A Study On Latent Heat Storage Exchangers With The HIGH Temperature PCM

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH
Int. J. Energy Res. 2001; 25:331}341
A study on latent heat storage exchangers with the

high-temperature phase-change material
Qiao He and Wennan Zhang*R
National Laboratory of Coal Combustion, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China
Department of Applied Science, Mid Sweden University, HaK rnoK sand 87188, Sweden
SUMMARY
This paper presents a theoretical analysis and an experimental test on a shell-and-tube latent heat storage
exchanger. The heat exchanger is used to recover high-temperature waste heat from industrial furnaces
and o!-peak electricity. It can also be integrated into a renewable energy system as an energy storage
component. A mathematical model describing the unsteady freezing problem coupled with forced convection is solved numerically to predict the performance of the heat exchanger. It provides the basis for an
optimum design of the heat exchanger. The experimental study on the heat exchanger is carried out under
various operating conditions. E!ects of various parameters, such as the inlet temperature, the mass #ow rate,
the thickness of the phase-change material and the length of the pipes, on the heat transfer performance of
the unit are discussed combined with theoretical prediction. The criterion for analyzing and evaluating the
performance of heat exchanger is also proposed. Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
KEY WORDS:
heat exchanger; phase-change material; thermal energy storage; modelling of heat transfer
1. INTRODUCTION
Energy storage is one of the important issues in energy conversion systems. Energy storage
technology is widely used to solve the unmatching problem of energy supply and demand on time
and space. Taking power plant boilers for example, the generation of electric energy is continuous, but its utilization is discontinuous. For a whole day, the available electricity is insu$cient at
the rush hours of using electricity, and it is plentiful at the o!-peak electricity use. Therefore,
a part of o!-peak electricity cannot be used adequately. Energy storage technology draws more
and more attention as renewable energy utilization and energy use e$ciency is emphasized in
energy supply and use.
Latent heat storage exchangers work as heat exchangers. Heat is extracted and released by heat
transfer between phase change material (PCM) as the heat storage medium and a #uid connected
* Correspondence to: Wennan Zhang, Department of Applied Science, Mid Sweden University, HaK rnoK sand 87188,
Sweden.
RE-mail: wennan.zhang@tnv.mh.se
Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Received 5 October 1999

Accepted 7 January 2000
332
Q. HE AND W. ZHANG
to heat sources. PCM has been widely used for thermal energy storage of latent heat, because of
its great ability of heat storage during the phase-change process. The exchanger with hightemperature PCM not only has a high capacity to store thermal energy, but also can make the
stored energy to be highly applicable.
A latent heat storage exchanger is studied in the present work. A small experimental unit was
installed. Heat exchanger tubes are located inside the shell. PCM of high temperature is "lled
between the shell and tubes. Air is chosen as the heat transfer #uid (HTF), which can carry heat
energy stored in the PCM. Output power is de"ned as a heat, which is carried by HTF at unit
time. Thus, output power can be used to evaluate the heat exchange characteristics. Heat
exchanger performance is analysed based on the experimental test and the mathematical model.
2. EXPERIMENT
The experiment was carried out in a small heat exchanger with a capacity of 14 kWh thermal
energy storage. The outline size is 1116;729;600 mm. The structure of shell-and-tube exchanger is adopted (see Figure 1). Eighteen tubes (in 3 lines) with the diameter 20 mm, length
400 mm, are located inside the shell for the heat transfer. The phase-change material of high
temperature, Al}Si alloy, was chosen as the energy storage medium, since it has high latent heat,
high phase-change temperature and good heat stability, etc. PCM was "lled in the space between
the tubes and the shell. The air provided by the fan is the heat transfer #uid (HTF). HTF #ows
through the tubes to pick up the heat from PCM. Two tube-style electrical heaters with 2 kW
power were embedded in PCM, to heat up PCM.
The temperatures of PCM were measured at several positions by thermocouples. The thermocouple distributions are shown in Figure 2. The temperatures of entrance air, PCM, environment and the shell were registered by MOLYTEK thermocouples, which was connected to
a personal computer. Temperatures of PCM in di!erent positions are registered by thermocouples t3, t4, t5, t6, t7, t8. The experimental data were recorded by a data acquisitive system.
The sampling frequency is 2 Hz.
The PCM was heated up until the temperature was just over the phase-change temperature at
which the phase-change process is completely "nished. After this, air was introduced by fan into
Figure 1. Main outlines of the exchanger: 1*tube for gas entrance; 2*PCM; 3*tube for heat transfer;
4*electrical heater; 5*shell; 6*ba%e-board; 7*tube for gas exit.
Int. J. Energy Res. 2001; 25:331}341
LATENT HEAT STORAGE EXCHANGERS
333
Figure 2. Illustration of thermocouple distributions. 1}10 measures, respectively 1*temperature of entrance air; 2*temperature of exit air; 3}8*temperature of PCM; 9*wall temperature;
10*surroundings temperature.
Figure 3. PCM Temperature variation versus time at < "6.5 m/s, "253C.
D

the heat exchanger. The air entrance temperature were in the range of 20}803C, and the #ux in the
range of 2.0}4.0 g s\.
The experiment was carried out at various operation conditions. Figures 3 and 4 illustrate the
temperature variation of the PCM inside the shell and the gas exit temperature. The temperature
of exit air is recorded by t2. At the phase-change stage the PCM temperature is invariable. After
the phase-change process the temperature of PCM will decrease rapidly. It corresponds to the
stage of sensible heat release. It can be found in the "gure that the exit temperature of gas is more
stable during the phase-change process. After phase change, the exit temperature of gas has
a sharp variation in response to the temperature of PCM.
The output power of the heat exchanger can be expressed as the heat, which is carried by the
HTF at unit time. Thus, it can be written as
nD
Q"mR C ( ! )"o C < ( ! ) )
D

D D D
4
(1)
Int. J. Energy Res. 2001; 25:331}341
334
Q. HE AND W. ZHANG
Figure 4. PCM Temperature variation versus time at < "5.8 m/s, "253C.
D

Figure 5. E!ect of gas #ow velocity on output power at "253C: () } )) < "6.5 m/s;

D
(* } *) < "5.8 m/s; (#}#) < "5.0 m/s.
D
D
where mR denotes #ux of HTF, < cross-sectional averaged velocity of HTF in the tube, and
D

the entrance and exit temperatures.
Figure 5 shows the variation of the output power with time under three conditions of di!erent
velocities 5.0, 5.8, 6.5 m s\ while the entrance temperature of gas is kept constant. It can be found
that the output power holds stable at a high level in the beginning of heat transfer process. It
corresponds to the phase-change stage. Later, the output power decreases obviously, which
indicates that the phase-change process in some places is "nished, and the sensible heat is
released. The output power at average velocity of 6.5 m s\ was higher than at other conditions,
indicating an increase of output power as a function of HTF velocity. On the other hand, it was
found in the experiment that the output power is unstable at high HTF velocity. There exists an
optimal HTF velocity with respect to an allowable maximum output power.
The in#uence of the di!erent entrance temperature of HTF on the output power is shown in
Figure 6. At the same gas velocity, the entrance temperatures are operated at 25, 60 and 803C,
respectively. It can be found that the higher output power can be obtained at lower entrance
Int. J. Energy Res. 2001; 25:331}341
335
Figure 6. E!ect of entrance temperature on output power at < "6.0 m/s;

D
() "253C; () "603C; () "803C.

temperature. The variation of the output power is gentle if the gas entrance temperature is high.
This is because of the di!erence in temperatures between the two heat transfer mediums.
3. MODEL
The mathematical model is built up based on the following description about characteristics of
heat transfer process:
(1) This is not a quasi-stable heat transfer process, because the Al}Si alloy, which is "lled inside
the shell, is a high-temperature PCM. The temperature variation of PCM is relatively large
during the experiment, leading to a large Ste number. The sensible heat transfer of PCM
cannot be negligible;
(2) The thermal conductivity of Al}Si alloy is large, the radial temperature variation of PCM is
small, so that the natural convection in liquid phase of PCM can be neglected. Thus, the
mechanism of heat transfer in PCM is a pure conduction, while a forced convection exists
between the HTF and tube walls. Heat transfer equations of the conduction and convection
need to be solved simultaneously;
(3) The thermal resistance of the conduction heat transfer is much smaller than that of the
convection heat transfer. Bi number is small. Thermal resistance of the tube walls is negligible.
The following assumptions are made for the convenience of analysis:
(1) The PCM is isotropic, the thermal properties of PCM are constant (The thermal properties of
Al}Si alloy are listed in the appendix);
(2) The conduction of HTF in axial direction is negligible. Thus, the heat transfer in PCM is
one-dimensional;
(3) The &U' shape #ow channels can be simpli"ed as straight channels (Charach, 1992) with
a length, , and a coordinator, Z, as the #ow direction of HTF;
(4) The heat loss to the surroundings is negligible.
Int. J. Energy Res. 2001; 25:331}341
336
Q. HE AND W. ZHANG
Thus, the energy balance equation can be written as (Morrison, 1978)

*u k * aP
"
# ( !)
*q o *q
oA D
(2)
mR *
aP
*
D#
"
(! )
D
o A *Z o A C
*q
D D
D D D
(3)
for PCM, and
for HTF.
Where, and represent the temperatures of PCM and HTF, respectively, q a time variable,
D
u, o, k the intrinsic energy, density and thermal conductivity of PCM, o , C , A mR the density,
D D D
speci"c heat, the cross-sectional area of #ow and the mass #ux of HTF, P the perimeter of heat
transfer tubes, A the cross-sectional area which is occupied by PCM, and a the heat transfer
coe$cient between HTF and PCM. The intrinsic energy can be expressed as
u"C(! )#xj

(4)
x means the fraction of liquid phase in PCM. is a referenced temperature at u"0, j is latent

heat of PCM.
Substituting Equation (4) into Equation (2) leads to
*
*x k * aP
#j "
# ( !)
*q
*q o *Z oA D
(5)
The equation must meet the phase-change conditions:

(* at x"0
"* at 1(x(1
'* at x"1
the boundary conditions:
*
*Z
"0
X
*
*Z
"0
X*
" "
D O

Int. J. Energy Res. 2001; 25:331}341
337
and the initial condition:

"
"*
O
where * and are the phase-change temperature and environmental temperature, respectively.

There exists a distinct interface between the solid phase and liquid phase. The interface is
moveable with time during the solid}liquid phase change process of PCM. The heat #ux through
the interface is discontinuous. This makes the boundary condition at the interface to be nonlinear
(Lacroix, 1993; Kanari, 1992). Therefore, analytical solution can only be obtained in an ideal
condition with simple boundary conditions and initial conditions. There are two methods to
numerically solve heat transfer equations of phase-change process. In the "rst one, the temperature is chosen as the variation. The heat balance equations on solid phase, liquid phase and
phase interfaces were set up, respectively. In the other, the enthalpy is chosen as a variable, energy
equations are set up and solved. But both methods are very complex with much computation
time.
In this work an e!ective method is used, which bene"ted from introducing the fraction of liquid
phase (x), and dividing calculation into three stages
(1) he beginning stage: In this period the phase change has not happened, the temperature of
PCM is *. Thus, the heat transfer is made by latent heat absorption or release:
(2) he phase-change stage: At this stage, phase change starts at some places, and this stage will
be ended up when the phase change is "nished at all places inside the shell. Each point of
PCM is either in the phase-change process ("*), or in the state that the phase change has
been "nished (X"1) while the phase change is taking place at other points;
(3) After phase-change stage: All phase-change process has been "nished, the heat released is
sensible. It means, x"1 at this stage.
The method of "nite di!erence is used to solve the equations. Center-di!erence and full implicit
scheme is useful here. The movement of interface is predicted in Figure 7. It illustrates the
solidi"cation process of the PCM in shell. In the radial direction, the PCM is divided into
N nodes. X (N) denotes the liquid fraction (x) at Nth node versus time. Analyzing the variation of
liquid fraction at every node, so that the general solidi"cation process of PCM is identi"ed.
Figure 7. Illustration of solidifying process of PCM, N means the Nth note.

1-x (1); 2-x (N/4); 3-x (N/2); 4-x (3N/4); 5-x (N).
Int. J. Energy Res. 2001; 25:331}341
338
Q. HE AND W. ZHANG
Figure 8. Compare calculated result with experiment data on the HTF exit
temperature < "6.0 m/s, "603C.
D

Table I. Theoretic calculating condition.
No.
1
2
3
(3C)

mark 1
d (mm)
mark 2
< (m/s)
D
mark 3
L (m)
mark 4
50
100
150
8.0
9.0
10.0
10.3
12.3
14.4
0.8
1.2
1.5
Figure 9. In#uence of HTF entrance temperature on its exit temperature and output power.
Three stages treatment leads to solution of phase-change process equations. The results are
shown in Figure 8 in comparison with the experiment data at the same operation conditions. It
can be seen that the theoretic prediction is in accordance with the experiment measurement.
Table I gives the calculating conditions. Figures 9}12 show the corresponding calculating
results. d and represent the thickness of PCM and the length of #ow channel, respectively.
Identi"er &C' and four mark numbers denote each combinatorial condition. For example, the
C1232 means the calculating condition as follows:
"503C, d"9.0 mm, < "14.35 m s\, "1.2 m.

D
Int. J. Energy Res. 2001; 25:331}341
339
Figure 10. In#uence of HTF velocity on heat transfer.
Figure 11. In#uence of PCM thickness on the HTF exit temperature and output power.
Figure 12. In#uence of the #ow channels length on heat transfer.
4. DISCUSSION
The in#uences of entrance temperature of HTF ( ), velocity of HTF (< ), thickness of PCM (d)

D
and the length of #ow channel (L) on the heat transfer are given in Figures 9}12. In the "gures,
the temperature of HTF is showed by solid line and the corresponding output power is showed by
dashed line.
Figure 9 shows the in#uence of entrance temperature of HTF ( ) on exit temperature of HTF

( ) and output power. The exit temperature of HTF was lower at the lower entrance

Int. J. Energy Res. 2001; 25:331}341
340
Q. HE AND W. ZHANG
temperature. The decreasing of with the time is obvious and more output power can be

obtained at the lower . But a high output power obtained at a too lower is unstable in the

operation of the exchanger, which is not in favour of heat users.
It can be seen from Figure 10 that the exit temperature of HTF decreases as the velocity of
HTF is increased. But it is not so obvious. There is a certain in#uence of velocity on the output
power. It may be explained by two phenomena acting in opposite directions. First, an increase in
velocity could lead to lower exit temperature, i.e. lower output power. Secondly, the increase in
gas velocity would lead to an increase of mass #ux of HTF, i.e. higher output power. In#uence of
HTF velocity on the heat transfer depends on the two e!ects in combination. Using the lower
velocity to pick heat out, the exit temperature would be lower, but the heat output would be
stable.
PCM thickness is an important parameter for heat storage. It in#uences the solidifying time
evidently, i.e. in#uences the fraction of liquid phase. As shown in Figure 11 increasing of PCM
thickness means the heat storage capability of the exchanger was increased accordingly. Both exit
temperature of HTF and the output power increases with the increasing PCM thickness. The
output power will be stable if PCM thickness is larger. In practical application a thicker PCM
thickness is supposed to be suitable.
Figure 12 shows the e!ect of #ow channel length on heat transfer. The exit temperature of HTF
increases with increasing length of #ow channel, and output power will turn to stable at longer
channel condition.
5. CONCLUSION
A theoretical analysis with support of experimental tests on a novel shell-tube latent heat
exchanger is presented which provides a basis for optimal design and operation of the heat
storage exchanger. The prediction by the mathematical model on the performance of the heat
storage exchanger is reasonable and in agreement with experimental measurements. It is shown
that some parameters, such as the inlet temperature, the velocity of #uid, the thickness of the
phase-change material and the length of the #ow channel have visible e!ects on the heat transfer
performance of the unit. Increasing the entrance temperature of heat transfer #uid, decreasing its
velocity, increasing PCM thickness and #ow channel length, the stable heat output can be
obtained. Output power will be increased with the increasing of the entrance temperature of
HTF, PCM thickness and #ow channel length.
NOMENCLATURE
A
A
D
B
G
C
D
D
k
m
"cross-sectional area which is occupied by PCM (m)

"cross-sectional area of #ow (m)
"Bi number de"ned as al/j
"speci"c heat of HTF (kJ kg\3C\)
"inner diameter of heat transfer tube (m)
"thermal conductivity of PCM (w m\ s\)
"total length of #ow channels (m)
"#ux of HTF (kg m\ s\)
Int. J. Energy Res. 2001; 25:331}341
P
Q
Re
Ste

*

u
<
D
x
Z
341
"perimeter of heat transfer tubes (m)

"output power (kW)
"Re number de"ned as < D/l
D
"Ste number de"ned as C (*! )/j
N
D
"temperature of PCM (3C)
"temperature of HTF (3C)
"surroundings temperature (3C)
"phase change temperature of PCM (3C)
"entrance temperature of HTF (3C)
"exit temperature of HTF (3C)
"referenced temperature at u"0 (3C)
"intrinsic energy of PCM (w)
"cross-sectional averaged velocity of HTF in tube (m s\)
"fraction of liquid phase in PCM
"coordinate in #ow direction of HTF
Greek letters
a
o
o
D
d
j
q
"heat transfer coe$cient between HTF and PCM (w m\3C\)

"density of PCM (kg m\)
"density of HTF (kg m\)
"thickness of PCM (m)
"latent heat of PCM (J kg\)
"time variable (s)
APPENDIX
The thermal properties of Al}Si alloy are: speci"c heat"939 (J kg\ PK); phase-change temperature"577 (3C); latent heat"515.0 (kJ kg\); density"2661.0 (kg m\).
REFERENCES
Charach C, Zemel A. 1992. Thermodynamic analysis of latent heat storage in a shell-and-tube heat exchanger. Journal of
Solar Energy Engineering 114:93}99.
Kanari K, Abe Y, Tanaka K. 1992. Heat transfer characteristics of latent thermal storage units with sodium hydroxidebased molten salts. Heat ransfer, Japanese Research 7:686}699.
Lacroix M. 1993. Numerical simulation of a shell-and-tube latent heat thermal energy storage units. Solar Energy
50:357}367.
Morrison DJ, Abdel-khalik SI. 1978. E!ects of phase-change energy storage on the performance of air-based and
liquid-based solar heating systems. Solar Energy 20:57}67.
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Int. J. Energy Res. 2001; 25:331}341