Heat transfer characteristics of ceramic foam/molten salt composite phase change material (CPCM) for medium-temperature thermal energy storage

Zhang, Shuai; Yao, Yuanpeng; Jin, Yingai; Shang, Zhen; Yan, Yuying

Abstract

Molten salts have been widely used as energy storage materials in medium- and high-temperature thermal energy storage. However, pure salt commonly suffers from low thermal conductivity and many conventional methods of heat transfer enhancement do not apply due to the serious corrosion and the extremely high temperature. In the current study, the open-cell SiC ceramic foam was integrated with solar salt (60wt% NaNO3 + 40wt% KNO3) to enhance the heat transfer of salt and avoid severe corrosion issues. A visualised experiment was for the first time conducted to investigate the melting phase change heat transfer in the ceramic foam/molten salt composite phase change material (CPCM). A representative elementary volume (REV)-scale simulation was simultaneously performed and the computational results were compared with experimental data. It is found that the conduction-friendly ceramic skeleton remarkably enhances the heat transfer in molten salt, especially in the region far away from the heat source. The spatial temperature difference across the composite is decreased in both horizontal and vertical directions and the local superheating is mitigated. The enhancement of heat conduction is greater than the suppression of natural convection; as a result, the melting rate of the CPCM is increased by 41.3%. This study provides crucial benchmark data of phase change heat transfer for medium-temperature thermal energy storage and paves the way for system design and optimization.

Citation

Zhang, S., Yao, Y., Jin, Y., Shang, Z., & Yan, Y. (2022). Heat transfer characteristics of ceramic foam/molten salt composite phase change material (CPCM) for medium-temperature thermal energy storage. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 196, Article 123262. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2022.123262

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 18, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Jul 22, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022-11
• Deposit Date: Jul 22, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 23, 2023
• Journal: International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
• Print ISSN: 0017-9310
• Electronic ISSN: 0017-9310
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 196
• Article Number: 123262
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2022.123262
• Keywords: Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes; Mechanical Engineering; Condensed Matter Physics
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/9092082
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0017931022007323?via%3Dihub