Shell-and-Tube Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage Design Methodology with Material Selection, Storage Performance Evaluation, and Cost Minimization

Applied Sciences

LuisaF. Cabeza¹  Lizhong Yang²  Bakytzhan Akhmetov²  Antoni Gil²  Haoxin Xu³  Alessandro Romagnoli³  Fabrizio Cola³ 

[1] GREiA Research Group, Universitat de Lleida, Pere de Cabrera s/n, 25001 Lleida, Spain;SJ-NTU Corporate Lab, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637335, Singapore;School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore;

关键词: shell-and-tube;    phase change material (PCM);    latent heat;    multi-attribute decision-making;    multi-objective decision-making;    design;   

DOI  :  10.3390/app11094180

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Shell-and-tube latent heat thermal energy storage units employ phase change materials to store and release heat at a nearly constant temperature, deliver high effectiveness of heat transfer, as well as high charging/discharging power. Even though many studies have investigated the material formulation, heat transfer through simulation, and experimental studies, there is limited research dedicated to the storage unit design methodology. This study proposes a comprehensive methodology that includes the material assessment with multi-attribute decision-making and multi-objective decision-making tools, epsilon-NTU method, and cost minimization using Genetic Algorithm. The methodology is validated by a series of experimental results, and implemented in the optimization of a storage unit for solar absorption chiller application. A unit cost of as low as USD 8396 per unit is reported with a power of 1.42 kW. The methodology proves to be an efficient, reliable, and systematic tool to fulfill the preliminary design of shell-and-tube LHTES before the computational fluid dynamics or detailed experimental studies are engaged.

【 授权许可】

Unknown