Experimental Study of Thermal Conductivity Effect on the Performance of Thermal Energy Storage

Renewable energy is an attractive energy source which helped to improve the global energy problems. Solar energy products are vital and have been supported by thermal energy storage. In this study, a latent heat thermal energy storage system (LHTESS) of horizontal shell-and-tube has been constructed. Two cases of paraffin wax with different thermal conductivities (TC) have been used as a phase change material (PCM), case1 and case2 of thermal conductivity of 0.265 W/m.K and 0.311 W/m.K respectively. Water has been used as a heat transfer fluid (HTF). In the current experiment, efforts have been made to investigate the influence of thermal conductivity on the thermal performance of thermal energy during the solidification process for both cases, case1 and case2. The investigation shows that case1 has got fully solid during 143 mins, while case2 has got full solidification during 116 mins. Also, the efficiency of the case2 is higher than case1. As a result, case2 is more efficient than case1. (c) 2022 Jordan Journal of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. All rights reserved