Study on the influence of tank structure and fin configuration on heat transfer performance of phase change thermal storage system

Highlights: • Three physical models of different structures based have been established. • The performance of a novel truncated cone tank has been investigated. • The influence of inclination angles and fins on heat transfer has been studied. Owing to the intermittent and fluctuating nature of solar energy, thermal energy storage (TES) plays a vital role in solar energy utilization. The structural and geometric limits of the traditional heat storage systems, as well as the low thermal conductivity of phase change materials (PCMs), decrease the heat storage and exothermic efficiency of TES severely. To alleviate these shortcomings and improve the TES heat storage and release efficiency, the geometrical structure of TES and fin structure of the heat storage system need to be optimized. This study established a 2D model of the phase change TES unit with a single tank and auxiliary electric heating based on the experimental findings. The heat transfer performance of the truncated cone model with different taper configurations was also analyzed numerically. The influence of long and short fins on PCM heat transfer was analyzed under the premise of a certain fin volume. The influence of fins with different inclinations on the heat transfer process was also analyzed. The results show that the truncated cone with a taper of 0.37 performs best in the charging and discharging process. Compared with long fins, most short fins showed to have a more significant effect on accelerating the charging process. The enhancement effect of the different fin on the heat transfer process was divided into two categories, and the analysis shows that the fins with an inclination angle of −15° have the most significant enhancement effect. These findings of the study will guide the optimization design of the heat transfer structure of TES with a single tank configuration.