Experimental study of melting of composite phase change materials used in honeycomb energy storage system

Phase change materials have attracted a considerable attention in thermal energy storage research recently due to their thermal characteristic. Composite materials have great potential as one of the best alternative approach that would be utilized to increase the thermal performance of this sort of materials. This work aims to improve the Latent Heat energy Storage Unit (LHSU) in terms of thermal performance during the melting process by utilizing honeycomb metal structures configuration. An experimental study has been carried out to examine the thermal behavior of this particular material in honeycomb LHSU. The thermal performance evaluation in terms of melting time of the proposed honeycomb LHSU was conducted in comparison with the normal LHSU. The influences of using different heat transfer fluid temperature on the charging power are considered for the enhanced geometrical configuration. The results showed significant enhancement in the melting time which reached 87%. Also, the melting range in the lower part of the storage unit was improved compared with the normal one from 190 to 24 min in case of using honeycomb. For the propose of configuration, by increasing the fluid temperature, charging power was accelerated, which in turn reduces the charging time from 14% to 16. © 2021 The author(s).