Numerical simulation of phase change heat transfer in high temperature fin-plate thermal storage

By using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method, numerical simulation on the charge and discharge performance of stainless steel plate-fin thermal storage filled with high temperature phase-change materials was performed. Analysis of the influences on the charge and discharge performance was carried out, which was caused by perforated-fin and serrated-fin, respectively. The inlet temperature and velocity of the heat-transfer fluid were different, of which the influence on solidification and melting rate in thermal storage was analyzed. The simulation results indicate that the perforated-fin performance was superior to serrated-fin performance in the new type plate-fin thermal storage. Also, charge and discharge performance of the plate-fin thermal storage is much better when the temperature differences between inlet and outlet together with velocity of heat-transfer fluid are increasing. The fin is the heat transfer element of the thermal storage, which could improve the charge and discharge performance. As a result, the study can provide good references for the design and optimization of plate-fin phase-change thermal storage.