CFD Simulation for Charging and Discharging Process of Thermal Energy Storage System using Phase Change Material

A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)f o r thermal storage system by keeping Phase ChangeMaterial(PCM)inthecapsules has been developed and validated with experimental results.The thermal energy storage tank was developed using capsules in a unique arrangement during the charging and discharging processes. Different shape of capsules have been used forSimulation ofthermalstoragesystemand analysisiscarriedoutonthesystem. The CFD results confirmed the importance of mutual effects on the performance of thermal energy storage tank and showed that an appropriately designed storage tank can provide improved stratification conditions. The 3D transient CFD simulations can be used as an effective tool to optimise thermal storage tank parameters at early design stages, thus it may add to the value of the storage tank performance and efficiency, by optimising the whole solar thermal energy storage system design and size. This m odel endeavoured to describe both freezing a nd m elting processes of PCM. Sincethesystemisusedfor domesticapplication,thetemperatureofwater is to bemaintained at 600C so forwhich Sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate(Na2S2O35H2O)are used as PCM