Thermal performance improvement of phase change materials using trapezoidal longitudinal fins integrating secondary tubes

This work aimed to improve the phase change material (PCM) of latent heat energy storage systems (LHTESS) performance. Thermal energy is accumulated and stored in LHTESS during the phase transition from solid to liquid. The primary limitation of this system lies in the inadequate heat conductivity of the phase change material, which is employed to achieve equilibrium by balancing energy demand and supply. Various augmentation strategies are employed to address this challenge. This study employs the method of dispersing nanoparticles in pure Phase Change Material (PCM) to produce Nano-Enhanced Phase Change Material (NEPCM) and incorporates uniquely shaped fins to expedite the melting process. Subsequently, the impact of volume fractions on the melting rate is analysed, and a parallel investigation is conducted between nanoparticle dispersion and fin addition. This work presents novel fin configurations that draw inspiration from the crystal structure of trapezoidal longitudinal fins. The effects of adding fins to different structures on the performance of LHTESS have been examined, focusing on improving energy storage capacity and charging speed. The dispersion of nanoparticles in PCM and its effectiveness is further investigated. In summary, the results show that irrespective of the pattern of the fin on the energy storage chamber, the use of a fin demonstrates to be a better option to improve the charging process in LHTESS than using nanoparticle dispersion. As a result of these two attributes, a higher storage capacity for energy and a faster melting rate are observable. Also, adding an optimized longitudinal fin with PCM would significantly speed up the melting rate more than LHTESS with regular extended fins compared to optimized regular fins.