Experimental research and numerical simulation of the thermal performance of a tube-fin cold energy storage unit using water/modified expanded graphite as the phase change material

In this study,experimental and numerical investigations were conducted on a tube-fin heat-exchanger latent-heat cold energy storage unit.The fin side of the heat exchanger was filled with water as the energy storage medium,and modified expanded graphite(MEG)was employed to improve the thermal characteristics of water.The water contact angle of the expanded graphite decreased from 106.31°to 0°,and the hydrophilicity and the absorption rate of water significantly improved after the modification.Moreover,the experimental analyses of the charge/discharge process showed that the cooling capacity of the system filled with 90 wt.%water/MEG was 80.8%of that of pure water,whereas its cooling time was only 69.7%of that of pure water.The average power increased by 15.9%compared with that of water.The system filled with 90 wt.%water/MEG completed two energy charging and discharging cycles,whereas the system filled with water completed only 1.5 cycles within 15000 s.Furthermore,the effects of the flow rate and inlet temperature of the heat transfer fluid on the charging process were explored.Finally,a numerical model was built and validated to investigate the phase change behavior and the effect of the structure size on the performance of the system.The heat-exchanger fin spacing had no significant effect on the cold energy storage unit,whereas the vertical spacing of the tube pass had the highest effect.It can be concluded that the heat exchanger combined with high-thermal-conductivity water/MEG exhibits better energy storage capacity and working power,showing a wide application prospect in the field of cold energy storage.

Numerical simulation of underground seasonal cold energy storage for a 10 MW solar thermal power plant in north-western China using TRNSYS

This paper aims to explore an efficient, cost-effective, and water-saving seasonal cold energy storage technique based on borehole heat exchangers to cool the condenser water in a 10 MW solar thermal power plant. The proposed seasonal cooling mechanism is designed for the areas under typical weather conditions to utilize the low ambient temperature during the winter season and to store cold energy. The main objective of this paper is to utilize the storage unit in the peak summer months to cool the condenser water and to replace the dry cooling system. Using the simulation platform transient system simulation program (TRNSYS), the borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) system model has been developed and the dynamic capacity of the system in the charging and discharging mode of cold energy for one-year operation is studied. The typical meteorological year (TMY) data of Dunhuang, Gansu province, in north-western China, is utilized to determine the lowest ambient temperature and operation time of the system to store cold energy. The proposed seasonal cooling system is capable of enhancing the efficiency of a solar thermal power plant up to 1.54% and 2.74% in comparison with the water-cooled condenser system and air-cooled condenser system respectively. The techno-economic assessment of the proposed technique also supports its integration with the condenser unit in the solar thermal power plant. This technique has also a great potential to save the water in desert areas.

A fully solid-state cold thermal energy storage device for car seats using shape-memory alloys

Thermal energy storage has been a pivotal technology to fill the gap between energy demands and energy supplies.As a solid-solid phase change material,shape-memory alloys(SMAs)have the inherent advantages of leakage free,no encapsulation,negligible volume variation,as well as superior energy storage properties such as high thermal conductivity(compared with ice and paraffin)and volumetric energy density,making them excellent thermal energy storage materials.Considering these characteristics,the design of the shape-memory alloy based the cold thermal energy storage system for precooling car seat application is introduced in this paper based on the proposed shape-memory alloy-based cold thermal energy storage cycle.The simulation results show that the minimum temperature of the metal boss under the seat reaches 26.2°C at 9.85 s,which is reduced by 9.8°C,and the energy storage efficiency of the device is 66%.The influence of initial temperature,elastocaloric materials,and the shape-memory alloy geometry scheme on the performance of car seat cold thermal energy storage devices is also discussed.Since SMAs are both solid-state refrigerants and thermal energy storage materials,hopefully the proposed concept can promote the development of more promising shape-memory alloy-based cold and hot thermal energy storage devices.

Mesoporous molecular sieve confined phase change materials with high absorption,enhanced thermal conductivity,and cooling energy charging/discharging capacity

The biggest challenge for organic phase change materials(PCMs)used in cold energy storage is to maintain high heat storage capacity while reducing the leakage risk of PCMs during the phase transition process.This is crucial for expanding their applications in the more demanding cold storage field.In this study,novel formstable low-temperature composite PCMs are prepared with mesoporous materials,namely SBA-15 and CMK-3(which are prepared using the template method),as supporting matrices and dodecane as the PCM.Owing to the combined effects of capillary forces within mesoporous materials and interactions among dodecane molecules,both dodecane/SBA-15 and dodecane/CMK-3 exhibit outstanding shape stability and thermal cycling stability even after 200 heating/cooling cycles.In comparison to those of dodecane/SBA-15,dodecane/CMK-3 exhibits superior cold storage performance and higher thermal conductivity.Specifically,the phase transition temperature of dodecane/CMK-3 is-8.81℃ with a latent heat of 122.4 J·g^(-1).Additionally,it has a thermal conductivity of 1.21 W·m^(-1)·K^(-1),which is 9.45 times that of dodecane alone.All these highlight its significant potential for applications in the area of cold energy storage.