Numerical simulation of the charging process in a horizontal shell-and-tube phase change material storage.

Energy storage systems decrease the energy consumption and can help to reduce environmental impacts. Phase Change Material (PCM) is an efficient method in thermal energy storage with high thermal density. In the present study, the charging process of a horizontal shell-and-tube PCM storage system is evaluated by 2D simulation. In order to investigate the effect of the shell configuration on the charging process, seven different geometries are considered. Results indicate that due to the effect of the buoyancy force, the temperature in the upper region of the PCM rises and the melting is fast. The lower region is barely melted in all cases. Results exhibit that the charging rate for the horizontal rectangular shell is the highest and the PCM is completely melted after 2006.1 seconds. The melting time of PCM in the best model is improved by 40.31% compared to the cylinder case. As a result, the geometry of the PCM storage shell has a nonnegligible effect on the charging process.