Melting performance enhancement of thermal storage system by utilizing shape and position of double fin

Abstract

In present study, a 2D rectangular enclosure was considered as a latent thermal energy storage (LTES) system. Lauric acid was used as PCM material. The aim of this study was to use fins to enhance melting process of PCM. Position and shape of double fins were considered as investigating parameters. At first stage three different positions were considered for fins of rectangular shape. Results indicated that amongst aforementioned cases, best results were achieved when double fins were located at lower half of enclosure. Results revealed that up to 1800s could be saved during whole melting process. At second step, two trapezoidal form and one triangular shaped double fins were used to evaluate the effect of fin shape. In these cases, fins were placed at optimum position concluded from previous stage. Results presented that up to Fo = 0.15, best values of Nusselt numbers were related to triangular shaped fins. After Fo = 0.15, the case with triangular fin has least Nu number. The best melting performance was related to triangular fins at which 1000s less melting time was observed. Enhancement ratio results presented better performance for triangular fins after second of 2500s