On the application of novel arc-shaped fins in a shell-and-tube type of latent heat storage for energy charge enhancement

Due to their amazing energy savings, the uniform nature of their operating temperature, and their fairly low cost, phase-change materials (PCMs) offer great potential to be employed for managing the mismatch between the energy supply and demand. The crucial challenge in the design of functional PCM systems remains the proper selection of thermal enhancers to overcome the limitations imposed by their low thermal response rates. This study quantifies the advantage of utilizing arc-shaped fins as an efficient thermal enhancer to modify the thermal functionality of PCM in a shell-and-tube storage system. As a direct consequence of their curved shapes, this fin layout would affect to a small degree the functionality of natural convection but significantly aid the enhancement of the overall heat transfer during the melting mode. Therefore, a number of parametric studies were conducted to compare the effectiveness of the different arc-shaped fin arrays while utilizing the same heat contact area under the same operating conditions. The goal was to modify the dimensions, orientation, and position of this fin configuration for different thermofluidic conditions to achieve the best enhancement results. The results reveal that increasing the length of the fin base from 5 mm to 15 mm results in a melting time saving of 58.3 % and an improved heat storage rate of 127.5 %. Further improvement in the heat storage rate by 15.4 % and 14.0 % would be achieved by increasing the joining angle between the top fins from 0 degrees to 30 degrees and the joining angle between the bottom fins from 0 degrees to 60 degrees, respectively.