Design and assessments on graded metal foam in heat storage tank: An experimental and numerical study
Xinyu Gao, Pan Wei, Jiabang Yu, Xinyu Huang, Xiaohu Yang, Bengt Sundén
Abstract
The effectiveness of solidification in latent heat storage (LHS) systems has been restricted by the low thermal conductivity of pure phase change materials (PCMs). To address this challenge, an innovative composite PCM impregnated with metal foam has been introduced. This study investigates a vertical thermal energy storage (TES unit) filling with foamed copper with radial gradient pore density, with a focus on enhancing energy storage and heat conduction mixing through natural convection. Experiments and numerical models are employed to research the variation of liquid fraction, solid-liquid interfaces, temperature field, and velocity field, as well as to assess heat release properties, including thermal transfer distribution and heat release quantity. Results indicate a 14.3% reduction in solidification duration for both positive and negative radially graded pore density arrangements, compared to a homogeneous structure. In addition, temperature uniformity is improved by 4.0% in these two optimization structures, due to the influence of varied pore density. Findings from this work offer guidance for building more efficient latent energy storage tanks.