Abstract
To address the issue of low melting efficiency between adjacent fins and at the bottom of the phase change material (PCM) in a horizontal shell-and-tube phase change thermal energy storage (TES) system, a novel stepped claw shaped fin structure was introduced. The effects of the structural parameters, position, and angle of the new fin on the heat storage and release efficiency of the phase-change heat accumulator were studied numerically. The results showed that the use of stepped claw fins could enhance heat transfer and increase the melting rate of PCM, although it might inhibit the heat release process. Reasonable adjustment of the fin length, position, and angle could improve the uniformity of the temperature distribution in thermal storage. In this study, the device with stepped claw fins achieved a heat storage efficiency of 1108.3 J/s. Considering both heat storage and release processes, the heat storage and release efficiency of the stepped claw-finned device is 3.06 times higher than that of the non-finned device. The new stepped claw fins could effectively improve the thermal performance of the device and represent a type of fin with excellent performance.