Effects of geometric parameter on energy storage performance in a shell-and-tube latent heat energy storage system

This paper presented effects of the cylinder diameter on thermal energy storage performance in a shell-and-tube latent heat energy storage (LHES) system. Thermal behaviour of the phase change materials (PCM) in the LHES system was experimentally studied during charging and discharging processes. The temperature distribution in the PCM indicated that the heat transfer in the PCM was dominated by convective heat transfer. A combined conduction and convection heat transfer model is then used to investigate the effect of the geometric parameter on the storage performance in a LHES system.The results showed that complete charging of the LHES unit was highly dependent on the outer diameter of the cylinder.