DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF LATENT HEAT

THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM FOR SOLAR

THERMAL APPLICATIONS

A DESIGN AND FABRICATION PROJECT REPORT

Submitted by

S.ARUN 31510114005

L.NANDAKUMAR 31510114032

S.VIGNESH 31510114055

S.V.SEMBIAN 31510114308

in partial fulfillment for the award of degree of

of

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING

in

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
SSN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, CHENNAI -603110.

ANNA UNIVERSITY : CHENNAI 600 025

APRIL 2019
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 ANNA UNIVERSITY : CHENNAI 600 025

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

Certified that this project report “DESIGN & FABRICATION OF LATENT

HEAT THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM FOR SOLAR
THERMAL APPLICATIONS” is the bonafide work of “ S.ARUN ,
L.NANDAKUMAR , S.VIGNESH , S.V.SEMBIAN” who carried out the project
work under my supervision.

SIGNATURE SIGNATURE

Dr. V.E ANNAMALAI Dr. N. NALLUSAMY

HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT SUPERVISOR

Mechanical Engineering Mechanical Engineering

SSN College of Engineering, SSN College of Engineering,

R G Salai, Kalavakkam- 603110. R G Salai, Kalavakkam- 603110.

SUBMITTED FOR THE VIVA VOCE EXAM HELD ON: ___________

INTERNAL EXAMINER EXTERNAL EXAMINER

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We are grateful to our Principal Dr. S. Salivahanan for providing us a constructive

environment for carrying out our project.

We sincerely thank our Head of the Department, Dr. V. E. Annamalai for giving
us permission to carry out our Design and Fabrication Project .

We would like to express our gratitude to our guide Dr. N. Nallusamy for his
valuable guidance and support throughout the period of this project work.

We would also like to thank our project co-ordinators Dr.KL. Hari Krishna and
Dr. S. Suresh Kumar for their valuable suggestions in carrying out the project
work

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 ABSTRACT

In thermal systems such as solar thermal and waste heat recovery

systems, the available energy supply does not usually coincide in time with the
process demand. Hence some form of thermal energy storage (TES) is necessary
for the most effective utilization of the energy source. TES is the temporary storage
of high or low-temperature energy for later use. Among the available technologies
for the thermal storage systems, latent heat storage (LHS) systems, using phase
change material (PCM) as storage medium, are attractive due to their advantages
such as high heat storage capacity and isothermal behaviour during charging and
discharging processes.

The objective of the present work is to design and fabricate a TES unit
to store heat energy available from heat sources such as solar heater, industrial
waste heat, etc. and utilize the stored heat for heating applications. A TES unit of
10.4 MJ capacity is designed for storing heat and supply hot water for a family of 5
to 6 persons at an average temperature of 45 oC. The TES unit contains paraffin as
PCM filled in spherical capsules, which are packed in an insulated cylindrical
storage tank. The water, used as Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF) to transfer heat from
the constant temperature bath/solar collector to the storage tank, also acts as
sensible heat storage (SHS) material.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

ABSTRACT (iv)

LIST OF FIGURES (vii)

LIST OF TABLES (vii)

LIST OF SYMBOLS (ix)

1. INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 NECESSITY OF THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE 1

1.2 ADVANTAGES OF THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS 3

1.3 TYPES OF THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS 3

1.4 THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE MATERIALS 5

1.4.1 SENSIBLE HEAT STORAGE MATERIALS 5

1.4.2 PHASE CHANGE MATERIALS 6

1.5 APPLICATIONS OF THERMAL STORAGE SYSTEMS 8

1.5.1 SOLAR WATER HEATING AND AIR HEATING 8

1.5.2 GREENHOUSE HEATING 9

1.5.3 BUILDING APPLICATIONS 9

1.5.4 REFRIGERATION AND AIR CONDITIONING 10

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2. DESIGN OF LATENT HEAT THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE 12

SYSTEM

2.1 AMOUNT OF HEAT TO BE STORED IN LHTES UNIT 13

2.2 QUANTITY OF HTF AND PCM REQUIRED 14

2.3 TES TANK DIMENSIONS 15

2.4 SPECIFICATIONS AND HEAT STORAGE CAPACITY OF THE TANK 15

3. FABRICATION OF LHTES SYSTEM 17

3.1 EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP 17

3.2 TES TANK DESIGN 19

3.3 SELECTION OF PHASE CHANGE MATERIAL 21

3.4 FILLING OF PARAFFIN IN HDPE SPHERICAL CAPSULES 22

3.5 CAPSULES PACKING SEQUENCE 23

3.6 SENSORS AND METERS 24

3.7 FLOW DISTRIBUTOR 26

3.8 INSULATION 27

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 28

4.1 CHARGING (HEAT STORAGE) PROCESS 28

4.2 DISCHARGING (HEAT RELEASE) PROCESS 29

4.3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 30

5. CONCLUSION 34

REFERENCES 34

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 LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Thermo-physical properties of PCM (Paraffin) 12

Table 2.2 Specifications and heat storage capacity of the TES tank 15

Table 4.1 Charging process (HTF flow rate = 4 lpm) 31

Table 4.2 Charging process (HTF flow rate = 6 lpm) 32

Table 4.3 Experimental data for batch wise discharging process 33

Table A1.1 Physical properties of some common solid SHS materials 36

Table A1.2 Physical properties of some common liquid SHS materials 36

Table A1.3 Merits and demerits of phase change materials 37

Table A1.4 Physical properties of some commercial paraffins 38

Table A1.5 Physical properties of some fatty acids 39

Table A1.6 Physical properties of some salt hydrates 40

Table A1.7 Selection criteria for latent heat storage materials 41

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 Schematic diagram of a combined sensible and latent heat

storage system 2

Figure 1.2 Energy Storage in PCM 4

Figure 1.3 Classification of PCMs 7

Figure 1.4 Cool-thermal storage tanks installed in Tidel Park, 11

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 Chennai

Figure 3.1 Schematic of experimental set-up 18

Figure 3.2 Stainless Steel Tank 202 (Front View) 20

Figure 3.3 Stainless Steel Tank 202 (Top View) 20

Figure 3.4 Paraffin Wax (Type II) 21

Figure 3.5 Melting of Paraffin 22

Figure 3.6 Filling of Paraffin in capsules 23

Figure 3.7 Arrangement of capsules in the tank 24

Figure 3.8 RTDs fitted capsules 25

Figure 3.9 TES Tank with full arrangement of capsules 25

Figure 3.10 Fabrication of flow distributor 26

Figure 3.11 Distributor welded to tank cover 27

Figure 3.12 TES tank insulated with asbestos rope 27

Figure 3.13 Experimental Setup 28

Figure 3.14 Charging Process 29

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 LIST OF SYMBOLS, ABBREVIATIONS AND NOMENCLATURE
ES Energy Storage

TES Thermal Energy Storage

Q Heat Stored (kJ)

m Mass (kg)

Cp Specific Heat at constant pressure (J/kg0C)

ΔT Temperature Difference (0C)

ρ Density (kg/m3 )

V Volume (m3)

L Latent Heat of Fusion (J/kg)

RTD Resistance Temperature Detector

PCM Phase Change Material

HTF Heat Transfer Fluid

SHS Sensible Heat Storage

LHS Latent Heat Storage

LHTES Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage

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 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The energy demands in the commercial, industrial and utility sectors vary on daily,
weekly and seasonal basis. Energy storage units can be used with energy
management systems to reduce energy consumption in commercial and industrial
establishments by using available waste heat or alternate energy sources (solar
energy). Thermal Energy Storage (TES) is one of the key technologies for energy
conservation and has recently been developed to a point where it can have a
significant impact on modern technologies. TES is the temporary storage of high or
low-temperature energy for later use and it appears to be the most appropriate
method for correcting the mismatch that occurs between the supply and demand of
energy.

1.1 NECESSITY OF THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE

Increasing societal energy demands, shortages of fossil fuels, and

concerns over environmental impact are providing impetus to the development of
renewable energy sources such as solar, biomass and wind technologies. Because
of their intermittent nature, effective utilization of these and other energy sources is
in part dependent on the availability of efficient and effective energy storage
systems. In particular, solar energy, being non-polluting, clean and inexhaustible,
has received wide attention among scientists and engineers. Though there are many
advantages, an important factor is that solar energy is time dependent energy
source with an intermittent character. The energy needs for a wide variety of
applications are also time dependent, but in a different pattern and phase from the

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solar energy supply. This implies that solar energy based device or utility must be
matched dynamically both at the source point and the application point. Once the
characteristics of end-use demand and the nature of energy source option are
known, the total demand and supply in the time domain have to be brought
together through integration of an efficient energy storage and distribution
network. Hence the commercial acceptance and economics of solar thermal
systems are tied to the design and development of efficient thermal energy storage
(TES) systems. Figure 1.1 shows the example of TES system for storing and
utilizing solar energy for domestic hot water applications.

Sun
n

out

in
Solar Collector Paraffin
capsules

Insulated
Storage Tank

Figure 1.1 : Schematic diagram of a combined sensible and latent heat storage
system
Similarly there are many applications where there is a time mismatch between
energy availability and demand. In such applications TES systems are of great
importance. The other applications of TES are the storage of solar energy for
 CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION

A LHTES system was designed and fabricated with an energy storage

capacity of 10400 KJ to meet the needs of a family of four to six members.
The required instrumentation were made to measure the PCM and HTF
temperatures. A leak test was conducted in order to check the tanks and the
fittings for any leaks. The tank was then insulated with asbestos rope. The
TES tank was integrated with the heat source (Electrical water heater) and
charging (heat storing) experiments were conducted for HTF mass flow rates
of 4 lpm and 6 lpm. The temperature distributions of HTF and the PCM in
the TES tank are recorded during charging at intervals of 10 minutes till
the thermal equilibrium is attained between the PCM and HTF. The
discharging experiments were carried out in order to utilize the stored heat. It is
concluded that the fabricated LHTES system is working successfully to store
and utilize the heat energy.
 REFERENCES

1. Bansal N.K., Buddhi D., 1992, “Performance equation of a solar collector

cum storage using phase change materials”, Solar Energy , 48(3): 185-194.

2. Buddhi D, Bansal K., Sawhney R.L. & Sodha M.S., 1988, “Solar thermal
storage systems using phase change materials”, Int. J. Energy Research, 12,
547-555.

3. Nallusamy N., Sampath S. & Velraj R., 2003, “Effective utilization of solar
energy water heating applications using combined sensible and latent heat
storage system”, Proc. of the International Conference on New Millennium
Alternate Energy Solutions for sustainable development”, Coimbatore , pp-103-
108.

4. Velraj R., Anbudurai K., Nallusamy N. & Cheralathan M., 2002 , PCM based
thermal storage system for building air conditioning at Tidel Park , Chennai ,
WREC Cologne , Proc.

5. Nallusamy N., Sampath S. and Velraj R. (2007), ‘Experimental investigation on

a combined sensible and latent heat storage system integrated with constant /
varying (solar) heat sources’, Renewable Energy, Vol. 32, No. 7, pp. 1206-1227.

6. Dincer I. and Rosen M.A. (2002), ‘Thermal Energy Storage: Systems and
Applications’, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester (England).
 APPENDIX 1

PROPERTIES OF SHS AND LHS MATERIALS

Table A1.1 : Physical properties of some common solid SHS materials

Magnesium Aluminium Silicon

Properties Rocks Pebbles
oxide oxide oxide
Density ρ
2245 1350 3575 4000 2600
(kg/m3)
Specific
heat cp 0.81 0.90 1.06 1.02 1.26
(kJ/kg-K)
ρcp
1818 1215 3790 4080 3276
(kJ/m3 K)
Thermal
conductivity 0.13 0.85 10.5 6.3 2.3
(W/mK)