows in the liquefied PCM. The re-
striction of natural convection flow suppresses the positive effect of fins
on heat transfer enhancement. Therefore, the geometric parameters of
the fins have been the subject of numerous studies to develop the
LHTES systems with higher efficiency, lower weight, and smaller size
[23]. Shell and tube heat exchangers (HXs) are attractive candidates for
integration with practical LHTES units due to their simplicity in design,

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: kamkari@ut.ac.ir (B. Kamkari).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2020.112679
Received 23 November 2019; Received in revised form 1 March 2020; Accepted 2 March 2020
0196-8904/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
R. Karami and B. Kamkari
Nomenclature
A total heat transfer area (m2)
Cp specific heat (kJ/kg K)
hsl latent heat (kJ/kg)
m mass (kg)
ṁ mass flow rate (kg/s)
Nu¯ Nusselt number
Qstored stored energy (kJ)
Q¯̇ time-averaged heat transfer rate (W)
Q̄″ time-averaged heat flux (W/m2)
Ste Stefan number
Ra Rayleigh number based on the gap of the annulus
t time (s)
T temperature (°C)
U uncertainty
good effectiveness and ease of manufacturing. Hence, the focus of this
investigation is to study the solid–liquid phase change rate in the finned
shell and tube HXs. There are several studies in the literature on the
effect of fin geometry including longitudinal fins [24–33], pin fins [34],
helical fins [35], and annular fins [36–39] on the thermal behavior of
the PCM in the horizontally or vertically oriented shell and tube HXs.
Darzi et al. [26] numerically investigated the influence of adding
the number of longitudinal fins on the melting and solidification times
of n-eicosane in a horizontal shell and tube HX. It was concluded that
both the melting and solidification times reduce when the fins are im-
plemented. However, the fins were found to be more effective during
the solidification process. This was attributed to the hampering effect of
fins on the evolution of buoyancy-driven flows during the melting
process. The same thermal behavior was also reported by Kamkari and
Shokouhmand [27] for the melting of PCM in a finned rectangular
LHTES enclosure. Yuan et. al [28] studied the impact of the installation
angle of the longitudinal fins on the melting of PCM in a horizontal
double pipe LHTES unit. It was concluded that the angle of fins should
be selected so that it minimizes the obstruction effect of fins on the
development of natural convection flows. Sodhi et al. [29] numerically
analyzed the melting and solidification of PCM in horizontal conical
shell-based LHTES systems. The optimum cone angle was obtained and
also the effects of longitudinal fins with different geometries on the
charging and discharging process were investigated. Mahdi and Nsofor
[30] numerically investigated the solidification of PCM in a horizontal
triplex-tube LHTES system by applying longitudinal fins and nano-
particles and validated with experimental data. It was proposed that the
utilization of fins alone results in a better enhancement than applying
either nanoparticles alone or both of the nanoparticles and fins. The
solidification time was reduced by up to 55% using fins alone, 8% using
nanoparticles alone and 30% using the combination of fins and nano-
particles. In another study, Mahdi et al. [33] numerically investigated
the simultaneous charging and discharging processes in a triplex-tube
heat exchanger. A comparison between the fin system and that con-
taining nanoparticles showed that the insertion of fins with the re-
commended structure is more favorable for achieving higher thermal
performance.
Besides the use of longitudinal fins, some researches have been
conducted to enhance the thermal performance of shell and tube LHTES
systems using different fin geometries including annular, pin and he-
lical shapes [35]. Tay et al. [34] numerically compared the effective-
ness of annular and pin fins in LHTES systems. The analysis showed that
using the annular fins is a more effective heat transfer enhancement
method than applying the pin fins. Ogoh and Groulx [36] investigated
the melting of paraffin wax in a vertical shell and tube HX with dif-
ferent number of annular fins. Yang et al. [37] conducted a numerical
investigation on the melting process of paraffin in a vertical shell and
2
Energy Conversion and Management 210 (2020) 112679
Greek Symbols
ε fin effectiveness
Subscripts
f final
HTF heat transfer fluid
i initial
l liquid
m melting
o initial
s solid
w wall
tube LHTES unit with annular fins. It was found that by adding the
number of fins, the conduction heat transfer through the PCM is im-
proved but the formation of natural convection flows is limited due to
the decrease in fin spaces. Therefore, an optimum fin number was in-
troduced beyond which any increase reduced the heat transfer rate.
Parsazadeh and Duan [38] numerically investigated the melting process
of nano-PCM in a vertical shell and tube HX with angled annular fins. It
was noticed that the fins with upward angles are more favorable to
improve the heat transfer rate due to the natural convection in-
tensification. Also, the results indicated that the thermal conductivity
enhancement with nanoparticles was not able to overcome the sup-
pression of natural convection caused by higher viscosity of the nano-
PCM which leaded to a longer melting time. Shahsavar et al. [39] nu-
merically evaluated the effects of fin arrangement and diameter on
melting and solidification processes in a vertical finned shell and tube
LHTES system. It was found that the optimized non-uniform fin array
reduces the melting time by 23.9% compared to the uniform fin dis-
tribution. Also, increasing the fin diameter beyond a certain value
showed an adverse effect due to suppressing the natural convection
effect.
Based on the above literature review, it is found that applying the
annular fins on the inner tube of a vertical shell and tube LHTES sys-
tems effectively improves the heat transfer rate. However, the fins re-
strict the development of convection flows inside the liquid PCM.
Therefore, the conflict between the enhancement in heat diffusion
through the PCM and the simultaneous decrease in the buoyancy effect
due to adding fins should be considered by the designers through the
selection of the optimum fin geometry to maximize the fin effect.
Some previous studies have already shown that the use of perfo-
rated fins instead of solid fins may enhance the single-phase convective
heat transfer coefficient [40–42]. Awasarmol and Pise [43] experi-
mentally investigated the natural convection heat transfer enhance-
ment from perforated rectangular fin arrays using air as the heat
transfer fluid. It was concluded that perforated fins can increase the
heat transfer coefficient by up to 32% while decreasing the fin mass by
30%. The same concept can be used to improve the thermal perfor-
mance of LHTES heat exchangers, which has not been investigated
before. The motivation of the present study is the enhancement of the
convective heat transfer coefficient between the liquid PCM and the
heat transfer surface by using the perforated annular fins instead of the
solid fins. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that
the effect of applying perforated fins on the melting process of PCM has
been investigated. For this purpose, an experimental setup has been
constructed to measure the instantaneous heat transfer and energy
storage rates in unfinned, solid finned and perforated finned HXs during
the melting process of the PCM under the different working conditions.
The results of the perforated finned HX are compared with those of the
R. Karami and B. Kamkari Energy Conversion and Management 210 (2020) 112679

unfinned and solid finned HXs as the based cases. The findings provide Sufficient time was given to each liquid layer to become solid and then
useful information on the performance improvement of the LHTES the next liquid layer was added to the annulus. The same procedure was
systems. The total weight of the perforated fins is 16% less than that of repeated to fill the annulus with PCM.
the solid fins, which leads to a lighter and more cost-effective HX while Prior to the onset of each experiment, in order to provide a constant
enhancing the thermal performance of the system initial thermal condition, cold water at 22 °C flowed from the cooling
circulator system into the tube of the HX until all thermocouples in the
2. Experimental setup and procedure PCM reached the HTF inlet temperature. The HTF inlet temperature and
water flow rate were set at desired values. The tests were initiated by
2.1. Experimental setup flowing the hot water from the constant temperature water bath to the
HX. The temperatures of the inlet/outlet HTFs and PCM were recorded
An experimental setup was built to measure the thermal perfor- by the data logger at a time interval of 2 sec. Melting photographs were
mance of different shell and tube LHTES HXs. Fig. 1 shows a schematic taken by removing the front half of the insulation at predefined time
diagram and a photograph of the experimental setup used in this study. intervals of 15 min. The tests proceeded until no solid PCM was seen in
Three different shell and tube HXs: unfinned, solid finned and perfo- the annulus.
rated finned HXs were fabricated to be used as the LHTES systems The aforementioned experimental procedure was used to investigate
(Fig. 2). The shells of the HXs were made of the transparent Plexiglas the heat transfer rate and energy storage in the unfinned, solid finned
tubes to provide the visual observation of the melting process. The and perforated finned HXs. The HXs were tested under HTF inlet tem-
inner and outer diameters of the shell were 60 and 80 mm, respectively. peratures of 55 and 65 °C and HTF flow rates of 0.5 and 1 l/min. At HTF
A copper tube was mounted concentrically inside the shell. The inner inlet temperature of 55 °C, the flow rates of 0.5 and 1 l/min are asso-
and outer diameters of the tube were 8 and 10 mm, respectively. Fifteen ciated with Reynolds number of 2600 and 5200, respectively. At HTF
copper fins of 50 mm diameter and 1 mm thickness were welded to the inlet temperature of 65 °C, the flow rates of 0.5 and 1 l/min are asso-
inner tube and spaced equally to fabricate the solid finned HX. The ciated with the Reynolds numbers of 3000 and 6000, respectively. The
perforated finned HX consists of fifteen perforated copper fins with the non-dimensional numbers of Rayleigh and Stefan numbers corre-
same size as the solid fins. Every perforated fin has 24 circular holes sponding to the charging temperatures are calculated using the fol-
with a diameter of 4 mm. The height of all HXs is 500 mm. Water as the lowing formulas [47]:
heat transfer fluid (HTF) flows through the inner tube and the PCM fills
gβ (Tw − Tm) L3
the annulus between the shell and tube. Ra =
να (1)
Fig. 3 shows the distribution of thermocouples used to measure the
temperature of the PCM. Six T–type thermocouples were placed inside Cp, s (Tm − To) + Cp, l (Tw − Tm)
the PCM at two different heights of the HX. Three thermocouples were Ste∗ =
hSL (2)
placed at each height at three different radial distances from the ver-
tical axis of the HX. In order to prevent the displacement of thermo-
couples during the melting and solidification processes, a plastic needle
with a diameter of 1.3 mm was used as a support in each row of the
thermocouples. Two thermocouples were mounted at the inlet and
outlet of the tube to measure the water temperature. All thermocouples
were calibrated with an accuracy of ± 0.1 °C and connected to the
channels of the multiplexer. The multiplexer was the interface between
the data acquisition device and the thermocouples. The computer re-
corded the temperatures of the thermocouples at predefined time in-
tervals. Flexible silicone tubes and valves were used to connect the HX
to the cooling circulator and constant temperature hot water bath
systems.
In order to minimize the heat loss from the HX to the ambient air, a
closed-cell Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM) insulation tube
with a thickness of 60 mm was wrapped around the HX. The tem-
perature of the insulation surface was measured by an infrared ther-
mometer to evaluate the heat loss from the HX. The maximum tem-
perature difference between the outer surface of the insulation and
ambient air at the end of the melting process was less than 1 °C. This
small temperature difference indicates that the heat loss from the HX is
negligible and can be ignored in the calculations.
The PCM used in this experimental study is lauric acid (dodecanoic
acid), which is a fatty acid, with 99% purity (Panreac Chemical). It has
favorable characteristics such as, non-toxicity, good chemical stability
as well as medium-temperature phase change, which qualify it as a
promising PCM for medium-temperature thermal storage applications
[44,45]. The thermophysical properties of lauric acid are listed in
Table 1.

2.2. Experimental procedure

The lauric acid in the solid state, which is a white powder, was Fig. 1. (a) Schematic diagram, (b) Photograph of the experimental setup. (1)
heated in an oven to become liquid. In order to avoid the formation of Heat exchanger (2) Data acquisition system (3) Personal computer (4) PID
air pockets in the PCM, the liquid PCM was poured layer-by-layer into temperature controller (5) Constant temperature hot water bath (6) Cooling
the annulus of the HXs. The height of each layer was about 10 mm. circulator (7) Circulation Pump (8) Channel multiplexer.

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R. Karami and B. Kamkari Energy Conversion and Management 210 (2020) 112679

Fig. 2. Photograph and the schematic views of the unfinned, solid finned and perforated finned HXs: (a) Photograph of the HXs, (b) Schematic views and dimensions
of the HXs (all dimensions are in mm).

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R. Karami and B. Kamkari Energy Conversion and Management 210 (2020) 112679

temperatures of 55 °C and 65 °C are 3.1 × 106 and 6.1 × 106 , respec-

tively. The Stefan number corresponding to the charging temperatures
of 55 °C and 65 °C are 0.39 and 0.52, respectively.
In order to ensure the reliability and repeatability of the results, the
melting experiments for the solid and perforated HXs were repeated
three times at HTF inlet temperature of 65 °C and a flow rate of 1 l/min.
Temperature histories of the PCM were compared and good agreement
between the results was observed indicating that the experiments have
good repeatability.
In order to evaluate the decrease in the volume of PCM due to
adding the solid or perforated fins to the inner tube, a compactness
factor has been defined as the ratio of the volume of PCM in the finned
HX to that of the unfinned HX [34]. Also, the potential of energy sto-
rage ratio is defined as the ratio of maximum theoretical energy storage
in the finned HX to that of the unfinned HX. Table 2 presents the values
of the compactness factors and potential of energy storage ratios for the
solid and perforated finned HXs. It shows that adding the fins to the
inner tube of the HX decreases the volume of PCM by up to 2.1%.
Moreover, the negligible difference between the values of the com-
pactness factors of the solid and perforated finned HXs (0.2%) indicates
a very small difference in the volume of PCM. The slight variation of
PCM volume between the solid and perforated finned HXs has no
meaningful effect on the final results when these two HXs are compared
in terms of heat transfer rate, melting time and charging power.

3. Data reduction

3.1. Heat transfer characteristics

The instantaneous heat transfer rate from the HTF to the PCM is
equal to the decrease in the sensible heat of the HTF flowing through
the tube. By measuring the temporal temperatures of the inlet and
outlet HTFs, the heat transfer rate (Q̇ (t ) ) is obtained by the following
equation:

Q̇ (t ) = ṁ Cp, w (Tin (t ) − Tout (t )) (3)

where ṁ is the mass flow rate of the HTF, Cp, w is the specific heat
Fig. 3. Distribution of the thermocouples. capacity of the HTF, Tin and Tout are the HTF inlet and outlet tempera-
tures, respectively.
Table 1 To further evaluate the effect of applying fins on the heat transfer
Thermophysical properties of lauric acid and copper [45,46]. rate from the HTF to the PCM, the time-averaged heat transfer rate over
the melting time (Q̇ (t ) ) is calculated for different HXs by using the
Property Lauric acid Copper
following equations:
Specific heat capacity solid/liquid (kJ/kg K) 2.18/2.39 0.381 ttotal
1
Thermal conductivity solid/liquid (W/m K) 0.16/0.14 387.6
Q¯̇ = ∫ Q̇ (t ) dt
Density solid/liquid (kg/m3) 940/885 8978 ttotal 0 (4)
Melting temperature range (°C) 43.5–48.2
Latent heat of fusion (kJ/kg) 187.21
Kinematic viscosity (m2/s) -6 where ttotal is the total melting time of the PCM.
6.2 × 10
Prandtl 93.8 In order to evaluate the heat transfer rate per unit area of the heat
transfer surface (tube and fins surfaces), the time-averaged heat flux
(Q̄″) is defined as follows:
In the above equations, considering the high thermal conductivity of
the copper material and small temperature difference between the HTF Q¯̇
Q¯ ″ =
inlet and outlet temperatures, the heat transfer surface temperature (Tw ) A (5)
is estimated as the average temperature of the HTF inlet and outlet
where A is the total heat transfer area of the HX. For the finned HXs, A
temperatures. The Rayleigh numbers corresponding to charging
is equal to the sum of the areas of the tube and fins.

Table 2
Compactness factors and potential of energy storage ratios for the finned HXs.
HX type Compactness factor Potential of energy storage ratio at Tin = 55 °C Potential of energy storage ratio at Tin = 65 °C

Unfinned HX 1 1 1
Solid finned HX 97.9% 99.2% 99.1%
Perforated finned HX 98.1% 99.3% 99.2%

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R. Karami and B. Kamkari Energy Conversion and Management 210 (2020) 112679

⎡ π (Df − Dt )
2 πDp2 ⎤ compared to the ultimate cumulative energy of the HX measured by Eq.
A = πDt L + ⎢ −n× × 2N (5).
⎣ 4 4 ⎥ ⎦ (6)
Qstored = mpcm Cp, s (Tm − Ti ) + mpcm hsl + mpcm Cp, l (Tf − Tm)+
where Df , Dt and Dp are diameter of fin, outer diameter of tube and the
mshell Cp, shell (Tf − Ti ) + mcopper Cp, copper (THTF − Ti ) (9)
perforation diameter. n and N are the number of perforations on each
fin and fin number, respectively. where m is the mass of the PCM in the LHTES HX, Cp, s and Cp, l are the
The time-averaged Nusselt number is calculated using the following specific heat capacities of the solid and liquid PCM, respectively. Ti and
equation [24]: Tf are the initial and final temperatures of the PCM, respectively. mshell
ttotal ttotal is the mass of the shell, mcopper is the mass of the copper tube and fins,
1 1 Q̇ (t ) Lc
¯ =
Nu
ttotal
∫ Nu (t ) dt = ttotal ∫ A (Tw − Tm) KPCM
dt Cp, shell and Cp, copper are the specific heat capacities of the Plexiglas and
0 0 (7) copper, respectively. In Eq. (5), the first term on the right-hand side
where the characteristic length is Lc = Ds − Dt and Ds is the inner expresses the sensible heat gained by the solid PCM to reach its melting
diameter of the shell. point. The second term represents the latent heat storage of the PCM
during the phase change process. The sensible heating of the liquid PCM
is expressed by the third term. The fourth and the fifth terms estimate
3.2. Energy storage
the sensible heat gained by the shell of the HX, copper fins, and tube,
respectively. The calculations showed that the difference between the
Based on the energy conservation law, the energy stored in the PCM
maximum theoretical energy storage (Eq. (5)) and the measured value
is equal to the energy input by the HTF minus the heat loss from the HX
(Eq. (4)) is less than 6% proving the confidence in energy storage cal-
to the ambient air. Considering that the heat loss from the HX is neg-
culations.
ligible, the cumulative energy storage at any time (Qstored (t ) ) is obtained
by summing the input power over the desired time interval as follows:
3.3. Fin effectiveness
t
Qstored (t ) = ∫ Q̇ (t ) dt
The overall fin effectiveness is another significant factor to quantify
0 (8)
the HX thermal performance. Two different definitions for the fin ef-
To confirm the validity of energy storage calculations, the maximum fectiveness are presented: classical fin effectiveness and perforated fin
theoretical energy storage capacity of the HX determined by Eq. (4) is effectiveness. Classical fin effectiveness is calculated as the ratio of

Fig. 4. Sequential photographs of the melting process in unfinned, solid finned and perforated finned HXs.

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R. Karami and B. Kamkari Energy Conversion and Management 210 (2020) 112679

time-averaged heat transfer rate in the finned HX (solid or perforated

fin) to that of the unfinned HX expressed by the following equation
[27]:

Q¯̇finned HX
εfin,classical =
Q¯̇unfinned HX (10)
where Q¯̇finned HX and Q¯̇unfinned HX represent the time-averaged heat
transfer rates from the finned and unfinned HXs, respectively.
In order to quantify the superiority of perforated fins over the solid
fins, the perforated fin effectiveness is defined as the improvement in
time-averaged heat transfer rate in the presence of perforated fins re-
lative to the solid fins as follows.

Q¯̇perforated fin HX
εfin,perforated =
Q¯solid
̇ fin HX (11)
where Q¯̇perforated fin HX and Q¯solid
̇ fin HX are the time-averaged heat transfer
rates from the perforated and solid finned HXs, respectively.

3.4. Uncertainty analysis

The errors in the experimental results are inevitable due to the

uncertainties of the individual measuring instruments. The uncertainty
analysis is a process for estimating the uncertainty of a variable based
on the uncertainties of independent components. Using the uncertainty
analysis technique of Kline and McClintock [48], propagation of un-
certainty in the result is influenced by the uncertainties of independent
variables ( x ). Hence, the uncertainty of result (U (M ) ) is obtained as
follows:
M = f (x1, x2 , ..., x n ) (12)
n 2
∂M
U (M ) = ∑ ⎛ ∂x U (xi) ⎞
i=1 ⎝ ⎠ (13)
Using the Eqs. (8) and (9), the maximum uncertainty values of the
heat transfer rate, energy storage and fin effectiveness are 9.5%, 7.3%
and 4.2%, respectively.

4. Results and discussion:

4.1. Visualization of the melting process

Fig. 4 visualizes and compares the melting process of PCM in the

unfinned, solid finned and perforated finned HXs at different times.
First, the melting process in the unfinned HX is analyzed. Initially, the
solid PCM in the annulus is subcooled and heat is transferred from the
tube surface to the PCM through conduction. Once the temperature of
the PCM around the tube rises to the melting temperature a very thin
liquid layer forms around the tube. As the thickness of the liquid PCM
grows, the magnitude of the buoyancy force becomes greater than the
viscous force and natural convection flow emerges in the liquid PCM.
The impingement of hot melted PCM to the solid–liquid interface ex-
pedites the melting rate at the top of the annulus, which is apparent in
Fig. 4(g). As time elapses, the melting region gradually extends from the
upper part of the annulus to the lower part (Fig. 4(j), (m) and (p)).
In the solid finned HX, fins divide the annulus into smaller en-
closures. Natural convection developed between every two fins lead to
a more uniform melting along the height of the HX compared to the
unfinned HX (Fig. 4(k)). The melting uniformity is related to both the
formation of multiple circulating flows in the annulus and penetration
of heat into the solid PCM by the fins. The melting pattern in the per- Fig. 5. Temperature histories of the thermocouples during the melting of PCM
forated finned HX is similar to that of the solid finned HX. However, the in HXs with a HTF inlet temperature of 65 °C: (a) Unfinned HX, (b) Solid finned
melting rate in the perforated finned HX is faster than the solid one, HX and (c) Perforated finned HX.
which is attributed to the higher intensity of buoyancy-driven convec-
tion flows in the former compared to the latter. In the perforated finned
HX, the liquid PCM flows upwards through the perforations which

7
R. Karami and B. Kamkari
enhance the natural convection flows while in the solid finned HX, the
solid fins hinder the upward convection flow.
4.2. Temperature history
Fig. 5 shows the timewise variation of the PCM temperature at the
predefined locations of T1-T6 during the melting process in the un-
finned and finned HXs. Three different melting periods can be re-
cognized from the temperature histories. First (Region I), the tem-
perature of PCM increases gradually to the melting point while the solid
PCM is gaining sensible heat. Second (Region II), As the PCM tem-
perature reaches the melting point, phase change from the solid to the
liquid begins. The initiation of the phase change process is detected
from the sharp increase in the temperature measurements. Third (Re-
gion III), the liquid PCM absorbs sensible heat and becomes super-
heated. Fig. 5(a) shows the temperature histories in the unfinned HX.
During the early stage of the melting process, the temperatures of the
points located at the same radial distances from the HTF tube increase
at the same rate. The similar temperature trends can also be observed
for the points of T1 and T4 as well as T2 and T5. This temperature
behavior reveals that, at the initial stage of the melting, the thickness of
the melted PCM is growing uniformly along the entire height of the HX
denoting that the heat transfer mechanism from the HTF tube surface to
the PCM is dominantly by heat conduction. Similar observations were
also reported by Kamkari and Groulx [49] for PCM melting in a rec-
tangular LHTES unit. After this short period, the temperatures of the
points located in the section B, exceeds those in the section A. This
implies that the heat transfer rate to the PCM has been enhanced at the
upper part of the annulus as a result of the formation of circulating
convection current in the liquid PCM, which moves the heated liquid
PCM upwards. A sharp increase in the temperature measurements is
noticed when the temperature of PCM is reached to the melting point,
and then the temperature increases marginally to the end of the melting
process. The fast increase in temperature happens as the thermal
boundary layer formed on the solid–liquid interface passes by the
thermocouple. The values of sharp temperature increases for the points
located at the upper part of the HX (section B) are higher than those of
the lower part (section A). This implies that a circulating convection
flow has been established in the melted PCM so that the hot liquefied
PCM ascends along the tube surface and then falls on the melt front
causing the points located at a higher level of the HX experience greater
temperature increases. This circulating flow is responsible for enhan-
cing the rate of melting at the top of the annulus.
Fig. 4 showed that the solid PCM in the unfinned HX shrinks from
top to the bottom of the annulus during the melting process. However,
the solid–liquid interface shape cannot be observed visually. The so-
lid–liquid interface evolution can be deduced indirectly from the tem-
perature measurements. Among the studied locations in Fig. 5(a), T6 is
the first location where the melt front is reached and then it is followed
by T3, T5, T2, T4, and T1, respectively. This indicates that the melt
front moves faster at the upper part of the HX compared to the lower
part causing the solid–liquid interface to extend radially outwards like
an inverted cone shape. Similar observations were also reported in the
literature [50].
Fig. 5(b) shows the temperature variations at selected points (T1-
T6) in the solid finned HX. It can be seen that, as long as the tem-
perature values are below the melting point, the temperature variations
are almost the same for the points located at the equal radial distances
from the tube implying that the melt front is progressing at the same
rate at the different sections of the enclosure. However, melting occurs
slightly earlier for the points located in section B than those in section
A. This is because of the flow of the liquid PCM through the narrow gap
between the fin tip and the inner surface of the shell to the upper region
of the annulus leading to a slightly greater melting rate of PCM at the
higher part of the HX.
Similar explanations to those given for the solid finned HX are valid
8
Energy Conversion and Management 210 (2020) 112679
Fig. 6. Temperature histories of the inlet and outlet HTFs and the instantaneous
heat transfer rates during the melting of PCM in the unfinned HX with a HTF
inlet temperature of 65 °C.
for the perforated finned HX (Fig. 5(c)), except that the melting times
for the points located in the upper section of the perforated finned HX
(section B) are reached sooner than those of the solid finned HX re-
vealing that the heat transfer rate in the upper section of the annulus is
higher in the latter as compared to the former HX. This thermal beha-
vior points out the superiority of perforated fins over the solid fins on
enhancing the natural convection flows in the liquid domain.
4.3. Heat transfer characteristics
Fig. 6 illustrates the instantaneous temperature histories of the inlet
and outlet HTFs and the heat transfer rates during the melting process
of PCM in the unfinned HX with a HTF inlet temperature of 65 °C. An
overview of the figure shows the existence of three different melting
stages. Initially, the heat transfer rate starts with a high magnitude and
then decreases sharply approaching a quasi-steady value. Thereafter, it
decays gradually as the melting process continues. Early in the melting
process, there is a large temperature difference between the tube sur-
face and solid PCM leading to a high rate of conduction heat transfer
(conduction dominated). As the thickness of the melt layer increases,
the conduction heat transfer rate drops due to the growing thermal
resistance of the liquid PCM. The decrease in conduction heat transfer is
compensated by the establishment of natural convection flow in the
growing layer of the liquid PCM, which prevents the further reduction
in the heat transfer rate. During this period of the melting process, the
main heat transfer mechanism is by natural convection (convection
dominated). The circulating convection flow occurs between the tube
surface as the hot source and the solid–liquid interface as the cold
source. As the solid PCM shrinks, the convection current confines to the
lower part of the annulus while the conduction heat transfer is domi-
nant at the upper part of the annulus where the heated liquid PCM is
accumulated. This results in a diminishing overall heat transfer rate
from the HTF to the PCM (diminishing convection). Kamkari and
Shokouhmand [45] similarly reported that during the final stage of the
melting process in a rectangular enclosure, the diminishment of the
convection flow at the upper part of the enclosure leads to the forma-
tion of stratified temperature field. Fig. 6 also shows that the tem-
perature difference between the inlet and outlet HTFs decreases during
the first (conduction dominated) and third (diminishing convection)
stages of the melting processes while it is rather constant during the
second stage (convection dominated) in which the heat transfer rate
between the HTF and PCM is almost stable.
R. Karami and B. Kamkari Energy Conversion and Management 210 (2020) 112679

accumulates more sensible heat at the upper part of the HX. Fig. 7(b)
illustrates the heat transfer rates in the unfinned and solid finned HXs
when the HTF inlet temperature is 65 °C. The average values of the heat
transfer rates in the unfinned and solid finned HXs, during the con-
vection dominated melting, are 0.01 and 0.04 W, respectively which
are lower than those of Fig. 7(a). As it is expected, the less temperature
difference between the HTF and PCM leads to a lower heat transfer rate.
Fig. 8 compares the heat transfer rates between the solid and per-
forated finned HXs at HTF inlet temperatures of 65 and 55 °C. Fig. 8(a)
shows that during the initial stage of the melting process, the heat
transfer rates of the solid finned HX are greater than those of the per-
forated finned HX. The superiority of the solid fins over the perforated
fins during the early stage of the melting process is attributed to the
higher rate of heat conduction from the fin surface to the PCM due to
the larger heat transfer area of the solid fins compared to the perforated
ones. However, during the convection dominated melting period, the
heat transfer rate of the perforated finned HX surpasses the solid finned
HX due to the higher intensity of natural convection heat transfer
caused by the flow of melted PCM through the perforations. The pre-
dominance of the perforated finned HX continues in the third stage of

Fig. 7. Comparison of heat transfer rates and temperature histories between the
unfinned and solid finned HXs at different HTF inlet temperatures: (a) 65 °C, (b)
55 °C.

Fig. 7 compares the heat transfer rates between the unfinned and
solid finned HXs at two different HTF inlet temperatures of 65 and
55 °C. Fig. 7(a) clearly shows that the heat transfer rates in the solid
finned HX are higher than those of the unfinned HX due to the larger
heat transfer area. This difference is more pronounced during the early
stage of the melting process when the conduction heat transfer is
dominant. As an instance, the values of the heat transfer rates in the
unfinned and solid finned HXs after 5 min from the onset of the melting
process are 0.03 and 0.18 W, respectively. During the convection
dominated melting period, the average values of the heat transfer rates
in the unfinned and solid finned HXs are 0.02 and 0.07 W, respectively.
This thermal behavior indicates that, although the fins greatly improve
the heat transfer rate over the whole melting process, they are more
effective during the early stage of melting when the conduction is the
main heat transfer mechanism. Moreover, rapid increases in tempera-
ture histories are observed sooner in the solid finned HX compared to
the unfinned HX implying the faster melting rate in the former one
compared to the latter one. Also, the final temperatures of thermo-
couples located in section B of the unfinned HX show higher values than Fig. 8. Comparison of heat transfer rates and temperature histories between the
those of the solid finned HX revealing that the unfinned HX solid and perforated finned HXs at different HTF inlet temperatures: (a) 65 °C.
(b) 55 °C.

9
R. Karami and B. Kamkari
the melting. Temperature histories also show that initially, tempera-
tures of the PCM in the solid finned HX increase at faster rates com-
pared to those of the perforated finned HX. Thereafter, by increasing
the liquid fraction, the temperature values of the perforated finned HX
surpass the solid finned HX indicating that the heat is transferred at a
faster rate to the solid–liquid interface due to the higher intensity of
natural convection flows in the liquid PCM of the former compared to
the latter. For melting with HTF inlet temperature of 55 °C similar
trends to those presented in Fig. 8(a) are observed in Fig. 8(b).
Fig. 9 compares the time-averaged heat transfer rates between the
finned and unfinned HXs at different HTF inlet temperatures and flow
rates. It shows that the time-averaged heat transfer rate greatly im-
proves by adding the solid fins to the inner tube of the HX. Using the
perforated fins also further increases the heat transfer rate compared to
the solid finned HX. This reveals that a vertical shell and tube LHTES
system with perforated fins can perform better than a solid finned
LHTES system while having less weight. Moreover, it is seen that the
time-averaged heat transfer rate grows by increasing the HTF inlet
temperature or flow rate because of the enhancement in natural con-
vection. However, the effect of raising the HTF inlet temperature is
more remarkable than increasing the flow rate.
Fig. 10 compares the time-averaged heat fluxes between the finned
and unfinned HXs at different HTF inlet temperatures and flow rates.
Unlike Fig. 9, showing the increase in time-averaged heat transfer rate
by adding the solid fins to the HX, Fig. 10 shows that the time-averaged
heat flux of the solid finned HX is less than that of the unfinned HX. The
contradiction between the increase in heat transfer rate and decrease in
the heat flux by adding the solid fins to the HX is related to the re-
striction of natural convection flows in the annulus imposed by the solid
fins. However, the time-averaged heat flux of the perforated finned HX
is about 35% higher than that of the solid finned HX due to the minor
hindering effect of the perforated fins on the development of the con-
vection flows. This reveals that per unit area of the heat transfer surface
of the perforated finned HX contributes more effectively in heat transfer
enhancement compared to the solid finned HX.
Fig. 11 shows the time-averaged Nusselt numbers of the unfinned,
solid finned and perforated finned HXs under different HTF inlet tem-
peratures and flow rates. The hampering effect of the solid fins on the
evolution of natural convection flows reduces the convective heat
transfer coefficient between the heat transfer surface and liquid PCM
leading to a decrease in the Nusselt number. However, it is worth
mentioning that the increase in the heat transfer area outweighs the
reduction in convective heat transfer coefficient leading to a higher
heat transfer rate of the solid finned HX compared to the unfinned HX
as shown in Fig. 9. When the perforated fins are applied instead of the
solid fins, the Nusselt number increases because of the minor ham-
pering effect of the perforated fins on the development of the convec-
tion flows compared to the solid fins. The small reduction in the heat
transfer area due to the perforations is offset by the enhancement of the
convective heat transfer coefficient causing the higher heat transfer rate
of the perforated finned HX compared to the solid finned HX.
Also, Fig. 11 shows that increasing the HTF inlet temperature or
inlet flow rate increases the Nusselt number. At an inlet flow rate of 1 l/
min, rising the HTF inlet temperature from 55 to 65 °C provides 15.3%
and 10.5% enhancement in Nusselt number in the solid and perforated
finned HXs, respectively.
4.4. Melting time
Fig. 12 compares the complete melting times of the PCM in the
unfinned and finned HXs at different HTF flow rates and inlet tem-
peratures. The figure clearly depicts that adding the solid fins to the
tube has a significant impact on the reduction of the melting time of
PCM, which is also more evident at lower HTF inlet temperature.
Moreover, increasing the HTF inlet temperature reduces the melting
time. The higher the HTF inlet temperature is, the more heat is
10
Energy Conversion and Management 210 (2020) 112679
transferred from the HTF to the PCM. The increase in HTF inlet tem-
perature accelerates the initial conduction melting of PCM followed by
sooner onset of natural convection flow in the annulus leading to a
shorter melting time.
Increasing the HTF flow rate enhances the convective heat transfer
coefficient between the HTF and the internal surface of the tube, which
contributes to increasing the overall heat transfer rate to the PCM. In
addition, increasing the HTF flow rate decreases the temperature dif-
ference between the inlet and outlet HTF temperatures, which provides
a more uniform temperature distribution on the tube surface with a
higher magnitude leading to a faster melting rate of the PCM. However,
the decrease in melting time with the increase in the HTF flow rate is
not at the same degree of significance as the increase of the HTF inlet
temperature.
Table 3 quantitatively presents the melting time reductions in the
unfinned and solid finned HXs under the different working conditions.
For comparison, the unfinned HX with HTF inlet temperature of 55 °C
and a flow rate of 0.5 l/min is considered as the base case. The highest
melting time reduction is 90% obtained by the solid finned HX with a
HTF inlet temperature of 65 °C and a flow rate of 1 l/min. It is inter-
esting to note that the enhancement in melting time reduction with the
increase in HTF inlet temperature or flow rate is more remarkable for
the unfinned HX when the values are compared to those of the solid
finned HX. For instance, at a flow rate of 1 l/min, the value of melting
time reduction for the unfinned HX varies from 24% to 60% (36% in-
crease) when the HTF inlet temperature rises from 55 to 65 °C, while for
the solid finned HX at the same working condition, the melting time
reduction changes slightly from 82% to 90% (8% increase). This
thermal behavior implies that the increment in heat transfer rate with
the increase in HTF inlet temperature or flow rate is more remarkable in
the unfinned HX compared to the solid finned HX.
Fig. 13 compares the melting time of PCM between the solid and
perforated finned HXs. The figure shows that for all the HTF inlet
temperatures and flow rates, melting times of the PCM in the perforated
finned HX are less than those of the solid finned HX. The decrease in
melting time is more pronounced at higher HTF inlet temperature while
the effect of increasing the HTF flow rate on decreasing the melting
time is less significant.
At a HTF inlet temperature of 65 °C, the decrease in melting time by
using the perforated fins instead of the solid fins are 9.5% and 8.7% for
the HTF flow rates of 0.5 and 1 l/min, respectively. However, when the
Fig. 9. Time-averaged heat transfer rates of the unfinned, solid finned and
perforated finned HXs under different HTF inlet temperatures and flow rates.
R. Karami and B. Kamkari Energy Conversion and Management 210 (2020) 112679

Fig. 10. Time-averaged heat fluxes of the unfinned, solid finned and perforated
finned HXs under different HTF inlet temperatures and flow rates.

Fig. 12. Comparison of total melting times of the PCM in the unfinned and solid
finned HXs under different HTF inlet temperatures and flow rates.

Table 3
Melting time reductions in the unfinned and solid finned HXs.
HTF inlet temperature HTF flow rate Melting time
(°C) (l/min) reduction (%)

Unfinned HX 55 0.5 0
55 1 24
65 0.5 51
65 1 60
Solid finned HX 55 0.5 78
55 1 82
65 0.5 88
65 1 90

4.5. Energy storage

Fig. 14 compares the variation of the cumulative energy storage

Fig. 11. Time-averaged Nusselt numbers of the unfinned, solid finned and
perforated finned HXs under different HTF inlet temperatures and flow rates.
HTF inlet temperature reduces to 55 °C, the decrease in melting time for
the perforated finned HX are 5.9% and 6.3% for the HTF flow rates of
0.5 and 1 l/min, respectively, which are less than those of the HX with
HTF inlet temperature of 65 °C. This indicates that at higher HTF inlet
temperatures, using perforated fins is more beneficial to reduce the
melting time compared with the solid fins. This is because of the greater
intensity of natural convection flows due to the higher HTF inlet tem-
peratures and the ease of motion of liquid PCM in the annulus of the HX
provided by the perforations which strengthen the convective heat
transfer rate at the solid–liquid interface.
Table 4 lists the values of melting time reductions for the solid and
perforated finned HXs. The solid finned HX with HTF inlet temperature
of 55 °C and HTF flow rates of 0.5 l/min is considered as the base case
for comparison. The highest melting time reduction is 60% obtained by
the perforated finned HX with an HTF inlet temperature of 65 °C and a
HTF flow rate of 1 l/min.
with time between the unfinned and solid finned HXs at two different
flow rates of 0.5 and 1 l/min. It shows that increasing the HTF flow rate
enhances the rate of energy storage. At a fixed HTF flow rate, the ul-
timate value of energy storage in the unfinned HX is about 5% higher
than the solid finned HX. The reason can be explained by the fact that,
as observed in Fig. 5, the final average temperature of the PCM in the
unfinned HX is slightly higher than that of the solid finned HX revealing
the greater sensible heat content of the former one. Also, the mass of
PCM in the unfinned HX is more than the solid finned HX leading to a
higher total energy storage by the unfinned HX.
Fig. 15 compares the variation of cumulative energy storage be-
tween the solid and perforated finned HXs. It shows that at the early
stage of the melting process the solid finned HX absorbs the energy at a
higher rate than the perforated finned HX. As the time elapses, the
energy content of the perforated finned HX exceeds that of the solid
finned HX. This thermal behavior is consistent with descriptions given
for the variation of heat transfer rates in the solid and perforated finned
HXs (Fig. 8).

11
R. Karami and B. Kamkari Energy Conversion and Management 210 (2020) 112679

Fig. 15. Comparison of cumulative energy storage with the time between the
solid and perforated finned HXs under different flow rates and a HTF inlet
temperature of 65 °C.

Fig. 13. Comparison of total melting times of the PCM in the solid and perfo-
rated finned HXs under different HTF inlet temperatures and flow rates.

Table 4
Melting time reductions in the solid and perforated finned HXs.
HX type HTF inlet HTF flow Melting time
temperature (°C) rate (l/min) reduction (%)

Solid finned HX 55 0.5 0

55 1 22
65 0.5 48
65 1 56
Perforated finned 55 0.5 6
HX 55 1 27
65 0.5 52
65 1 60

Fig. 16. Comparison of the classical fin effectiveness of the solid and perforated
finned HXs under different HTF inlet temperatures and flow rates.

4.6. Fin effectiveness

Fig. 14. Comparison of cumulative energy storage with time between the un-
finned and solid finned HXs under different flow rates and a HTF inlet tem-
perature of 65 °C.
Fig. 16 presents the classical fin effectiveness for both the solid and
perforated finned HXs at different HTF inlet temperatures and flow
rates. It is found that, for all cases, the classical fin effectiveness of the
perforated finned HX are greater than those of the solid finned HX in-
dicating that perforated fins are more effective for improving the
melting heat transfer rate compared to the solid fins. This is attributed
to the existence of the perforations, which provide paths for the flow of
the liquid PCM through the fins and accelerate the convective heat
transfer rate between the fins and the liquid PCM. The figure also

12
R. Karami and B. Kamkari
Fig. 17. Comparison of the perforated fin effectiveness under different HTF
inlet temperatures and flow rates.
exhibits that the classical fin effectiveness of both the solid and perfo-
rated finned HXs decrease with rising the HTF inlet temperature. This
finding can be explained by the fact that an increase in HTF inlet
temperature results in an augmented heat transfer rate for both the
finned (solid and perforated) and unfinned HXs. However, the heat
transfer enhancement in the finned HX is less than the unfinned HX due
to the resistance of flow circulation imposed by the fins. This leads to
the reduction of the classical fin effectiveness with increasing the HTF
inlet temperature.
Fig. 17 shows the perforated fin effectiveness at different HTF inlet
temperatures and flow rates. For all cases, the values of perforated fin
effectiveness are greater than unity proving that the time-averaged heat
transfer rate of the perforated fins is higher than the solid fins. More-
over, perforated fin effectiveness increases by increasing the HTF inlet
temperature or flow rate.
It is worth mentioning that in practical applications of the LHTES
systems, both charging and discharging processes are important. During
the solidification process, the effect of natural convection heat transfer
is less significant compared to the melting process. Therefore, further
studies are needed to investigate the effect of applying perforated fins
on the heat transfer rate during the solidification process of the PCM in
the vertical LHTES systems.
5. Conclusion
This paper experimentally compared the thermal performance and
energy storage of lauric acid, in unfinned, solid finned and perforated
finned shell and tube HXs. The measurements included the temperature
history of the PCM, heat transfer rate and energy storage during the
charging processes under different HTF inlet temperatures and flow
rates. The effect of natural convection intensity inside the PCM on the
thermal performance of the HXs has been analyzed. The key findings of
this investigation are summarized as follows:
• During the initial stage of the melting process, the instantaneous
heat transfer rate of the solid finned HX is higher than that of the
perforated finned HX. Whereas, during the convection dominated
melting, the heat transfer rate of the latter exceeds the former.
• At a fixed working condition, the time-averaged heat transfer rate of
the perforated finned HX is about 10% higher than that of the solid
finned HX.
• The time-averaged Nusselt number of the solid finned HX is about
13
Energy Conversion and Management 210 (2020) 112679
16% less than the unfinned HX due to the suppression of convection
flows imposed by the solid fins. However, the time-averaged Nusselt
number of the perforated finned HX is about 30% higher than that of
the solid finned HX due to the minor hindering effect of the perfo-
rated fins on the development of the convection flows.
• When the solid and perforated finned HXs are compared, the total
melting time of the perforated fin HX is about 7% lower than that of
the solid finned HX.
• At a fixed HTF flow rate, the melting time reduction by the perfo-
rated finned HX compared to the solid finned HX is more remarkable
at higher HTF inlet temperature. This indicates that at higher HTF
inlet temperature, using perforated fins is more beneficial compared
to the solid fins.
• The classical fin effectiveness of the perforated finned HX is up to
13% greater than that of the solid finned HX indicating that perfo-
rated fins are more effective in enhancing the melting heat transfer
rate compared to the solid fins.
Based on the above concluding remarks, this investigation showed
the possibility of improvement of natural convection in the PCM during
the melting process by using the perforated fins instead of the solid fins.
However, further studies are needed to determine the optimum number
and size of the perforations during both melting and solidification
processes. Also, future works could explore the effects of the perforation
shape and distribution on the thermal performance of the system.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Ramin Karami: Investigation, Resources, Validation, Writing -
original draft, Writing - review & editing, Visualization. Babak
Kamkari: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper.
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