Experimental study on the storage performance of a finned heat exchanger immersed in phase change material

In this paper, a Latent Thermal Energy Storage (LTES) system using a finned heat exchanger immersed in phase change material (PCM) is studied experimentally. The paraffin RT64HC (Rubitherm GmbH, D) is here considered. The evaluation of the LTES performance is assessed in terms of heat exchanged during the PCM melting and solidification processes. Four different values of water flow rate through the heat exchanger (25, 50, 75, 100 kg/h) and two different values of the hot water inlet temperature (70, 75 °C) and cold water inlet temperature (50, 40 °C) are considered for the melting and solidification phases, respectively. The results obtained show improved storage capacity using higher hot water inlet temperature values and higher flow rates, while the solidification process improves by using lower cold water inlet temperature values and lower flow rates.