Experimental analysis of phase change material integrated single phase natural circulation loop

Autor: Abin Francis, Ravi Kumar Kottala, K.R. Balasubramanian, B. S. Jinshah
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Materials Today: Proceedings. 46:10000-10005
ISSN: 2214-7853
Popis: Natural circulation loops (NCLs) are mainly consists of three sections i.e., Heat source, heat sink, and adiabatic section. The working fluid in the NCL flows due to density difference caused by the temperature difference between the heat source and heat sink. Single-phase NCLs are used in many types of energy systems, such as solar heaters, nuclear reactors, geothermal power production, engine and computer cooling. Most of the engineering devices are operated with transient heat flux which creates the problems like thermal instabilities and shortage of energy supply. Phase change materials were used for thermal energy storage applications. Thermal energy storage is required to diminish the gap between demand and supply by storing the extra thermal energy during the charging time and utilized in peak time. The current work presents a novel method of integrating phase change materials (PCMs) within the evacuated solar tube collectors of a Single-Phase natural circulation loop (SPNCL) for reducing the instabilities. In this method, the Heat Transfer Equipment (HTE), the pipe is integrated with phase change material, where heat is effectively accumulated and stored for an extended period of time due to thermal insulation of evacuated tubes. The benefit of this method includes improved functionality by delaying release of heat, thus providing heat during the hours of high demand or when the solar intensity is insufficient. The work compares the experimental data with and without Phase Change Material. The experiment is performed for various flow rates and various heat fluxes. SPNCL with PCM evaporator shows the best thermal performance compare to the without PCM.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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