Plate Type Heat Exchanger for Thermal Energy Storage and Load Shifting Using Phase Change Material

Abstract

The study presents an experimental investigation of a thermal energy storage vessel for load-shifting purposes. The new heat storage vessel is a plate-type heat exchanger unit with water as the working fluid and a phase change material (PCM) as the energy storage medium. The thermal characteristics of the heat exchanger such as heat transfer coefficient, effectiveness, efficiency, water exit temperature, heat storage rate, total energy storage capacity and storage time were experimentally evaluated as a function of various inlet conditions. The compact parallel plate design showed an enhanced the performance compared to conventional storage systems with an effectiveness up to 83.1% even when a PCM of low thermal conductivity is used. The proposed phase change energy storage system not only can deliver substantial benefits as a thermal energy storage medium, but also provides cost savings in infrastructure, equipment, and maintenance/operations compared to conventional systems.

Department(s)

Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science

Research Center/Lab(s)

Center for High Performance Computing Research

Keywords and Phrases

Digital storage; Heat exchangers; Heat storage; Heat transfer; Nuclear reactors; Phase change materials; Thermal conductivity; Thermal energy; Conventional systems; Data centers; Experimental investigations; Inlet conditions; Load shifting; Low thermal conductivity; Phase change energy storage; Thermal characteristics; Storage (materials); Load shifting; Phase change material; Pool type nuclear reactors; Thermal energy storage

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0196-8904

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2019 Elsevier, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Feb 2019

Link to Full Text

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