Numerical Study of Performance Enhancement of Phase Change Material (PCM) Thermal Energy Storage (TES) System by Using Nanoparticles

Ebtehal S. Hussain; Ihsan Y. Hussain

doi:10.29194/NJES.28010001

Authors

Ebtehal S. Hussain Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Baghdad-Iraq.
Ihsan Y. Hussain Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29194/NJES.28010001

Keywords:

Thermal Energy Storage, Paraffin Wax with Al2O3, Charging and Discharging Processes, Nanoparticles

Abstract

Improvements in the thermo-physical properties of Phase Change Materials (PCM) caused by nanoparticle dissipation are critical for a wide range of technologies. The current study describes numerically the investigation of the charging and discharging process of paraffin wax dispersed with different concentrations (1%, 3%, 5%, 7%, and 10% ) of Alumina nanoparticles (Al₂O₃), in a Single Thermal Energy Storage (STES) system. For this study, a time-dependent, two-dimensional simulation of the solidification and melting process was performed numerically for different velocities. The study is realized using the CFD ANSYS FLUENT software package (Version 18) that employs the phase-change phenomenon using the enthalpy technique. The results show that adding alumina nanoparticles to paraffin wax reduces the melting and solidification process, and raising nanoparticle concentration accelerated the melting and solidification process even more when compared to pure paraffin wax. The greatest improvement was obtained with the maximum concentration of nanoparticles with total time saving between (12% - 11.76% ) in the charging process and between ( 15.71% - 19.60% ) in the discharging process depending on velocity. Furthermore, other important findings were that the presence of nanoparticles makes a little effect in the early stages of the solidification and melting processes, but as time passes, the rate of solidification and melting rises. Comparison with previous works gave good agreement of about 34%.

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