Solar Water Heater with Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage

To increase the thermal performance and to deal with the intermittent nature of solar energy, a flat plate solar collector is integrated with a shell-and-tube latent heat thermal energy storage unit by using phase change material (PCM) paraffin wax. The investigation is done numerically for both solar water heater and PCM storage unit. The charging cycle in absence of natural convection is investigated to observe the melting behaviour of the PCM.

The variation of liquid fraction ranges from 0(blue) to 1(red) for all the contours. As the contours are shown, the liquid fraction of the PCM varies differently at the inlet side and the outlet side with time. It happens because the temperature inside the fluid flow domain changes as the HTF flows through the tube and gradually transfers the heat to the PCM in the shell.

Worked as the lead investigator under the supervision of Dr. Himanshu Tyagi

Publication: Kashyap, A. S., and Tyagi, H., "Numerical Simulation of Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage Incorporated Solar Water Heater", Paper No. IHMTC2021–027, 26th National and 4th International ISHMT-ASTFE Heat and Mass Transfer Conference (IHMTC-2021), IIT Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, Dec. 17-20, 2021. (doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1615/IHMTC-2021.180)

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