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Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal ■■ (2015) ■■–■■

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Engineering Science and Technology,

an International Journal Press: Karabuk University, Press Unit
ISSN (Printed) : 1302-0056
ISSN (Online) : 2215-0986
ISSN (E-Mail) : 1308-2043

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Full Length Article

An experimental investigation of shell and tube latent heat storage for

solar dryer using paraffin wax as heat storage material
Ashish Agarwal *, R.M. Sarviya
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, MP, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: In the presented study the shell and tube type latent heat storage (LHS) has been designed for solar dryer
Received 3 June 2015 and paraffin wax is used as heat storage material. In the first part of the study, the thermal and heat trans-
Received in revised form fer characteristics of the latent heat storage system have been evaluated during charging and discharging
5 September 2015
process using air as heat transfer fluid (HTF). In the last section of the study the effectiveness of the use
Accepted 29 September 2015
Available online
of an LHS for drying of food product and also on the drying kinetics of a food product has been deter-
mined. A series of experiments were conducted to study the effects of flow rate and temperature of HTF
on the charging and discharging process of LHS. The temperature distribution along the radial and lon-
Keywords:
Latent heat storage gitudinal directions was obtained at different time during charging process to analyze the heat transfer
PCM phenomenon in the LHS. Thermal performance of the system is evaluated in terms of cumulative energy
Melting and solidification process charged and discharged, during the charging and discharging process of LHS, respectively. Experimen-
Paraffin wax tal results show that the LHS is suitable to supply the hot air for drying of food product during non-
sunshine hours or when the intensity of solar energy is very low. Temperature gain of air in the range
of 17 °C to 5 °C for approximately 10 hrs duration was achieved during discharging of LHS.
Copyright © 2015, The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Karabuk
University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction A number of experimental and computational studies have been

In the recent years, most of the developing countries around the
world were facing the problem of energy crisis because of the large
gap between demand and supply of energy. This problem can be
minimized to some extent by utilizing renewable energy sources.
Solar energy is the attractive form of the renewable energy. Solar
energy is available abundantly in the world, but it is not continu-
ous and its intensity also varies with time. Due to above reason the
acceptability and reliability of solar based thermal system is lower
than conventional systems. A properly designed heat storage system
increases the reliability of solar thermal system by bridging the gap
between the energy demand and availability. The thermal energy
can be stored in the form of sensible heat, latent heat or thermo-
chemical energy. Latent heat storage is a more attractive form
because of high energy storage capacity per unit volume, absorb-
ing and releasing heat at constant temperature, chemical stability,
non-corrosiveness, low vapor pressure, small volume change during
phase transformation etc. [1].
Abbreviations: DSC, Differential scanning calorimetry; HTF, Heat transfer fluid;
LHS, Latent heat storage; PCM, Phase change material; PID, Proportional-integral-
derivative; wb, Wet basis.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9425680418, fax: +91 7552670562.
E-mail address: er_ashishagarwal@yahoo.com (A. Agarwal).
reported in the literature to evaluate the thermal performance of
numerous latent heat storage systems. A detail review of phase
change materials (PCMs) used in the thermal heat storage system
has been given by Abhat [1], Lane [2], Zhou et al. [3], Garg et al. [4],
Zhang et al. [5], Tyagi and Buddhi [6], Riffat et al. [7], Sethi and
Sharma [8], Verma et al. [9], and Agrawal and Sarviya [10]. Many
researchers have reported the thermal and heat transfer charac-
teristics of latent heat storage systems with different geometrical
configuration during charging and discharging. Khodadadi and Zhang
[11] numerically studied the melting process of PCM in spherical
container. The results of the numerical study show that the rate of
melting is higher at top region of a sphere than at the bottom region.
They investigate the effect of convection on the melting rate.
Medrano et al. [12] experimentally studied the heat transfer char-
acteristics of five small heat exchangers working as latent heat
thermal storage systems, during the charge and discharge pro-
cesses. The results indicated that the double pipe heat exchanger
with the PCM embedded in a graphite matrix had the highest values
of heat storage. Liu et al. [13] experimentally investigated the thermal
and heat transfer characteristics of stearic acid during the solidi-
fication processes in a vertical annulus energy storage system. They
studied the movement of the solid–liquid interface in the radial di-
rection, and the effects of Reynolds number on the heat transfer
parameters. Also, the effects of the fin with various widths on the
enhancement were reported. Their results indicated that the fin can

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jestch.2015.09.014
2215-0986/Copyright © 2015, The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Karabuk University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-
ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Please cite this article in press as: Ashish Agarwal, R.M. Sarviya, An experimental investigation of shell and tube latent heat storage for solar dryer using paraffin wax as heat storage
material, Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.jestch.2015.09.014
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
2 A. Agarwal, R.M. Sarviya/Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal ■■ (2015) ■■–■■
enhance both the conduction and the natural convection heat trans-
fer of the PCM.
Ezan et al. [14] experimentally investigated the thermal perfor-
mance of shell and tube system during charging and discharging
cycle using water as HTF. They evaluate the performance of the
system under different operating conditions. They studied the effects
of inlet temperature, flow rate, shell diameter and thermal con-
ductivity of the tube material on the storage capacity of the system.
The results show that the natural convection mode of heat trans-
fer is dominant over conduction during melting and solidification.
The conduction was dominant only during the beginning of melting
and solidification processes. The effect of inlet temperature of HTF
on rejected energy is more, compared to flow rate of HTF. Akgün
et al. [15] experimentally evaluated the melting and solidification
behaviors of PCM in a vertical shell and tube heat exchanger. The
results of the study show that the melting time greatly decreased
by increasing the temperature of HTF. Low value of mass flow rate
of HTF leads to lower consumption of energy. Seeniraj et al. [16]
conducted a numerical study of a finned tube latent heat thermal
storage (LHTS) module. The shell side of the module is filled with
PCM while the tubes carry the heat transfer fluid (HTF). The influ-
ence of various parameters viz. geometrical, thermophysical and
various non-dimensional numbers on the performance of the unit
is studied. They observed that some quantity of PCM at the end of
the exit of the HTF tube have remained in the solid state in case of
an unfinned tube. An appreciable enhancement in the energy storage
process was observed with the addition of fins in the module.
Hosseini et al. [17] performed an experimental investigation to
evaluate the melting behavior of PCM in horizontal shell and tube
heat storage. They found that the high temperature region exists
in the uppermost section due to buoyancy effects. They claimed that
by increasing the temperature from 70 to 80 °C, the total melting
time is reduced to 37%. Adine and El Qarnia [18] reported numer-
ical study of melting of PCM in latent heat storage unit. The shell-
and-tube type heat storage system was selected in this study. The
effect of multiple PCMs on thermal performance was studied nu-
merically. n-octadecane and P116 of melting temperatures of 50 °C
and 27.7 °C was selected as a heat storage material and filled in shell
side. Water was used as heat transfer fluid and flow through the
inner tube. Water flow under forced convection and transfers the
heat to PCM. The thermal performance of the latent heat thermal
energy storage unit was numerically studied using multiple phase
change materials and a phase change material during charging
process (melting). The parametric studies were conducted to op-
timize the design and to evaluate the thermal performance of the
system. The key parameters considered during the study were: the
mass flow rate and temperature of the HTF and the proportion mass
of Phase change materials.
Li and Kong [19] performed a numerical study for evaluating the
thermal performance of a shell and tube heat storage unit using par-
affin as PCM. The study was conducted using air and water as HTF.
Parametric analysis has been conducted to evaluate the effect of HTF
inlet velocity on the HTF outlet temperature, Nu, and melt frac-
tion. Results indicate that the air inlet velocity has a great effect on
the air outlet temperature and heat transfer rate, and the water inlet
velocity has little effect on the water outlet temperature. Trp [20]
conducted an experimental and numerical investigation of the shell-
and-tube type latent thermal energy storage system during charging
and discharging. The aim of the study is to provide guidelines for
system performance and design optimization. The unsteady tem-
perature distributions of the HTF, tube wall and the PCM have been
obtained by a series of numerical calculations for various HTF
working conditions and various geometric parameters. Zhang and
Faghri [21] numerically studied freezing in an eccentric annulus using
a temperature-transforming model. They investigated the effect of
the eccentricity on the freezing process. Sari and Kaygusuz [22–24]
Please cite this article in press as: Ashish Agarwal, R.M. Sarviya, An experimental investigation of shell and tube latent heat storage for solar dryer using paraffin wax as heat storage
material, Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.jestch.2015.09.014
performed experimental investigations during melting and solid-
ification of some acids including stearic acid, eutectic mixture of
lauric and stearic acids and myristic acid. They claimed that the tem-
perature and mass flow rate of HTF is more effective on the
solidification behavior than the melting behavior of PCM.
Avci and Yazici [25] reported melting and solidification behav-
iors of paraffin in a horizontal tube-in-shell storage system. The effect
of the inlet temperature on the melting and solidification time was
determined. The focus of the study is to understand the physics of
the process based on the temporal variation of temperature field
inside the PCM. Wang et al. [26] numerically studied melting and
solidification characteristics of a shell-and-tube phase change heat
storage unit. Yusuf Yazici et al. [27] reported solidification charac-
teristics of paraffin in a horizontal shell-and-tube type-storage
system. In this study the effects of the eccentricity of the inner tube
on the solidification were determined and discussed. The inner tube
has been moved upward/downward according the center of the outer
shell. Six different values of the eccentricity from the center of the
outer shell are considered: e = −10, −20, −30, 10, 20, 30 besides the
concentric geometry (e = 0). The focus of the study was to under-
stand the solidification behavior of PCM based on the transient
temperature fields inside the PCM. Eccentricity is shown to affect
the total solidification time considerably. The eccentricity, either
upward or downward, was found to make the total solidification
time longer. Pandiyarajan et al. [28] conducted an experimental study
in order to evaluate the performance of heat recovery system for
diesel engine exhaust. The finned shell and tube heat exchanger was
used in this study. The reported heat recovery of the system was
10–15%. The effect of velocity and temperature of HTF, on the heat
transfer was studied and reported.
Several investigations were carried out in the past for observ-
ing the dynamic characteristics of the latent heat storage system
during charging and discharging [29–31]. Wu and Fang [29] devel-
oped numerical model to analyze the influence of mass flow rate
and inlet temperature of HTF on the transient thermal character-
istics of latent heat thermal storage system coupled with a solar
heating collector, during the discharging process. The heat storage
system consists of a cylindrical storage tank filled with spherical
capsules containing a phase change material (PCM). Myristic acid
was used as a PCM and water was used as heat transfer fluid (HTF).
The mass flow rate and inlet temperature of HTF have strong in-
fluences on complete solidification time and the heat removal rate
compared to the initial temperature of PCM. The heat release during
solidification is divided into three stages, namely, liquid sensible heat
release, solidifying latent heat release and solid sensible heat release.
The temperature of PCM drops very rapidly at the liquid sensible
heat release stage, then it stabilizes at the solidification tempera-
ture until the solidification process is completed.
Veerappan et al. [30] analytically studied the phase change be-
havior of different PCMs encapsulated in spherical enclosures to
identify a suitable heat storage material. The developed model is
useful for finding the interface positions and complete phase change
time for solidification and melting of PCM in spherical enclosure.
Results indicated that the solidification time and the solidified mass
fraction was greatly influenced by the thermal conductivity of PCM.
The results of the study show that the conduction is the dominant
mode of heat transfer during initial stage of melting. After that,
melting is greatly influenced by natural convection phenomena. Liu
et al. [31] simulate the dynamic characteristics of the latent heat
storage device with heat pipe during charging process. The dynamic
charging process model has been developed to analyze the effects
of initial temperature of the PCM and inlet temperature of heat pipe
medium on the transient thermal performance of the system. Par-
affin was used as phase change material (PCM) and water was used
as heat transfer fluid (HTF). The thermal performance of the heat
storage is measured in terms of total heat storage capacity, heat
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
A. Agarwal, R.M. Sarviya/Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal ■■ (2015) ■■–■■
storage rate and outlet temperature of heat pipe medium. The result
of the study indicates that the heat storage capacity and heat storage
rate increases when the initial temperature of PCM decreases or the
inlet temperature of the heat pipe medium increases.
The present study focused on the development of a shell and tube
type heat storage system for solar dryer. Literature on solar dryer
[32–34] reported that the drying air temperature in the dryer is not
uniform and it fluctuates widely throughout the day and drying of
food is not possible during late evening hours or non-sunshine hours.
The reliability and working hours of conventional dryer could be
improved with the help of heat storage system. Different types of
materials such as rock, water, sand and granite, metal scrap, par-
affin wax, mixture of aluminum power and paraffin wax have been
used as storage material in the most of the previous research works
[35–39]. In most of solar dryers designed by researchers, sensible
heat storage materials such as rocks, oil etc. were used. Sensible heat
storage materials have low energy storage capacity, thus a large
volume of sensible heat storage material is required in designing
of storage systems. Latent heat storage materials such as paraffin
wax, salt hydrate have a high latent heat of fusion so that it re-
quires less volume of storage material for the same amount of heat
storage. Very limited information is available in the literature re-
garding the use of latent heat storage materials in the solar dryer.
Some designs of solar dryer with a latent heat storage integrated
with solar collector have been reported by researchers in the lit-
erature [40–42]. Some researchers suggested the different designs
of solar air heater with a latent heat storage that include: solar air
heaters with built-in PCM as the energy storage medium, solar air
heaters connected to a heat exchanger with PCM. In solar air heaters
with built-in energy storage medium [43,44], PCM is introduced in
the form of capsules of different shapes and size below the ab-
sorber plate. If these kinds of heat storage system are used for solar
dryers they require large modification in the design of convention-
al solar dryer which further increases its cost and complexity in the
operation and maintenance of dryer.
There is a need for development of simple and low cost latent
heat storage unit for solar dryer, which can easily connect with the
existing solar dryer without major modifications in the design of
the dryer. The objective of the present experimental study is to
develop the latent heat storage for solar dryer and evaluate its per-
formance during charging and discharging. During daytime, hot air
from a solar collector flow through the latent heat storage to trans-
fer the excess solar energy to the latent heat storage system. Stored
energy in the latent heat storage is utilized during non-sunshine
hours to heat ambient air by forcing the ambient air through the
latent heat storage system. Heated air is used to dry the food product.
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of experimental set-up for evaluating heat transfer characteristics during charging and discharging of a LHS.
Please cite this article in press as: Ashish Agarwal, R.M. Sarviya, An experimental investigation of shell and tube latent heat storage for solar dryer using paraffin wax as heat storage
material, Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.jestch.2015.09.014
3
In the first part of the present experimental study, the melting and
solidification behaviors of paraffin wax in shell and tube heat storage
unit have been determined to study the thermal and heat transfer
characteristics during the charging and discharging process. The air
is used as heat transfer fluid (HTF) for the present study. A series
of experiments have been conducted to study the effect of the flow
rate and temperature of HTF on the melting and solidification of
paraffin wax and the energy stored. The time-wise variations of tem-
perature distribution along the radial and longitudinal directions
of the latent heat storage unit have been obtained to analyze the
heat transfer phenomenon in heat storage unit. In the last part of
the study, the effect of the energy released from the latent heat
storage on the drying kinetics of potato slices, which is used as modal
food product, has been determined and discussed.
2. Experimental setup and procedure
2.1. Experimental setup
An experimental set-up constructed for the present study is
shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 1 shows the experimental set-up without
attaching drying chamber to latent heat storage (LHS). This set-up
is used for evaluating the heat transfer characteristics during charg-
ing and discharging of LHS. Fig. 2 shows the experimental set-up
with drying chamber for evaluating the effectiveness of LHS for
drying of food product. The experimental set-up includes heat ex-
changer, K-type thermocouples, data logger, dual core PC, air heater
with proportional-integral-derivative (PID) temperature control-
ler and rotameter. A PID temperature controller is required to supply
air at a constant temperature to the LHS. In the present study Selec
Make DTC324 PID controller is used to supply the hot air to LHS at
a steady temperature from air heater.
The shell and tube heat exchanger which works as a heat storage
consists of two concentric cylindrical tubes. The external cylindri-
cal tube made of galvanized iron is 1000 mm long with an inner
diameter of 127 mm while the 25 mm outer diameter copper tube
located centrally in the external cylindrical tube was the heat trans-
fer tube through which air flows. The phase change material is filled
in the shell side of the heat exchanger. The outside surface of the
heat exchanger is well insulated with glass wool of 8 mm thick-
ness to reduce the heat losses to the surroundings. The system
consists of an air-flow loop that can be used to charge and dis-
charge the LHS. During charging heat is transferred from the hot
air to PCM, while during discharging heat is transferred from the
PCM to air. The temperature at different axial and radial locations
of heat storage was determined by recording temperature by
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
4 A. Agarwal, R.M. Sarviya/Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal ■■ (2015) ■■–■■

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of experimental set-up with drying chamber.

different thermocouples. Thirty six thermocouples were posi-
tioned in the LHS to measure temperature variations. The locations
of thermocouples in the PCM along the axial directions of LHS are
denoted by A, B, C and D, as shown in Fig. 3. The nine thermo-
couples were located at each axial location at an angular direction
of 0°, 90° and 180° (Fig. 4). Three thermocouples were located at
each angular direction at radial distance of 15 mm, 30 mm and
45 mm from the center as shown in Fig. 4. The drying chamber is
fabricated which is attached to LHS during the discharging process
to check the effectiveness of LHS for drying of food products (Fig. 2).
The drying chamber is vertical and cylindrical in shape and is made
of galvanized iron sheet and insulated with glass wool of 7 cm thick-
ness. The inner diameter and height of drying chamber is 180 mm
and 750 mm, respectively. A data acquisition system is used to scan
and record all output values from the thermocouples after a defi-
nite interval of time. This system comprised of a microprocessor
based temperature scanner with inbuilt memory to record and store
the data. RS232 cable is used to connect the data acquisition system
to the computer. Computer software is used to communicate with
data loggers and to analyze and display data on the computer. Flow
of air through the heat transfer pipe is measured by the rotame-
ter. An air heating unit is fabricated for supplying hot air at constant
temperature to LHS. An insulated enclosure of 610 mm length and
76.2 mm diameter made of galvanized iron is used as an air heating
unit. Finned electric resistance heating element is used in air heater.
A constant air temperature at the inlet of the LHS is maintained
during the charging and discharging process using a proportional-
integral-derivative (PID) controller, which controls the operation of
the heater, based on the signal received from thermocouple posi-
tioned at the inlet of the HTF tube. A flow control valve is used to
supply air at the required flow rate during the experiment.
Uncertainty analysis is necessary to prove the accuracy of the
experimental results. In the present work the Kline and McClintock
method [45] has been used for measurement of uncertainty in cal-
culating the heat transfer rate. The heat transfer rate (Q) is calculated
by measurement of mass flow rate of air (m) and temperature of
air at the inlet (Ti) and outlet (To) of LHS. The uncertainty in heat
transfer rate (UQ) is dependent on the uncertainty associated with
measurement of air flow rate and temperature. Kline and McClintock
[45] suggested the root-sum-square uncertainty method for calcu-
lating the uncertainty in single sample experiments using
independent uncertainties. According to this method the uncer-
tainty in the heat transfer rate for the present work is calculated
by the following equation

Fig. 3. Dimensions of PCM, HTF tubes and location of thermocouples at positions A, B, C and D in the LHS.

Please cite this article in press as: Ashish Agarwal, R.M. Sarviya, An experimental investigation of shell and tube latent heat storage for solar dryer using paraffin wax as heat storage
material, Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.jestch.2015.09.014
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
A. Agarwal, R.M. Sarviya/Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal ■■ (2015) ■■–■■ 5

data collection begins. Temperature data for all thermocouple is col-

lected in every 10 minutes. The charging experiment is finished when
the reading of all thermocouples is above the melting temperature
range. The discharging (solidification of paraffin wax) experiment
is then started with established conditions. Cold air at a constant
flow rate and constant temperature started to circulate. Reading from
thermocouples is measured and logged at the 10 min time interval
as in the charging experiment. The mass flow rate of air during so-
lidification was varied in the range of 0.0015 kg/sec to 0.003 kg/
sec. Several experiments were conducted during charging for different
inlet temperatures of air (80 °C, 85 °C, 90 °C). Time wise variations
of PCM temperature during melting, in axial and radial directions
of shell are determined and discussed.
During discharging mode the drying chamber was attached to
the LHS vessel in order to study the effectiveness of the use of an
LHS for drying of food product and also on the drying kinetics of a
food product. The schematic diagram of the experimental setup with
drying chamber is shown in Fig. 2.

2.3. Selection and characterization of PCM

The aim of this work is to develop low cost heat storage for solar
Fig. 4. Location of different thermocouples in LHS at positions A, B, C and D.
dryer. To achieve the objective low cost commercial grade paraffin
wax was selected as a phase change material instead of pure par-
12
affin wax. Commercial grade paraffin waxes are a combination of
⎡ ⎛ ∂Q ⎞ 2 ⎛ ∂Q ⎞
2
⎛ ∂Q ⎞
2
2⎤ different, mainly straight chain hydrocarbons with more than 15
U Q = ⎢⎜
⎝ ⎟
⎠
(Um ) + ⎜
2
⎟ (U )2
+ ⎜ ⎟ (U T ) ⎥ (1)
⎢ ∂m ⎝ ∂Ti ⎠ T
⎝ ∂To ⎠ ⎥ carbon atoms and are obtained from petroleum distillation [46,47].
Due to the combination of different hydrocarbons, its melting tem-
where Um and UT are the uncertainty in measurement of mass flow perature range is large. Commercial grade paraffin wax manufactured
rate and temperature of air, respectively. In the present experimen- by Indian oil company was used as a phase change material for the
tal work, the uncertainty in measurement of mass flow rate and present study because it is cheap and easily available in different
temperature of air is ±0.02 kg/sec and ±0.01 °C respectively. The mea- melting temperature ranges in Indian market.
sured uncertainty in heat transfer rate is 2.5%. For calculating the performance of the system the characteriza-
tion study of PCM is necessary. Therefore, DSC (Differential Scanning
2.2. Experimental procedure Calorimetry) and thermal conductivity analysis of paraffin wax was
conducted. DSC analysis of paraffin wax sample has been con-
Preceding the experiments, the heat exchanger system is placed ducted for determining its specific heat, latent heat and melting
horizontally and liquid PCM is filled in the heat exchanger. A few range. DSC analysis was performed on a Thermal Analyzer Instru-
test runs are required in order to check the leakage of PCM and to ment (Pyris DSC 6000, TA) in heating and cooling cycle. Samples
calibrate the system. Charging experiment is performed when PCM with a mass of 10 mg were sealed in an aluminum pan; an empty
comes in the solid state. The initial condition for charging is estab- pan was used as reference. The analyses were performed in the tem-
lished when all thermocouples inside the paraffin shows the same perature range of −10.00 °C to 170.00 °C with a heating and cooling
temperature. rate of 10.00 °C/min and under a constant stream of nitrogen at a
During charging (melting of paraffin wax), hot air from constant volume flow rate. The result of DSC analysis is shown in
proportional-integral-derivative controlled air heater at a required Fig. 5 and it shows large melting range. The selected paraffin
temperature, over the melting range of PCM, started to circulate and wax for the present study is a combination of different straight chain

Fig. 5. DSC curve of paraffin wax sample.

Please cite this article in press as: Ashish Agarwal, R.M. Sarviya, An experimental investigation of shell and tube latent heat storage for solar dryer using paraffin wax as heat storage
material, Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.jestch.2015.09.014
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
6 A. Agarwal, R.M. Sarviya/Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal ■■ (2015) ■■–■■
Table 1
Thermo-physical properties of paraffin wax.
Property
Melting temperature range (°C)
Latent heat capacity (kJ/kg)
Specific heat (kJ/kg-K)
Density (kg/m3)
Thermal Conductivity (W/m-K)
hydrocarbons, so that its melting temperature range is large. Tran-
sient Plane Source (TPS) method was used for the measurement of
Thermal conductivity of paraffin wax, with a means of Hot Disk
Thermal Constants Analyzer TPS-2500. A simple experimental test
using the classical Archimedes principle was used for measure-
ment of density of paraffin wax. The measured thermo-physical
properties of paraffin wax are shown in Table 1. The measured
thermophysical properties of paraffin wax are agreed well with the
available literature values [47–49].
3. Experimental results and discussion
Using the apparatus and procedures described above, several ex-
periments were conducted to study the transient thermal behavior
of the LHS unit during its charging (melting) and discharging (so-
lidification) processes using air as heat transfer fluid (HTF). The
selection of maximum charge time and the appropriate HTF tem-
perature and mass flow rate for charging LHS was determined by
solar availability time, and operational requirements of drying of
food, i.e. air must be dry, hot and moving at a required velocity over
the food. For majority of food product the temperature of air for
drying should be in the range of 40–60 °C [10]. Daily solar avail-
ability in India for most of the season is nearly equal to 8 h,
prompting the need to charge the heat storage system in this du-
ration. The selection of inlet HTF temperature in the range of 80–
90 °C was also appropriate because this temperature range can easily
be achieved by using an evacuated tube solar air heater [50–52].
The thermal performance of LHS is evaluated in terms of the tem-
perature distribution of paraffin wax, time for charging and
discharging, cumulative energy charged and discharged for differ-
ent values of inlet temperature and mass flow rate of HTF. The effect
of varying the inlet HTF temperature on the energy charged and dis-
charged during charging and discharging processes is assessed at
inlet HTF temperatures of 90 °C, 85 °C and 80 °C.
3.1. Transient variations of PCM temperature during charging of LHS
Transient variations of PCM temperature in different angular and
axial directions of LHS during charging indicate the variations of
temperature distribution and heat transfer in different directions
of LHS at different instants of time. The transient temperature dis-
tribution helps to determine the heat transfer rate and melted region
in the LHS. The transient variations of PCM temperature are pre-
sented for HTF inlet temperature of 90 °C. The mass flow rate of HTF
through LHS is maintained at a constant level of 0.003 kg/sec.
3.1.1. Transient variations of PCM temperature at different axial
locations during charging of LHS
Temperature from all thermocouples was recorded in angular
and axial directions of LHS during charging. The angular (0°, 90° and
180°) and axial locations (A, B, C and D) in the LHS are shown in
Figs. 3 and 4. In the angular directions, the average temperature were
calculated by thermocouple readings, situated at position 0°, 90°
and 180° as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Fig. 6 shows the temperature
profiles of PCM in the angular direction in the system at position
A, B, C and D during charging at HTF inlet temperature of 90 °C. The
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material, Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.jestch.2015.09.014
differences in temperature along the angular directions indicate that
the temperature is not uniform in all directions. The high temper-
Value ature was observed at location 180° compared to 0° and 90° locations
41–55 after some duration of time during charging.
176 In all four axial locations (A, B, C and D) of heat storage the tem-
2.8 perature profiles are similar as shown in Fig. 6. The temperature is
835 nearly the same during the initial stage of charging and as time ad-
0.21
vances, the temperature increases at locations A and B are somewhat
higher than those in locations C and D. As shown in Fig. 6a–d the in-
crease in temperature at location 180° is more compared to other
locations (0°, 90°) of heat storage. As shown in Fig. 6a at time instant
of 80 min, the difference of temperature between angular locations
of 90° and 180° is 5 °C at position A; this difference increases with
time. At time instance of 110 min, the temperature difference of about
8 °C exists between the angular location of 0° and 180° of heat storage.
Melting of PCM first occurred at an angular location of 180° near the
pipe wall and melting front moves in the upward direction, so that
the temperature of the PCM increases rapidly at angular location of
180°. As time advances the small temperature gradient is devel-
oped at the angular location of 180° and natural convective flow of
melt occurred in the upward direction. The molten PCM moves
towards the location of 90° due to gravity and low density. As the
molten PCM comes into the contact with solid PCM it transfers heat
to solid PCM. Thus, temperature increases more rapidly at angular
location of 90° compared to 0°. Due to conductive dominated heat
transfer at location 0° and low thermal conductivity of PCM, the tem-
perature increase at location 0° is less compared to those at 90° and
180° angular locations of heat storage. At 480 min the melting of PCM
is completed at locations 180° and 90° of heat storage. Small amount
of PCM is left at 0° location of heat storage in the solid state.
Similar trends of transient variation in temperature are observed
at location B, C and D. In all four axial locations of LHS the temper-
ature at location 180° increases very rapidly compared to those at 0°
and 90° locations of heat storage. The difference in temperature exists
between the 180° and 0° location of heat storage at the end of the
charging process. Three regions exist in the LHS during the charging
process: solid region, mushy region and liquid region. The conduc-
tion phenomenon of heat transfer is responsible for the heat transfer
inside the solid PCM. Solid PCM receives the heat from the liquid region
by convection. The convective flow of melt inside the molten region
is responsible for heat transfer. The convective flow of melt is de-
veloped due to density gradients in the molten region as a result of
the temperature differences. The convective flow of melt enhanced
the heat transfer within the melted PCM region.
Fig. 7 shows the time wise variation of PCM average tempera-
ture at different axial positions of LHS during charging at Tin = 90 °C
and m = 0.003 kg/sec. Time wise variation of temperature at dif-
ferent axial positions during charging were calculated by taking the
average of thermocouples readings at locations A, B, C and D. The
position of A, B, C and D in LHS is shown in Fig. 3. The average tem-
perature of PCM at these positions was calculated from the readings
of all thermocouples situated in the respective position. The tem-
perature of PCM at positions A and B increases more rapidly
compared to that in position C and D. The high heat transfer occurs
at positions A and B due to large temperature difference between
PCM and HTF at the beginning of LHS. The temperature gradient
exists between the inlet and outlet of HTF tube. The average tem-
perature difference of HTF between the inlet and outlet of LHS is
approximately 15 °C. The lowest temperature of PCM is observed
at position D, which is located at the end of LHS due to low tem-
perature difference between PCM and HTF. At the end of the charging
process the temperature of PCM is nearly same for different loca-
tions of LHS. The average temperature of PCM at the end of charging
process is 60 °C. The melting temperature of PCM used in the present
analysis is 55 °C which shows that the PCM is melted in most of
the region of LHS in the desired time duration.
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65 Tin = 90oC 65
m= 0.003 kg/sec Tin = 90oC
60 m= 0.003 kg/sec
60

55

Temperature (oC)
55
Temperature (oC)

50 50
Melting range Melting range
45 45

40 40
Angular position 180° Angular position 180°
35 Angular position 90° 35 Angular position 90°
Angular position 0° Angular position 0°
30 30
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Time (min) Time (min)

(a) (b)
65 65
Tin = 90oC Tin = 90oC
m= 0.003 kg/sec m= 0.003 kg/sec
60 60

55 55

Temperature (oC)
Temperature (oC)

50 50
Melting range Melting range
45 45

40 40
Angular position 180°
Angular position 90° Angular position 180°
35 35
Angular position 0° Angular position 90°
Angular position 0°
30
30
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Time (min) Time (min)
(c) (d)

Fig. 6. (a–d) Time-wise variations of PCM angular temperature profiles at positions a, b, c and d during charging of LHS at Tin = 90 °C and m = 0.003 kg/sec (Error bars rep-
resent standard errors of the mean).

3.1.2. Transient variations of PCM temperature in the angular

direction during charging of LHS
For calculating the temperature distribution in different angular
directions of LHS, the thermocouples are embedded at different
65
Tin = 90oC angular locations of LHS. The detailed locations of thermocouple
60
m = 0.003 kg/sec at different angular directions of LHS are shown in Fig. 4. The tem-
perature profiles in the angular direction were calculated from
55 thermocouples readings at different angular locations, namely 0°,
Temperature (oC)

90° and 180°. The average temperature readings in the angular di-
50 rection were calculated using time average readings of thermocouple
A at same angular position at locations A, B, C and D. For example,
Melting range
B an average of all thermocouple readings at a particular time instant,
45
C at angular position 0° at position A, B, C and D give the average
40 D reading for the 0° angular location. In the same manner average tem-
perature is measured at angular location 90° and 180°. The
35 temperature profiles at three angular locations are shown in Fig. 8.
It is clearly shown in Fig. 8 that the temperature at 180° angular
30 position is higher than angular positions of 0° and 90° at different
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 instants of time during charging of LHS. During the initial stage of
Time (min) melting the heat is transferred by conduction to the PCM which is
nearer to the heat transfer tube. As time advances more melting
Fig. 7. Transient variations of PCM average temperature at positions A, B, C and D
occurs around the heat transfer tube, due to density differences
during charging of LHS at Tin = 90 °C and m = 0.003 kg/sec. (Error bars represent stan- between warmer and cooler PCM the natural convection forms
dard errors of the mean). and molten PCM moves in the upward direction. Due to natural

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material, Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.jestch.2015.09.014
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65
m = 0.003 kg/sec
Tin = 90oC 640
60
Charging time = 0.4 Tin2 - 78 Tin + 4300
620
55
Temperature (oC)

Melting time (min)

600

50 580
Melting range
45 560

540
40
Angular position 0°
520
Angular position 90°
35
Angular position 180° 500
78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92
30
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 HTF Inlet Temperature Tin (oC)
Time (min)

Fig. 8. Transient variations in PCM average temperature profile at different angular Fig. 10. The effect of HTF inlet temperature on charging time.
locations of the annulus during charging cycle of LHS at Tin = 90 °C and m = 0.003 kg/
sec. (Error bars represent standard errors of the mean).

readings from all thermocouples at locations A, B, C and D, the po-

convection, heat is transferred more rapidly at location 180°, located
at the uppermost portion of heat storage. The low heat transfer is
observed in other angular locations (90°, 0°) as shown in Fig. 8, due
to low thermal conductivity of PCM and conductive dominated heat
transfer. The temperature at the location (90°) is higher than the
location (0°) of heat storage due to closeness to high temperature
PCM between locations 90° and 180°.
3.2. Effect of heat transfer fluid temperature on the charging of LHS
In some climatic conditions the air at temperature of 90 °C could
not be obtained by evacuated tube solar air heater. To examine the
effect of HTF (air) inlet temperature on the charging time and heat
transfer rate, the charging study is also conducted for HTF inlet tem-
peratures of 85 °C and 80 °C. Charging time is defined as the time
required during charging process when the temperature of ther-
mocouples at all positions of a LHS reached to melting temperature
(55 °C). Fig. 9 shows the transient variations of PCM average tem-
perature during charging cycle of LHS for HTF inlet temperatures
of 90 °C, 85 °C and 80 °C and at a mass flow rate of 0.003 kg/sec for
complete charging. Average temperature profile of PCM in LHS for
different HTF inlet temperatures is measured using time average
65
m = 0.003 kg/sec
60
55
Temperature (OC)
sitions of thermocouples are determined in Figs. 3 and 4. The
temperature profiles show the different state of heating i.e. sensi-
ble heating, phase change heating and liquid heating.
The temperature profiles illustrate that the average tempera-
ture of the system is higher when the temperature of HTF was 90 °C.
Sharp rise in temperature takes place during the temperature range
of 35–45 °C, due to sensible heating of PCM. At each axial loca-
tion, increasing the inlet temperatures of the HTF leads to smaller
melting times and gives more enthalpy flow from the HTF into the
PCM. The temperature difference between PCM and HTF is the main
driving power for the heat transfer process. As the temperature of
HTF increases, the rate of heat transfer increases proportionally. The
high temperature of PCM is observed when HTF inlet temperature
is 90 °C, compared to HTF inlet temperatures of 85 °C and 80 °C.
During the early stage of charging heat is transferred in the form
of sensible heat until the temperature of PCM reaches to melting
range of PCM. During the early stage of charging, conduction con-
trols the heat transfer in the PCM. As more and more PCM get melt,
the effect of buoyancy driven convection heat transfer resulted to
higher melting rate.
The effect of HTF inlet temperature on charging (melting time)
is shown in Fig. 10. In this figure the time required to complete
melting is shown in terms of HTF inlet temperature. Charging time
is defined as the time required during charging process when the
temperature of thermocouples at all positions of a LHS reached to
melting temperature (55 °C). It is clearly shown in Fig. 10 that by
increasing the HTF inlet temperature, the time required for melting
decreases. The total melting time decreases up to 9% and 16% when
the inlet HTF temperature increases from 80 °C to 85 °C and from

80 °C to 90 °C, respectively. Complete melting was achieved within

50
Melting range 8 hrs 40 min duration of time for the HTF temperature of 90 °C,
whereas 9 hrs and 20 mins and 10 hrs 20 mins durations of time
45 were required for HTF inlet temperature of 85 °C and 80 °C respec-
tively. Major portion of PCM melted in the time limit of 8 hrs when
40
the HTF inlet temperature was 90 °C. HTF should be supplied at 90 °C
Tin = 90°C or above temperature to achieve complete melting within 8 hrs du-
35 Tin = 85°C
Tin = 80°C ration of time.
30
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 3.3. Transient variations of PCM temperature during discharging of
Time (min) LHS

Fig. 9. Average temperature profile of the PCM at various HTF inlet temperatures Fig. 11 shows the transient variation of PCM temperature during
during charging process at HTF mass flow rate of 0.003 kg/sec. discharging at four axial locations. Air (which used as HTF) at a

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material, Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.jestch.2015.09.014
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65
Ta 65
Tin = 30 oC Tb Tin = 30oC m = 0.0015 kg/sec
60 Tc m= 0.0022 kg/sec
60
Td m = 0.003 kg/sec
Temperature (oC)

Temperature (oC)
55 55

50 50
Melting range Melting range

45 45

40 40
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200
Time (min) Time (min)

Fig. 11. Transient variations in PCM average temperature at locations A, B, C and D Fig. 12. Average temperature profiles of PCM during discharge cycle for different
of LHS during discharging of LHS at Tin = 30 °C and m = 0.003 kg/sec. (Error bars rep- mass flow rates of HTF. (Error bars represent standard errors of the mean).
resent standard errors of the mean).

constant mass flow rate of 0.003 kg/sec and at a constant temper-
ature of 30 °C is passed through the heat storage system to extract
the heat from the system during discharging of LHS. It is found that
the average temperature of PCM drops from 60 °C to 40 °C in 890 min
as shown in Fig. 11. The temperature drops suddenly during the
initial period of discharging due to release of sensible heat. The heat
releases rapidly during the initial period due to high temperature
difference between HTF and PCM, which is the main driving power
for heat transfer. As soon as the temperature of the system drops
below the liquidus temperature (55 °C) of PCM the temperature de-
creases very slowly.
At the start of discharge process the temperature of the paraf-
fin wax is high, and the paraffin wax is in the liquid state. At this
state liquid sensible heat was discharged from the system and its
temperature drops from 60 °C to 50 °C. At this time instant the con-
vective driven heat transfer occurs in the molten PCM. The curve
indicates that heat is extracted in the form of liquid sensible heat
for first 100 min followed by phase change heat. As PCM near the
heat transfer tube reaches the solidification point, the solidifica-
tion process starts and proceeds into the phase change controlled
period. Then the paraffin wax adjacent to the PCM tube begins to
freeze and discharge its latent heat. The frozen layer constitutes the
main heat resistance for heat transfer from the inner paraffin wax
to outside. Hence, we find that the PCM releases its sensible heat
very rapidly, and then a longer time is needed to transfer the latent
heat during the phase change. The major portion of heat dissipat-
ed from the PCM is its latent heat. The temperature drops from 50 °C
to 40 °C in approximately 790 min. In this duration, latent heat is
released from the system to HTF. The average solidification time re-
corded during the sensible and phase change recovery was 890 min
in the temperature range of 60–40 °C. In the first 100 min heat was
released from the system in the form of sensible heat and high tem-
ing shows that the average temperature of the PCM is higher for
mass flow rate of 0.0015 kg/sec compared to mass flow rates of
0.0022, 0.003 kg/sec. At each axial location, decreasing the flow rate
leads to low heat transfer from the PCM in to HTF which further
increases the total time for discharging. As the flow rate of HTF in-
creases, the rate of heat transfer increases proportionally.
The effect of HTF mass flow rate on discharging time is shown
in Fig. 13. Experimental results showed that the discharging time
increased by decreasing the mass flow rate of HTF and more time
is taken by heat storage system for discharging. Discharging
time was 890, 1010 and 1100 min for HTF mass flow rate of 0.003,
0.0022 and 0.0015 kg/sec, respectively. The discharging time in-
creased by 13% and 23% when the mass flow rate of HTF decreased
from 0.003 kg/sec to 0.0022 kg/sec and from 0.003 kg/sec to
0.0015 kg/sec, respectively.
3.5. Energy charged and discharged during charging and discharging
of LHS
The thermal performance of the LHS is measured in terms of cu-
mulative energy charged and discharged, during the charging and
discharging process of LHS, respectively. The cumulative energy
charged/discharged is evaluated by integrating the instantaneous
heat transfer over the entire charging/discharging process.
1200
Discharging time = -1E+07m2 - 75714m + 1245.7
1100
Time (min)

perature drop occurred in the system. The time required to heat 1000
recovery in the form of latent heat is approximately 8 times as com-
pared to heat recovery in the form of sensible heat.
900

3.4. Effect of heat transfer fluid flow rate on the discharging of the
Tin = 30o C
LHS 800

The effect of the HTF flow rate on the discharging (solidifica-

700
tion) is shown in Fig. 12. Discharging process was performed for 0.001 0.0015 0.002 0.0025 0.003 0.0035
HTF mass flow rates of 0.0015, 0.0022 and 0.003 kg/sec and the tem- Mass flow rate (m) (kg/sec)
perature of HTF at inlet is maintained at constant temperature of
30 °C for all experiments. The temperature profiles during discharg- Fig. 13. The effect of mass flow rate of HTF (m) on discharging time.

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1600 1400
HTF mass flow rate (m) = 0.003 kg/sec Tin = 30oC
1400 1200

Cumulative Energy gained

Cumulative Energy given

1200
1000

by HTF (kJ)
800
by HTF (kJ)

1000
600 m = 0.003 kg/sec
800
400 m = 0.0022 kg/sec
600 Tin = 90oC m = 0.0015 kg/sec
Tin = 85oC 200
400 Tin = 80oC
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000
200
Time (min)
0
Fig. 15. Time wise variations of cumulative energy gained by HTF during discharg-
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
ing of LHS at different flow rates of HTF and at a constant HTF inlet temperature
Time (min) (Tin) of 30 °C.

Fig. 14. Time wise variations of cumulative energy given by HTF during charging
of LHS at various inlet temperatures of HTF (Tin = 80 °C, 85 °C, 90 °C) (mass flow rate
of HTF m = 0.003 kg/sec).
3.5.1. Energy charged during charging of LHS
Instantaneous energy (qch) given by HTF during charging can be
computed by the following relation:
qch = m cp,HTF ( Tin − Tout )
where m is the mass flow rate of HTF, Tin = Temperature of HTF at
the inlet of LHS, Tout = Temperature of HTF at the outlet of LHS,
cp,HTF = Specific heat of HTF.
Cumulative energy (Qcum,ch) given by HTF during charging can be
computed by following relation:
t1 t2
Q cum,ch = ∫ qch1 dt + ∫ qch2 dt + …… . + ∫
0 t1
where tn and tn−1 are the time instant between which heat transfer
is measured.
The effect of HTF inlet temperature on cumulative energy given
by HTF is shown in Fig. 14. The flow rate of HTF is maintained at
0.003 kg/sec through the LHS during the experiment. The cumula-
tive heat given by HTF is shown for total melting time of 520 min
for HTF inlet temperature of 90, 85 and 80 °C. It is seen from Fig. 14
that the cumulative heat given by HTF is nearly same at the initial
stage of melting, but as the time advances the slope of the curve
varies depending on the HTF inlet temperature. It is due to fact that
as time advances the temperature difference between HTF and PCM
decreases with time. At the time instant of 520 min the total cu-
mulative energy given by HTF was approximately 1088, 1314, 1517 kJ
for HTF inlet temperature of 80, 85 and 90 °C respectively.
3.5.2. Energy discharged during discharging of LHS
Instantaneous energy (qdis) gained by HTF during discharging can
be computed by following relation:
qdis = m cp,HTF ( Tout − Tin )
where tn and tn−1 are the time instant between which heat transfer
is measured.
Fig. 15 shows the variation of cumulative energy gained by HTF
during discharging of LHS at HTF mass flow rate of 0.0015, 0.0022
and 0.003 kg/sec. The rate of cumulative energy gain is higher during
the initial state of discharging but as the time advances the slope
(2) of the curve varies depending on the flow rate of HTF at the inlet
of LHS. The convection thermal resistance on the HTF side plays a
larger role in the overall heat transfer process between PCM and
HTF; as the HTF velocity decreases the convection thermal resis-
tance increases, hence the instantaneous heat transfer decreases.
At higher flow rate of HTF, as the instantaneous energy gain rate
is higher the cumulative energy gain rate is also higher. At the time
tn
instant of 890 min the total cumulative energy gain by HTF are ap-
qch,n dt (3) proximately 1168 kJ, 1074 kJ and 821 kJ for HTF flow rate of 0.003 kg/
tn−1
sec, 0.0022 kg/sec and 0.0015 kg/sec, respectively. The cumulative
heat gain for a HTF flow rate of 0.003 kg/sec is 8.7% higher com-
pared to the HTF flow rate of 0.0022 kg/sec. The difference in
cumulative heat gain rate is smaller during the initial state of dis-
charging but as the time advances the difference in cumulative heat
gain rate increases till the end of discharging process. The effect of
the HTF flow rate on the cumulative energy gain is more pro-
nounced at low flow rate of HTF. It is clear from Fig. 15 that the
decrease in cumulative heat transfer is high for a HTF flow rate of
0.0015 kg/sec compared to 0.0022 kg/sec. It is observed that by in-
creasing the flow rate of HTF there is a decrease in outlet temperature
of HTF, since the HTF has a shorter time in contact with the PCM.
The higher outlet temperature of HTF is observed for low flow rate
of HTF, but due to low flow rate of HTF the instantaneous heat trans-
fer is lower. The instantaneous heat transfer is higher for high flow
rate of HTF. It is inferred from the above results that the high flow
rate of 0.003 kg/sec is able to provide high cumulative energy trans-
fer for the present system.
3.6. Temperature gain of HTF during discharging of LHS
(4)

where m is the mass flow rate of HTF, Tin = Temperature of HTF at Temperature gain of HTF (air) during discharging of LHS at HTF
the inlet of LHS, Tout = Temperature of HTF at the outlet of LHS, velocity of 8 m/sec is shown in Fig. 16. The air velocity of 8 m/sec
cp,HTF = Specific heat of HTF. corresponds to mass flow rate of 0.003 kg/sec. The temperature of
Cumulative energy (Qcum) gained by HTF during discharging can air at the inlet of LHS was maintained at 30 °C. Temperature gain
be computed by following relation: of air, in the range of 17 °C to 5 °C for approximately 10 hrs dura-
tion was achieved during discharging of LHS. The high temperature
t1 t2 tn
Q cum,dis = ∫ qdis1 dt + ∫ qdis 2 dt + …… . + ∫ qdis,n dt (5) gain is obtained during the initial period of discharging due to
0 t1 tn−1 large temperature difference between air and PCM. The outlet

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18 100

16 Tin = 30oC 90
Temperature gain of HTF (oC)

Moisture content (% wet basis)

14 80
12 70
10 60
8
50
6 Vin = 8 m/sec Vin = 8 m/s
40
Vin = 4 m/s
4
30
2
20
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 10
Time (min) 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Fig. 16. Temperature gain of HTF during discharging of LHS at inlet air velocity of
8 m/sec through LHS. Time (min)

temperature of air through LHS was sufficient for drying agricul-
tural food product.
The performance of the system is comparable with other con-
figurations (packed bed, plate heat exchanger) of heat storage
reported in the literature [43,44,53–56]. For example, output air tem-
perature in the range of 42–30 °C was reported by Alkilani et al. [53]
during discharging cycle of PCM storage unit for air flow rate of
0.05 kg/s. PCM storage unit consists of inline single row of cylin-
ders contain a compound of paraffin wax. The freezing time of the
PCM cylinders was approximately 8 hrs. Similarly, Fath [43] math-
ematically evaluated the performance of solar air solar air heater
with a built-in thermal energy storage system. The heater ab-
sorber consists of a corrugated set of tubes filled with a paraffin wax
as a latent heat thermal energy storage material. The temperature
of air at the outlet was approximately 5 °C above the ambient tem-
perature for about 16 h time duration due to the integration of heat
storage. Esakkimuthu et al. [54] conducted an experimental study
on PCM based thermal storage for solar air heater. The PCM was en-
capsulated in the form of spherical balls to form a packed bed. The
temperature of air at the exit of storage tank was in the range of
65–50 °C and the air is supplied at ambient temperature of 30 °C
at the inlet of storage. The discharging time is approximately 4 hours
for the mass flow rate of 200 kg/hr. A significant improvement in
the heat transfer rate is obtained by encapsulation of PCM in the
different geometries to form a packed bed. However the high initial
cost and high pressure drop are the major drawback of such units.
The main advantage of shell and tube configurations of heat storage
over packed bed is simple in design, low in cost and very less pres-
sure drop. The shell and tube latent heat storage system does not
require large modification in the design of conventional solar dryer.
3.7. Drying kinetics of food product during discharging of LHS
To check the effectiveness of LHS for drying of food product, the
fabricated drying unit is attached with the LHS during discharg-
ing. For drying of food the temperature of the air at the outlet of
LHS should not be high (above 60 °C) otherwise it affects the quality
of dried food product. The potato was used as a model food product
for the present study. The oven-drying Method (AOAC method 934.01,
procedure 4.1.03) [57] was used for determining the initial mois-
ture content of potato slice. In oven-drying method known mass
of the sample is placed in the oven and heated under specified tem-
perature condition; the weight of the sample is recorded at different
time intervals. The loss in weight of the sample is equal to the
Fig. 17. Drying kinetics of potato slices during drying under different velocities of
air.
moisture removed from the sample. The drying of the sample is con-
tinued until its weight does not change with time. The difference
of the weight of the sample at the initial and at the end of drying
process represents the moisture content in the sample. The initial
moisture content of potato slice was 88% (wet basis). Before drying,
potatoes were cut into slices with a thickness of 2 mm. Drying was
performed using air, which firstly passed (and extracted energy from)
the LHS. The drying was continued until the moisture of potato slices
fell to the safe moisture level.
During discharging of LHS, drying kinetics of potato slices was
monitored to check the effectiveness of LHS for drying. The weight
of dried potato slices is calculated at different time intervals during
the drying process to calculate the moisture content of potato slices
at different instants of time. The moisture content is the relation
of the mass of the water and the total mass of fresh food. The mois-
ture content of potato slices on wet basis is calculated by following
equation:
Mw =
(mg − mo ) × 100
(6)
mg
where Mw = Moisture content on wet basis (%), mg = mass of the
potato slices before drying, and mo = mass of the potato slices after
drying.
The drying rate of the food product shows the rate of moisture
removal from the food product per unit time. The drying rate is cal-
culated by the following equation:
Mw ,t+dt − Mw ,t
Drying rate = (7)
dt
where Mw ,t+dt and Mw ,t are the moisture present in the food at time
t + dt and t, respectively.
Drying kinetics of potato slices were studied for different flow
rates of air through LHS. The velocities of air corresponding to flow
rate of 0.003 kg/sec and 0.0015 kg/sec were 8 m/sec and 4 m/sec,
respectively, through the heat transfer tube. The drying curves of
potato slices undergoing drying at different inlet air velocities are
shown in Fig. 17. The time required to dry potato samples from initial
moisture content of 88% (wb) to the final moisture content of 4.3%
(wb) was 105 and 130 min for a HTF velocity of 4 and 8 m/sec, re-
spectively. Air velocity through LHS had an important effect on drying
time. The results of the experimental study revealed that the mass

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material, Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.jestch.2015.09.014
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
12 A. Agarwal, R.M. Sarviya/Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal ■■ (2015) ■■–■■
2 •
1.8
Drying Rate [kgW/kgwm.min]
1.6
1.4
1.2
1
Vin = 4 m/s
0.8 Vin = 8 m/s
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 Tout
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Time (min)
Fig. 18. Variations of drying rate of potato slices for different velocities of air.
transfer from the sample is more rapid for low velocity of HTF. This
is due to the fact that air at low velocity extracted more energy from
the LHS due to the longer time it exchange heat from the PCM so
that its temperature at the outlet of LHS was higher. It is also ob-
served from Fig. 17 that the drying occurred at very low rates after
80 and 100 min when using inlet air velocity of 4 and 8 m/sec,
respectively.
Fig. 18 shows the variations of drying rate of potato slices under
different velocities of air through LHS. The high drying rate is ob-
served in the initial period of drying due to rapid release of mass
transfer from the samples of food product. The same trend is ob-
served for different velocities of air i.e. 4 and 8 m/sec. The high drying
rate is followed by a subsequent decrease in drying rate. Similar
trends are observed by other investigators in the literature [58,59].
The influence of air velocities can be observed in the entire range
of the sample moisture content. The high drying rate is observed
for air velocity of 4 m/sec at the beginning of drying process and
as the time advances the difference between the drying rate for air
velocities of 4 and 8 m/sec decreases. The initial drying rate is more
influenced by the velocity of air.
4. Conclusions
Based on the results of the present experimental study on the
charging and discharging of LHS, the following conclusions have been
drawn:
• Heat transfer during charging is largely influenced by natural con-
vection. Melting of PCM first occurred at the uppermost section
of the system, and then it moves downward.
• Due to the horizontal position of heat exchanger the tempera-
ture gradient in axial direction is very small.
• The experimental results show that melting rate is faster at the
uppermost section due to buoyant effect.
• The experimental studies show that by decreasing the temper-
ature of HTF from 90 °C to 80 °C, the charging time is increased
by 20%.
• Heat transfer during discharging is mainly governed by conduc-
tion and due to low thermal conductivity of PCM, the rate of heat
transfer during discharging is comparatively low.
• Time required for discharging of LHS is longer compared to time
required for charging of LHS due to low heat transfer rate between
PCM and HTF during discharging.
• The discharging time increased by 23% by decreasing the HTF
flow rate from 0.003 kg/sec to 0.0015 kg/sec.
Please cite this article in press as: Ashish Agarwal, R.M. Sarviya, An experimental investigation of shell and tube latent heat storage for solar dryer using paraffin wax as heat storage
material, Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.jestch.2015.09.014
The highest cumulative heat transfer was observed for high flow
rate of HTF during discharging of LHS for a given duration of time.
• High heat transfer is observed during initial period of discharg-
ing due to the release of the sensible heat of PCM and due to
high temperature difference between PCM and HTF.
• A temperature gain of air in the range of 19 °C to 5 °C for ap-
proximately 10 hrs duration was achieved during discharging of
LHS.
• Experimental results show that LHS is suitable to supply the hot
air for drying of food product during non-sunshine hours or when
the intensity of solar energy is very low.
Nomenclature
Tin HTF inlet temperature, °C
HTF outlet temperature, °C
140
m Mass flow rate of HTF, kg sec−1
qch Instantaneous energy during charging, kJ
Qcum,ch Cumulative energy given by HTF during charging, kJ
qdis Instantaneous energy during discharging, kJ
Qcum,dis Cumulative energy gained by HTF during discharging, kJ
cp,HTF Specific heat of HTF, kJ kg-K−1
t Time, sec
Vin Velocity of HTF at the inlet of LHS, m sec−1
Mw Moisture content, % wet basis
mg mass of the sample before drying, kg
mo mass of the sample after drying, kg
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