Research Projects

Energy storage technologies have enormous practical relevance for intermittent sources. Latent, thermochemical and sensible energy storage techniques are the most often utilized in thermal energy storage systems. The LHTES (Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage) is most sought after due to its near-isotherm storage performance and high storage density. PCMs (Phase Change Materials) in LHTES systems can store 5-13 times more energy in the same volume than sensible storage materials and have a significantly lower temperature difference in the phase change transition. The majority of PCMs have extremely low thermal conductivities increasing the cycle duration of charging/discharging resulting in LHTES taking a longer reaction time to obtain the desired requirement. As a result, improving heat transfer to LHTES systems has gained popularity in recent decades by increasing the PCM thermal conductivity, lowering the thermal resistance of PCM, and increasing the contact area between PCM and the heat transfer fluid. Encapsulating the PCM into small hollow capsules is the most used technique for increasing the contact area, but such an approach has proven to be expensive, limited dependability in terms of rupture, and a short lifespan cycle. Incorporating fins, porous metal foams/heat pipes, TPMS topology into the PCM container during construction can help to solve this problem. It has recently been shown that dispersing highly conductive nanoparticles with nominal diameters between 1 and 100 nm can improve the thermal conductivity of PCM. However, this will eventually reduce the volume percentage of PCM, resulting in a heat capacity reduction. After the initial homogeneous dispersion, the accumulation of nanoparticles in the LHTES system may result in performance degradation during charging and discharging. Using porous metal foam (PMF), triply periodic minimal surfaces (TPMS) architecture and finned tubes are the commonly employed methods for heat resistance reduction. The use of PMF, TPMS topology with PCM increases the area of the contacted surface, increasing heat conduction, resulting in slower natural convection in the liquid phase of the PCM. Furthermore, well-designed and optimized finned in LHTES can maximize the area of contacted surface and aid in the enhancement of natural convection caused by buoyancy. Finned, PMF TPMS based designs appear to be the most cost-effective. Hence, a thorough investigation is proposed in this project to quantify the efficiency of Fins, PMF and TPMS architecture in improving the melting/charging performance of the PCM in addition to incorporating nanoparticles/hybrid nanoparticles within PCM. Fins are designed, optimized, and additively manufactured using pure copper to enhance the melting/charging performance of the PCM for maintaining a uniform temperature distribution and constant melting rates of local PCM.