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A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T
Keywords: The work presented in this paper is the results of an experimental study conducted on the thermal energy storage
Pentaerythritol (TES) performance of pentaerythritol (PE) added with alumina (Al2O3) nanoparticles. The charging and dis-
Solid–solid PCM charging experiments are performed using PE added with 0.5 and 1.0 wt.% of Al2O3 in a shell and tube type
Al2O3 nanoparticles thermal energy storage system. The experimental data are analyzed to obtain the charging/discharging effi-
Charging and discharging
ciencies and the overall efficiency of the TES system at different flow rates 2, 4, 6 LPM of the heat transfer fluid
Energy efficiency
Exergy efficiency
(HTF, Therminol-55). Exergy analysis based on the 2nd law of thermodynamics is also carried out in this ex-
perimental work. The results indicated that charging and discharging time is reduced due to the addition of
Al2O3 with PE at all volume flow rates of HTF. The maximum charging and discharging powers of 289.3 W and
230.8 W respectively are observed in the case of PE + 1.0% Al2O3 corresponding to the flow rate of 6 LPM. The
efficiencies of charging and discharging showed maximum values of 86.8% and 75.0% respectively at 6 LPM.
The overall energy efficiency of the thermal energy storage system found increased from 38.3% obtained in the
case of PE to 50.5% and 58.5% obtained for PE added with 0.5 wt.% and 1.0 wt.% of Al2O3 nanoparticles
respectively.
Abbreviations: PCM, phase change material; HTF, heat transfer fluid; PE, pentaerythritol; DSC, Differential Scanning Calorimetry; LPM, liter per minute; TES,
thermal energy storage; SSPCM, solid–solid PCM; TEM, transmission electron microscope; SEM, scanning electron microscope; XRD, X-ray diffraction; EDX, Energy
Dispersive X-ray; FESEM, field emission scanning electron microscope
⁎
Corresponding author at: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli, India.
E-mail addresses: venkitaraj@cea.ac.in (K.P. Venkitaraj), ssuresh@nitt.edu (S. Suresh), praveennitt15@gmail.com (B. Praveen).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2019.101767
Received 6 April 2019; Received in revised form 7 July 2019; Accepted 5 August 2019
Available online 12 August 2019
2210-6707/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
K.P. Venkitaraj, et al. Sustainable Cities and Society 51 (2019) 101767
ordered tetrahedral phase to a disordered cubic phase accompanied tested composite PCM comprising carbonate-salt for medium and high-
with the absorption of a significant amount of energy, more significant temperature energy storage applications. Li et al. (2017) investigated
the disorder, more substantial is the amount of energy absorbed. Now, calcium chloride hexahydrate with aluminum oxide nanoparticles for
when the temperature is lowered, at the transition temperature, the thermal energy storage. Singh et al. (2017) experimentally studied the
hydrogen bonds reform and the materials regain its original tetrahedral thermal energy storage performance of Myo-Inositol based nano PCM.
structure which causes the stored thermal energy to get released (Singh They used Myo-Inositol added with 1%, 2% and 3% mass fractions of
et al., 2015). Polyalcohols also called as “plastic crystals,” which dis- CuO and Al2O3 nanoparticles. Based on the results of Differential
play crystalline disorder at elevated temperatures accompanied by the Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and
absorption of thermal energy (Timmermans, 1961). Among poly- Fourier Infrared Transforms (FTIR) analysis, they commented that the
alcohols, the most exciting materials are pentaerythritol (PE), penta- nano-enhanced myo-inositol is a potential PCM for thermal energy
glycerine (PG), Neopentyl glycol (NPG) and Neopentyl alcohol (NPA). storage.
Certain amine derivatives of polyalcohols such as Tris (hydroxymethyl) Though there are numerous investigations reported on solid–liquid
aminomethane (TAM) and Aminoglycol (AMPL) were also very tested PCM, the papers on thermal energy storage performance of SSPCM with
and proved by various researchers as potential solid–solid PCM for heat transfer enhancement additives are decidedly less in number. Hu,
thermal energy storage applications (Benson, Burrows, & Webb, 1986; Zhao, Jin, and Chen (2014) studied the solid-state phase transition of
Murrill & Breed, 1970). PE added with nano-aluminum nitride. In our recent work (Venkitaraj
Most organic and some inorganic PCM have an inherently low & Suresh, 2019) we studied the thermal and chemical stability of PE
thermal conductivity which leads to poor charging and discharging added with 0.1 wt.% of metal oxide nanoparticles. We found that the
performances. Improving the thermal conductivity of PCM by disper- nanoparticles decreased the subcooling found during the cooling cycle.
sing thermally conductive materials is more widely used for enhancing We have earlier investigated the energy storage characteristics and
the effectiveness of the PCM-based TES systems. The majority of PCM, crystallization kinetics of PE added with indium (Venkitaraj & Suresh,
in general, has a very poor thermal conductivity which results in lower 2018).
charging and discharging rates. The literature reported the use of The experimental heat transfer analysis of PCM involves conducting
thermally conductive particles like nanoparticles as additives to en- charging and discharging performances of the PCM for evaluating the
hance the thermal energy storage performance of organic and inorganic energy efficiency of the thermal energy storage system. Numerous ex-
PCM. The research findings also indicated that the enhancement of perimental and numerical studies on the thermal performance of latent
thermal conductivity accompanied by a slight decrease in the phase heat storage (LHS) system have been reported in the literature. Among
change properties of PCM (Adorno & Silva, 2006). Siegel (1977) in- the various works reported, a sizeable number of research works dis-
vestigated the use of high conductivity particles to enhance the rate of cusses the various improvements in the thermal performances of the
solidification molten salt. He conducted an analysis to determine how LHS system. This includes geometrical design (Khan, Khan, & Ghafoor,
the solidification rate is influenced by the introduction of high con- 2016; Khodadadi & Zhang, 2001; Medrano et al., 2009), using metal
ductivity particles into a solidifying low conductivity material. He fins (Liu, Sun, & Ma, 2005), dispersion of thermally conductive particles
concluded that for reasonable concentrations such as 20% particles by (Liu, Su, Tang, & Fang, 2016), use of form stabled and encapsulated
volume, the heat removal rate for a plane geometry can be increased by PCM (Giro-Paloma, Martinez, Cabeza, & Fernandez, 2016; Liu, Rao,
10–20% depending on the ratio of particle to matrix conductivity. Zhao, Huo, & Li, 2015). Researchers have been trying different geo-
Cabeza, Mehling, Hiebler, and Ziegler (2002) and Py, Olives, and metric configurations of the LHS system for performing the charging
Mauran (2001) studied PCM/graphite enclosed in waterlogged metal and discharging processes. Khodadadi and Zhang (2001) numerically
modules. They observed a heat barrier between the metal modules and investigated the effect of convection on the melting process using a
water. Yin, Gao, Ding, and Zhang (2008) experimented paraffin/ex- spherical container. They observed a higher rate of heat transfer at the
panded graphite composite and reported that the thermal conductivity upper side of the sphere than at the lower side. Medrano et al. (2009)
enhanced about 17 fold compared to the thermal conductivity of pure conducted experimental heat transfer study of the PCM embedded in a
paraffin. Kim and Drzal (2009) reported that the presence of conductive graphite matrix using five different types of heat exchangers and they
graphite affects the phase change properties of PCM. Elgafy and Lafdi observed greater heat transfer in the case of pipe in pipe type heat
(2005) studied the performance enhancement of paraffin/carbon na- exchanger. Liu et al. (2005) studied the thermal energy storage analysis
nofibers (CNF) with the mass fraction of CNF varied between 1% and of stearic acid using vertical annulus storage system. They investigated
4%. Teng and Yu (2012) prepared composite PCM comprising paraffin the dependence of Reynolds number on the heat transfer performance
and 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 wt.% of Al2O3, TiO2, and SiO2 nanoparticles. Their of stearic acid.
study revealed that TiO2 enhances the thermal performance of paraffin As mentioned in the discussion above, the geometric configuration
more efficiently compared to other nanoparticles. Ge et al. (2014) of the heat exchanger in TES is a very important matter. Among the
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K.P. Venkitaraj, et al. Sustainable Cities and Society 51 (2019) 101767
different types of heat exchangers, shell and tube type is very much a very little effect on the thermal performance due to the conduction
used by various researchers due to its simple installation requirements dominant heat transfer during the charging and discharging process.
and better heat transfer performance (Agyenim, Hewitt, Eames, & The result of varying the number and orientation of HTF tubes in using
Smyth, 2010). The numerical work reported by Wang, Zhang, Wang, a horizontal shell and tube heat exchanger on thermal performance was
and He (2013) involved a shell and tube heat exchanger to study the numerically studied by Luo, Yao, Yi, and Tan (2015). They observed
thermal energy storage performance of n-octadecane. Their results re- better thermal performance in the case of multi-tube arranged sym-
vealed that the charging time reduces significantly with the increase in metrically with respect to the center.
the inlet temperature of the HTF. They also reported that the charging The results of the experimental investigations using shell and tube
time reduces with the increase in the mass flow rate of the fluid. The heat exchangers can be further improved by the use of extended sur-
experimental study conducted by Ezan, Ozdogan, and Erek (2011) faces (fins) or by enhancing the thermal conductivity of PCM by adding
discussed the thermal storage performance of a shell and tube heat thermally conductive particles. Darzi, Jourabian, and Farhadi (2016)
exchanger using water as the HTF. They reported the effects varying the performed a numerical study of thermal performance of n-eicosane
inlet temperature, flow rate, shell diameter and shell material on the using a longitudinally finned horizontal shell and tube heat exchanger.
thermal performance of the system. They observed that the charging They reported an increase in the solidification when fins were em-
and discharging processes are dominated by free convection. The effect ployed. The results of the experimental and numerical study conducted
varying the inlet temperature on the thermal performance is more by Meng and Zhang (2017) for testing the thermal performance of
compared to the effect of varying the flow rate of the HTF. The nu- paraffin-copper foam composite using a rectangular shaped shell and
merical study conducted by Seddegh, Wang, and Henderson (2016) tube heat exchanger was used. They indicated the dependence of soli-
reported the thermal storage performance of paraffin using a shell and dification time on the temperature gradient between the HTF and PCM.
tube system. They tested the storage performance of the LHS system The experimental paper published by Pandiyarajan, Pandian,
corresponding to the horizontal and vertical orientation of the shell and Malan, Velraj, and Seenira (2011) discussed the thermal energy storage
tube heat exchanger and concluded that the geometrical orientation has performance of a finned shell and tube heat exchanger for IC engine
Fig. 1. (a) Molecular structure of PE molecule, (b) XRD pattern of PE, (c) SEM image of PE, and (d) photograph of PE.
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K.P. Venkitaraj, et al. Sustainable Cities and Society 51 (2019) 101767
exhaust heat recovery. Their study indicated about 10–15% of waste using pentaerythritol as the PCM. The objective of the work was to
heat recovery using the finned shell and tube TES system. They sug- determine the influence of the PCM to fins volume ratio on the per-
gested a cascade LHS system using multiple PCM for increasing the % formance of the LHS unit for cooking. They concluded that the charging
heat recovery. Khan and Khan (2017) investigated the charging and and discharging performances decrease with PE to fin volume ratio. In
discharging of paraffin using a longitudinally finned shell and tube heat one of our recent work (Venkitaraj, Suresh, & Venugopal, 2018), we
exchanger for domestic and industrial applications. They investigated experimentally investigated the thermal performance of pentaerythritol
the effect of inlet temperature and volume flow rate of HTF on phase added with Al2O3 nanoparticles for IC engine exhaust heat recovery
transition rate and mean power. by regulating the inlet temperature or applications. The experimental results showed that the addition of 0.1%
volume flow rate of HTF, the influence of overall thermal resistance was and 0.5% weight fractions of Al2O3 results in 36.36% and 73.39% in-
minimized. Mean discharge power is enhanced by 36.05% as the inlet crease in the amount of heat recovered compared to pure PE. The
temperature is reduced from 15 °C to 5 °C. Likewise, the mean discharge present work reports the energy and exergy analysis of charging and
power is improved by 49.75% as the volume flow rate was increased discharging processes using PE added with 0.5 and 1.0 wt.% of Al2O3
from 1.5 LPM to 3 LPM. They also observed that with an increase in using Therminol-55 as the heat transfer fluid for charging and dis-
volume flow rate, the discharge time of the equal amount of thermal charging of PE. A shell and tube heat exchanger consisting of three
energy 12.09 MJ was reduced by 24%. It as, therefore, concluded that horizontal circular tubes was used as the TES for conducting the energy
by adjusting operating conditions, the required demand for output storage and discharge experiments. As far as the knowledge of the au-
temperature and mean discharge power can be attained. Agarwal and thors concerned, there is no research work that performed the energy
Sarviya (2016) experimentally evaluated the thermal and heat transfer and exergy analysis of a solid–solid PCM based TES using therminol as
characteristics of paraffin using a shell and tube type LHS system during the HTF is reported in the literature.
charging and discharging processes. They used air as heat transfer fluid
(HTF) and determined the effectiveness of the LHS for drying of food
products. 2. Material preparation
Majority of energy storage applications involve the use of solid–li-
quid phase change materials for thermal energy storage. However, the Pentaerythritol [PE] is a polyalcohol having the chemical formula
solid–liquid PCM have disadvantages of volume expansion and leakage C5H12O4. PE is an organic solid–solid PCM that exhibits a structural
issues in their liquid phase. These limitations do not exist in the case of transition from tetragonal to cubic at a fixed temperature in the range
solid–solid PCM since these type of PCM exhibit structural changes 187–189 °C. At ordinary temperature, PE has the body-centered tetra-
involving enthalpy change in their solid state. Polyalcohols are a class gonal (BCT) molecular structure consisting of four C–CH2–OH frag-
of organic solid–solid PCM having very high enthalpy change of tran- ments (Fig. 1(a)). In a PE molecule, the middle carbon atom is tetra-
sition. But, being organic materials, the thermal conductivity of poly- gonally surrounded by four other carbon atoms. The PE molecules are
alcohols is low causing poor charging and discharging performances. arranged flat in a sheet parallel to the crystallographic c-plane. The
Therefore, to improve the heat transfer in organic PCM, thermally transition to the face-centered cubic (FCC) crystalline structure is ac-
conductive particles are employed. Nanoparticles are one type of heat companied by the absorption of the energy required for the breaking of
transfer enhancement additives that are widely used by various re- hydrogen bonds. During the phase transition, the hydrogen bonds break
searchers. Most of the experimental investigations reported in the lit- resulting in a change in the crystal structure. The separated molecules
erature discussed the charging and discharging performances of so- are held in their lattice sites by dispersion forces. During the dischar-
lid–liquid PCM. Again, to improve the thermal performance of the ging period, the hydrogen bonds reform by rejecting the stored energy.
system, the researchers made use of finned type shell and tube based Fig. 1(b) shows the X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of PE obtained using
TES. The papers published on the charging and discharging perfor- Bruker AXS D8 Advance X-ray diffractometer having Cu-kα1 radiation
mances of solid–solid PCM are limited. Some of the papers available in in the range of 0–90°. The reflections in the XRD pattern obtained were
literature reports study on the characterization, charging and dischar- recognized as matching to the tetragonal phase of PE using JCPDS
ging performances of pure solid–solid PCM. But, there is very little (Joint Committee on Powder Diffraction Standards). The Scanning
research work that studied the effect of heat transfer enhancement Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis was performed using Jeol JSM
additives on charging and discharging performances of polyalcohols is 6390LV SEM to study the microstructure of PE. The obtained SEM
reported in the literature. The work presented in this thesis is aimed at image showed that PE has a loose microstructure with a large number
filling this gap found in the literature. of individual lamellae on the surface (Fig. 1(c)). Pentaerythritol (ana-
NKhonjera et al. (2016) experimentally studied the charging and lytical reagent grade, purity 98.0%) in white crystalline powder form
discharging performance of rectangular type TES provided with fins was supplied by Alfa Aesar, USA (Fig. 1(d)).
The alumina nanoparticles supplied by Alfa Aesar, USA were used as
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K.P. Venkitaraj, et al. Sustainable Cities and Society 51 (2019) 101767
the additive to pentaerythritol in this experimental study. The specifi- the heterogeneous mixing of pentaerythritol and alumina was the fact
cations of the nanoparticles are as follows: alumina (Al2O3), NanoDur that the dispersion of Al2O3 nanoparticles was purely physical using a
99.5%, APS: 40–50 nm, SA: 32–40 m2/g, MW: 101.96. The XRD pattern ball-mill. The region circled in red color indicates the particle ag-
of Al2O3 nanoparticles confirmed its crystalline nature. The diffraction gregation and the area shown by blue arrow represent the region that is
peaks in the XRD pattern of Al2O3 nanoparticles (Fig. 2(a)) were deprived of nanoparticles. Fig. 4(b) and (c) shows the EDX spectra of
identified as those present in the case of hexagonal α-Al2O3. Fig. 2(b) the PE added with Al2O3 nanoparticles before and after thermal cycling.
exhibits the microstructure of alumina obtained using Jeol JSM 6360 The elemental mapping is shown in Fig. 4(b) also indicated the het-
Scanning Electron Microscope. erogeneous mixing of Al2O3 nanoparticles with PE. The EDX spectrum
The dimension, profile, growth, and distribution of the Al2O3 na- of the thermally cycled sample shown in Fig. 4(c) confirms that the
noparticles were studied by transmission electron microscopic (TEM) dispersion of alumina nanoparticles in PE was not much disturbed even
images. The images were obtained using Jeol/JEM 2100 having point after several thermal cycles.
and lattice resolution of 0.23 nm, and 0.14 nm respectively, and mag- Fig. 5 shows the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrum of the
nification ranging from 2000× to 1,500,000×. The TEM photographs PE + 0.5 wt.% Al2O3 before and after thermal cycling. Since the spectra
of the Al2O3 nanoparticles are shown in Fig. 3. The obtained images of the uncycled and cycled samples are identical, it can be confirmed
indicated the spherically shaped alumina nanoparticles have particle that there involved no chemical reaction between the PCM and the
sizes ranging from 14 to 58 nm. nanoparticles.
The alumina nanoparticles were added to pentaerythritol in 0.5%
and 1% weight fractions. The dispersion of nanoparticles in PCM was
ensured with the help of the low energy ball mill run at 200 rpm for 3. Thermal conductivity measurement
1.5 h. The dispersion stability of nanoparticles and particle aggregation
in the prepared PCM samples were analyzed by a field emission scan- The thermal conductivity of the PCM samples was determined by T-
ning electron microscope (FESEM) system to obtain the topographical history method (Venkitaraj & Suresh, 2018). The T-history analysis is
and elemental information of the PE/Al2O3 composite PCM. Elemental based on lumped capacitance theory in which a uniform temperature
identification with mapping to study the dispersion of nanoparticles in profile is maintained. In order to ensure that the lumped heat capacity
PE was carried out by Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) mapping. theory is applicable, the test conditions used in T-history analysis
Fig. 4(a) shows the FESEM image of PE added with Al2O3 nano- should have of Biot number (Bi) value less than unity. In T-history
particles. The image shows nanoparticle agglomeration at some places method, the variation of temperature of the test samples and the re-
with some areas without any presence of nanoparticles. The reason for ference sample with time during the cooling process is recorded. The
thermal conductivity values of the test samples are then determined by
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K.P. Venkitaraj, et al. Sustainable Cities and Society 51 (2019) 101767
Fig. 4. (a) FESEM image, (b) EDX spectrum of PE with Al2O3 before thermal cycling, and (c) EDX spectrum of PE with Al2O3 after thermal cycling.
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K.P. Venkitaraj, et al. Sustainable Cities and Society 51 (2019) 101767
Fig. 6. Schematic diagram of the experimental setup for heat transfer study.
through the heat exchanger using the centrifugal pump. The flow rate exchanger. The heat exchanger comprises three tubes of 20 mm inner
of the cold fluid is monitored and controlled by using a rotameter and a diameter, 2 mm thickness, and 45 cm effective length enclosed within a
valve provided in the delivery side of the centrifugal pump. The cold shell of 65 mm inner diameter, and 5 mm thickness. The tubes are made
fluid flowing through the copper tube receives heat stored by the PCM. of copper and the shell is made of mild steel. The shell insulated using
The cold fluid leaving from the other end of the heat exchanger flows glass wool and asbestos in order to minimize the heat loss to the sur-
back to the cold reservoir via an air-cooled heat exchanger. During the roundings. The quantity of PCM required for filling in space inside the
flow through the radiator, it loses heat. The temperature of the PCM shell estimated to be 1.22 kg. The heat transfer fluid used in the hot and
inside the shell at six different locations is also monitored using the K- cold circuits is Therminol-55. Some important properties of Therminol-
type thermocouples. The temperature of the PCM inside the shell at the 55 are shown in Table 1. The temperature of therminol oil maintained
leading end, middle and, trailing ends are also monitored using the K- at 200 °C by using two hand immersion heaters of 1500 W each. The
type thermocouples. A multi-channel data logger records the PCM and gear pump (Make: HMP pumps, power: 0.5 HP, size: ½″ × ½″, rpm:
the fluid temperatures during the charging and discharging process. 1440, maximum discharge: 30 LPM) was used to pump the hot ther-
The photograph of the actual experimental setup fabricated in- minol oil through the heat exchanger. The cold fluid pumped by using a
cluded as Fig. 7. Fig. 8 shows the photographs of the shell and tube heat monoblock centrifugal pump (Make: Lakshmi pumps, power: 0.5 HP,
exchanger before and after insulating. size: 1″ × 1″, rpm: 1400, max. discharge: 45 LPM). The flow rate of hot
Fig. 9 shows the constructional features of the shell and tube heat therminol oil is measured using a metal tube magnetic rotameter
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K.P. Venkitaraj, et al. Sustainable Cities and Society 51 (2019) 101767
(Make: Eureka, model: SSVS-MTS-4, range: 1.1–11 LPM). The flow rate Table 1
in the cold side of the experimental setup measured by using an acrylic Properties of Therminol-55.
body rotameter (Make: flow point, range: 1–10 LPM). Two metal con- Property Value
tainers, each 20-l capacity, were used as hot and cold fluid reservoirs.
The entire hot circuit, part of the cold circuit between the heat ex- Appearance Clear, yellow liquid
changer exit and air-cooled heat exchanger inlet are well insulated to Composition Synthetic hydrocarbon
Average molecular weight 320
minimize the heat loss to the surroundings. Density 864 kg/m3 @33 °C
815 kg/m3 @220 °C
Kinematic viscosity 19 mm2/s @ 40 °C
5.2. Procedure
Specific gravity 0.876
Specific heat 1.95 kJ/kg K @33 °C
The experiments performed using pure PE and PE added with 0.5 2.21 kJ/kg K @220 °C
and 1.0 wt.% of Al2O3. The detailed experimental procedure is given Normal boiling point 351 °C
below. The heat exchanger filled with pure PE on the shell side Maximum use temperature 315 °C
mounted in the experimental setup. The heaters in the hot fluid re-
servoir are switched on to heat the therminol oil above 200 °C. The hot
the heat exchanger by starting the centrifugal pump. The flow rate of
therminol oil pumped through the heat exchanger by switching on the
the cold therminol adjusted to 2 LPM by operating the valve. The
gear pump. The flow rate of the oil set at 2 LPM by regulating the bye
temperature of the cold therminol entering and leaving the heat ex-
pass valve. The temperature of the hot therminol entering and leaving
changer and the PCM temperatures at different locations recorded.
the heat exchanger and the PCM temperatures at different locations
The centrifugal pump switched off when the PCM temperature re-
recorded. The gear pump switched off when the PCM temperature re-
stored to its ambient temperature. This completes the discharging
corded crosses the solid–solid transition temperature of the PCM. This
process. The experiment repeated for hot and cold therminol flow rates
completes the charging process. The cold therminol oil pumped through
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K.P. Venkitaraj, et al. Sustainable Cities and Society 51 (2019) 101767
of 4 LPM and 6 LPM. The experiment is repeated for PE/LMA composite part of the exergy is stored in the PCM. The rate of exergy supplied by
PCM of 0.5 and 1.0 wt.% Al2O3. HTF during the charging period is computed using the following
equation.
5.3. Data reduction
T
˙ input = m˙ h cp,h ⎡ (Th,i − Th,o) − To ln ⎛⎜ h,i ⎞⎟ ⎤
Ex ⎢ ⎥
5.3.1. Energy analysis ⎣ ⎝ Th,o ⎠ ⎦
The heat supplied to the PCM is given by,
where To is the ambient temperature.
Qsp = m˙ h c p,h (Th,i − Th,o) tc, kJ (1) The rate of exergy stored in the PCM is obtained as
where ṁh is the mass flow rate (kg/s) of hot HTF, cp,h is the specific heat
of hot HTF, Th,i and Th,oare the inlet and the exit temperature of the hot ˙ stored = m p htrs ⎡1 − To ⎤ + m p c p,p ⎡ (Ttrs − T¯p,i ) − To ln ⎛⎜ Ttrs ⎞⎟ ⎤
Ex
⎢ Ttrs ⎥ ⎢ ¯ ⎥
HTF, and tc is the charging time. ⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎝ Tp,i ⎠ ⎦
The heat stored in the TES is calculated as Heat stored = sensible ¯
+ m p c p,p ⎡ ¯ ⎛ Tp,f ⎞ ⎤
heat + solid–solid transition heat. ⎢ (Tp,f − Ttrs) − To ln ⎜ Ttrs ⎟ ⎥
⎣ ⎝ ⎠⎦
Qst = Qsen + Qtrs = m p c p,p (T¯p,f − T¯p,i ) + m p htrs , kJ (2)
where Tp,i and Tp,f are the initial and final PCM temperatures and Ttrs is
mp – the mass of the PCM (pentaerythritol), T̄p,f – mean final PCM the PCM transition temperature.
temperature, T̄p,i – mean initial temperature of the PCM, htrs – enthalpy The rate of exergy extracted from the PCM by the HTF during the
of transition, cp,p is the specific heat of PCM. discharging period is computed using the equation,
The average charging power (Pc) is obtained as the ratio of the heat
T
stored (Qst) to the time for charging (tc). ˙ output = m˙ c cp,c ⎡ (Tc,o − Tc,i ) − To ln ⎛⎜ c,o ⎞⎟ ⎤
Ex ⎢ ⎥
Qst ⎣ ⎝ Tc,i ⎠ ⎦
i.e. Pc =
tc (3) The charging exergy efficiency (ψchar) is computed as the ratio of rate of
Now, charging efficiency is found as the ratio of the heat stored (Qst) by exergy stored by the PCM to the exergy supplied by the HTF during the
the PCM to the heat supplied (Qsp) by the HTF during the charging charging period. Similarly, discharging exergy efficiency (ψdischar) is
cycle. i.e., estimated as the ratio of the rate of exergy extracted from the PCM to
the exergy stored by the PCM.
Qst The overall exergy efficiency (ψ) of the thermal energy storage
Charging efficiency (%), ηc = × 100
Qsp (4) process is computed from the exergy efficiencies of charging and dis-
Heat rejected to the cold HTF, charging processes as ψ = ψchar × ψdischar.
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K.P. Venkitaraj, et al. Sustainable Cities and Society 51 (2019) 101767
Table 4
Enthalpy of the transition of the PCM samples.
Samples Heating Cooling
Solid–solid transition Solid–solid transition
Onset Peak End set Enthalpy change Onset Peak End set Enthalpy change
(°C) (°C) (°C) (kJ/kg) (°C) (°C) (°C) (kJ/kg)
6.3.2. Charging power and charging efficiency This accounts for a charging efficiency of 68.9%. When the flow rate
The average energy stored in unit time is estimated as the charging further increased to 6 LPM, the heat supplied and heat stored estimated
power. Fig. 16 shows the average charging power estimated in the case as 907.8 kJ and 1256.8 kJ showing a charging efficiency of 72.2%. The
of pure PE and PE added with 0.5 wt.% and 1.0 wt.% of Al2O3 nano- charging efficiency estimated for PE + 0.5 wt.% Al2O3 and PE + 1.0 wt.
particles. % Al2O3 is also shown in Fig. 17. The results of PE + 0.5 wt.% Al2O3
It can be understood that the charging power of PE increases with indicated charging efficiencies of 72.4%, 76.7% and 80.7% at HTF flow
the addition of Al2O3 nanoparticles for all the heating rates considered rates of 2, 4 and 6 LPM respectively. The heat supplied and heat stored
in this study. The average energy storage power of pure PE corre- at these flow rates obtained as 1235.2 kJ, 1154.2 kJ, 1089.3 kJ, and
sponding to 2 LPM, 4 LPM, and 6 LPM flow rates estimated as 100.5 W, 894.4 kJ, 884.7 kJ, 878.7 kJ respectively. The results of PE + 1.0 wt.%
149.0 W, and 222.5 W respectively. The average energy storage power Al2O3 indicated charging efficiencies of 80.3%, 83.0% and 86.8% at
corresponding to 2 LPM, 4 LPM, and 6 LPM flow rates increased to HTF flow rates of 2, 4 and 6 LPM respectively. The heat supplied and
117.45 W, 165.7 W, and 261.5 W respectively when 0.5 wt.% of Al2O3 heat stored at these flow rates obtained as 1093.4 kJ, 1050.2 kJ,
nanoparticles were added to PE. When the weight fraction of Al2O3 1089.3 kJ, and 877.5 kJ, 872.1 kJ, 868.0 kJ respectively.
nanoparticles increased to 1.0%, the average energy storage power
corresponding to 2 LPM, 4 LPM, and 6 LPM flow rates estimated as 6.4. Discharging performance analysis
130.5 W, 186.3 W and 289.3 W respectively.
Fig. 17 shows the charging efficiency obtained in the case of pure PE 6.4.1. Discharging time
and PE added with 0.5 and 1.0 wt.% of Al2O3 nanoparticles at different To study the discharge performance of the PCM, the PCM is first
HTF flow rates. In the case of pure PE, an amount of 916.4 kJ energy charged to a temperature above the solid–solid transition point and
stored out of the 1418.2 kJ heat supplied at an HTF flow rate of 2 LPM, then allowed to cool back to the ambient conditions. During the dis-
indicating a charging efficiency of 64.6%. When the flow rate changed charging process, the HTF at room temperature circulated through the
to 4 LPM, 911.6 kJ of heat was stored out of 1322.8 kJ of heat supplied. heat exchanger. The PCM rejects the heat stored to the circulating HTF.
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Fig. 13. Charging process of PE + 0.5 wt.% Al2O3 at different flow rates of HTF.
Fig. 14. Charging process of PE + 1.0 wt.% Al2O3 at different flow rates of HTF.
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Fig. 19. Discharging process of PE + 0.5 wt.% Al2O3 at different flow rates of HTF.
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Fig. 20. Discharging process of PE + 1.0 wt.% Al2O3 at different flow rates of HTF.
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Table 5
Input, stored and output exergy.
PCM Flow rate ˙ input
Ex ˙ stored
Ex ˙ output
Ex Charging exergy efficiency Discharging exergy efficiency Overall exergy efficiency
(LPM) (kJ/day) (kJ/day) (kJ/day) (%) (%) (%)
ψchar ψdischar ψ
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K.P. Venkitaraj, et al. Sustainable Cities and Society 51 (2019) 101767
˙ ˙ T )2
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