Enhancing Efficiency in Cylindrical PCM Latent Heat Storage Systems Through Optimal Design Strategies and Techniques

The Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage systems are specially designed to store a considerable amount of thermal energy at nearly constant operating temperatures. These advanced systems use phase change materials, PCMs, as the core medium for storing energy. Because of their unique properties, PCMs can absorb and release tremendous amounts of thermal energy from their high latent heat capacity. Numerical analysis of the melting behavior of phase change material within a finned cylindrical LHTES system was performed. The adopted methodology in the analysis is the enthalpy porosity method, which precisely stimulates the thermal dynamics involved in the melting process. Different design configurations were proposed for optimum performance and efficiency in the system. These findings show that an increase in the contact area between fins and phase change material results in a significant reduction in the melting time. In our work, we obtained a performance enhancement of about ۳۸.۲% by implementing optimal design strategies like response surface methodology and genetic algorithms compared to conventional LHTES systems fitted with simple longitudinal fins. This indicates a great possibility for energy storage solutions by using this study designs and optimization techniques.

کلیدواژه ها:

Heat transfer ، phase change materials ، latent heat energy storage ، Conduction heat transfer ، Optimizing PCM systems