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Journal of Thermal Science

热科学学报

Journal of Thermal Science >

2024 , Vol. 33 >Issue 5: 1672 - 1687

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-024-1971-7

Using Longitudinal Fins to Improve the Melting Performance of Stearic Acid in Thermal Energy Storage Devices

  • YAN Suying ,
  • LIU Yiran ,
  • AO Ci ,
  • ZHAO Xiaoyan ,
  • ZHANG Na ,
  • ZHANG Ruiying ,
  • AHMADI Mohammad Hossein
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  • 1. School of Energy and Power Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Technology, Hohhot 010051, China
    2. Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China 
    3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
    4. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Technology, Hohhot 010051, China
    5. Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran

Online published: 2024-09-08

Supported by

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51766012), the Inner Mongolia Science and Technology Major Project (No. 2020ZD0017), the Science and Technology Research Project of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (No. 2021GG0252) and the Basic research business fund projects for Universities directly under the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (No. JY20220107).

Copyright

Science Press, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, CAS and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024
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Abstract

The heat transfer efficiency of a thermal energy storage unit (TESU) can be improved by the addition of novel longitudinal fins. A series of TESUs are analyzed using the finite volume method (FVM) to determine the effect of fin angle on the heat transfer performance. As the fin angle increases, the TES rate first increases, then decreases, reaching a maximum rate at 60°, where the melting time is less by 30.9%, 28.58%, 21.99%, 9.02%, and 18.1% than at 0°, 15°, 30°, 45°, and 80°, respectively. In addition, it is found that the melting time of the phase change material is significantly greater at the bottom of the TESU. The time percentage of this stage decreases as the fin angle increases through these percentages by 7%, 14%, 23%, 33%, and 20%, respectively. Further, the response surface methodology (RSM) is applied to optimize the longitudinal fin by minimizing the total melting time. The analysis concludes that a fin angle of 58.68° reduces the complete melting time of the stearic acid by 44% below the time at 0°. These findings fill a gap in knowledge of the effect on melting performance of the design angle of longitudinal fins and provide a reference for the design of horizontally placed longitudinal finned thermal energy storage units.

Key words： thermal energy storage; melting rate enhancement; longitudinal fins; fin angle; phase change materials

Cite this article

YAN Suying , LIU Yiran , AO Ci , ZHAO Xiaoyan , ZHANG Na , ZHANG Ruiying , AHMADI Mohammad Hossein . Using Longitudinal Fins to Improve the Melting Performance of Stearic Acid in Thermal Energy Storage Devices[J]. Journal of Thermal Science, 2024 , 33(5) : 1672 -1687 . DOI: 10.1007/s11630-024-1971-7

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