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

A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for thermal storage system by keeping Phase Change Material(PCM)in the capsules 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 for Simulation of thermal storage system and analysisis carried out on the system. 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 model endeavoured to describe both freeing and melting processes of PCM. Since the system is used for domestic application, the temperature of water is to be maintained at 60°C so for which Sodium thio sulfate pentahydrate(Na2S2O35H2O)are used as PCM in cylindrical tank with three types of capsules in this paper.