Research on the Heat Transfer Performance of Phase Change Heat Storage Heat Exchangers Based on Heat Transfer Optimization

Abstract

Thermal storage technology has received increasing attention under the policy of encouraging the development of renewable energy and new clean energy. Optimizing the heat exchange system of phase change thermal storage heat exchangers to obtain better performance has become increasingly urgent. This study comprehensively investigated the actual process of heat transfer and assessed the heat transfer correlation laws between the heat transfer fluids, heat exchange tubes, fins, and phase change materials. Taking the heat exchange efficiency of the heat exchanger as a guide, a simulation was conducted on the effect of the presence and quantity of fins as well as the flow rate of the cooling liquid on the heat exchange efficiency of the heat exchanger. The simulation results showed that too many or too few fins were not conducive to improving heat transfer efficiency. In addition, no positive correlation was observed between the flow rate of the cooling liquid in the heat exchanger and the heat transfer efficiency of the heat exchanger. Specifically, models with slightly slower cooling liquid flow rates had a higher heat transfer efficiency. After a sensitivity analysis, it was found that the number of fins had a more significant effect on the heat transfer efficiency of the heat exchanger than the flow rate of the cooling liquid. The heat exchanger with five fins and a cooling liquid flow rate of 0.1 m/s demonstrated the best heat transfer effect, achieving a temperature drop of 14.76% within 5 min.