Thermal Effects of Using Various Metal Disks inside Liquid-PCM Thermal Storage System

The storage of thermal energy in liquid-phase change material is one of the most promising renewable energy technologies. In this work, a developed liquid tank as a thermal energy storage by using phase change material (PCM) was analysed, fabricated and tested. The developed model was fitted with various types of metal disks (smooth or perforated) inside the PCM cylindrical container. Experimental test rig was constructed and tested at various values of the water flow rate and inlet water temperatures. Numerical analysis was carried out with ANSYS Fluent software to simulate the system. The thermal effect of using smooth and perforated metal disks was investigated experimentally and numerically. A good agreement between the experimental and theoretical results was observed. Results indicated that the smooth disk could satisfy decrease the melting time of the PCM in the charging period. The influence of disk diameter which was investigated showed that system with 7.5 cm disk diameter produces the best thermal response. It was also found that the optimum flow rate for the current model is about 0.03 L/s. The recommended use of the metal smooth disk inside liquid-PCM containers will add a significant mean to gain more heat in large-scale systems.