CFD simulation and experimental validation of PCM thermal energy storage system for micro trigeneration system application

The fast growing energy demand, limited energy resources and increasing emissions, for a sustainable future, there is a great need to identify alternative and clean sources of energy as well as energy conservation techniques to boost the efficiency of various systems. The micro trigeneration system combined with PCM (Phase Change Material) based thermal storage is a fruitful method to enhance the system overall efficiency by providing the useful power (electricity), heating and cooling in rural and remote area. But the performance of the trigeneration system fluctuates with exhaust gas temperature at different engine speeds. The fluctuation in performance is minimised by supplying stored energy from PCM-based thermal energy storage at times of low engine speed. In this research work, a PCM thermal energy storage is designed, developed and analysis to extract and accumulate the heat energy from engine exhaust heat. Erythritol (C4H10O4) was selected as a PCM material because of its high melting point temperature to meet the requirement for a high temperature range above 100 degrees C. The thermal behaviour of phase thermal energy storage system was simulated by using commercial software ANSYS-FLUENT. And simulation results are validated by experimentally obtained results. The charging and discharging time of the TES system is obtained 85 min and 125 min respectively.