title: Indoor solar thermal energy saving time with phase change material in a horizontal shell and finned-tube heat exchanger.
abstract: An experimental as well as numerical investigation was conducted on the melting/solidification processes of a stationary phase change material (PCM) in a shell around a finned-tube heat exchanger system. The PCM was stored in the horizontal annular space between a shell and finned-tube where distilled water was employed as the heat transfer fluid (HTF). The focus of this study was on the behavior of PCM for storage (charging or melting) and removal (discharging or solidification), as well as the effect of flow rate on the charged and discharged solar thermal energy. The impact of the Reynolds number was determined and the results were compared with each other to reveal the changes in amount of stored thermal energy with the variation of heat transfer fluid flow rates. The results showed that, by increasing the Reynolds number from 1000 to 2000, the total melting time decreases by 58%. The process of solidification also will speed up with increasing Reynolds number in the discharging process. The results also indicated that the fluctuation of gradient temperature decreased and became smooth with increasing Reynolds number. As a result, by increasing the Reynolds number in the charging process, the theoretical efficiency rises.
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Paria
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Assiut University, Assiut 71516, Egypt.
authors: A A D
authors: AA
authors: Sarhan
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran.
authors: M S
authors: MS
authors: Goodarzi
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Baradaran
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jahrom Branch, Payame Noor University, Jahrom, Iran.
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Rahmanian
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Yarmand
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran.
authors: M A
authors: MA
authors: Alavi
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors: S N
authors: SN
authors: Kazi
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors: H S C
authors: HS
authors: Metselaar