Abstract:
Due to the efficient performance in energy storage density, solar thermal energy
storage (TES, especially latent type) applications are drawing more attention in the
research field of solar energy. Among all of the types of solar thermal storage
technologies, the latent heat storage system using phase change materials is the
most efficient way of storing thermal energy. It has some dominant factors such as
high density energy storage and isothermal operations, i.e., very small temperature
range for heat storage and removal. Thus, latent heat storage systems have greater
applicability over the other types of TES systems.
This chapter initially presents an analysis of a latent-type solar thermal energy
storage (TES) system involving some of the important cases carried out comprising
the application of ambient conditions with various geometries and working conditions. The analysis is carried out in MATLAB and COMSOL , which contains
transient simulations of latent heat storage functioning with 1D and 2D modeling. It
comprises the validation of numerical 1D analysis with corresponding analytical
solution, observation of the change in thermophysical properties at the melting
point, etc.
Further in this study, the phase change material (PCM) is assumed to be
incorporated in a brick wall structure, which can improve its thermal performance.
A 1D numerical model on COMSOL Multiphysics is developed to analyze the
thermal performance of the PCM-filled brick wall unit. The numerical model and
the adopted hypotheses are illustrated in detail. The comparison between temperature distributions of a simple brick wall and a brick wall with a PCM layer is
presented. The results show that using the numerical tool, it can be observed that
the thermal performance of the PCM-filled brick wall is efficient over the simple
brick wall without PCM. This concept of the PCM-impregnated building structure
is found to be successful in shifting the energy requirement of the equipped
building sector from a high peak electricity demand period to an off-peak period.
