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Performance study of a thermochemical energy storage reactor embedded with a microchannel tube heat exchanger for water heating

Zhang, Yong; Hu, Mingke; Chen, Ziwei; Su, Yuehong; Riffat, Saffa

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Authors

Yong Zhang

Mingke Hu

ZIWEI CHEN ZIWEI.CHEN@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Senior Research Fellow

YUEHONG SU YUEHONG.SU@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Professor of Thermal Science and Building Technology

SAFFA RIFFAT saffa.riffat@nottingham.ac.uk
Professor of Sustainable Energy Systems



Abstract

Thermochemical energy storage (TCES) provides a promising solution to addressing the mismatch between solar thermal production and heating demands in buildings. However, existing air-based open TCES systems face practical challenges in integrating with central water heating systems and controlling the supply temperature. To overcome these limitations, a novel water-based TCES-HEX-HRU system is proposed in this study, which integrates a water-to-air microchannel tube heat exchanger (HEX) and an air-to-air heat recovery unit (HRU). A comprehensive evaluation of the TCES-HEX-HRU system is conducted numerically using a COMSOL model, including a comparative assessment for different TCES system configurations. The results demonstrate that the TCES-HEX-HRU system achieves an overall thermal efficiency of 82.35 %, marking a substantial 69 percentage points improvement over the TCES-HEX system. Although slightly lower than the typical air-based TCES system without HEX and HRU by 15.44 percentage points, the TCES-HEX-HRU system can be a practically promising and viable choice for applications in central heating systems. Numerical investigations indicate that the thermal performance of the system is influenced by the inlet conditions of airflow and waterflow. Moreover, increasing the number of water channels in the HEX of the TCES-HEX-HRU system enhances heat transfer but reduces the amount of heat released by TCES composite materials, resulting in a maximum overall thermal efficiency of 92.09 % with 35 channels and a peak outlet water temperature of 33.67 °C at with 30 channels. However, further increases in the number of channels lead to a decline in overall thermal efficiency and outlet water temperature. Changes in the width of water channels in the HEX have a minor impact on the highest outlet water temperature and overall thermal efficiency, while affecting the volume of the TCES composite materials.

Citation

Zhang, Y., Hu, M., Chen, Z., Su, Y., & Riffat, S. (2024). Performance study of a thermochemical energy storage reactor embedded with a microchannel tube heat exchanger for water heating. Journal of Energy Storage, 78, Article 110043. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2023.110043

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Dec 6, 2023
Online Publication Date Dec 12, 2023
Publication Date Feb 1, 2024
Deposit Date Jan 17, 2024
Publicly Available Date Jan 17, 2024
Journal Journal of Energy Storage
Electronic ISSN 2352-152X
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 78
Article Number 110043
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2023.110043
Keywords Thermochemical energy storage; Microchannel tube heat exchanger; Heat recovery; Thermal efficiency
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/29539341
Publisher URL https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352152X23034424?via%3Dihub
Additional Information © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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