Phase-change thermal energy storage using spherical capsules: performance of a test plant
Abstract The aim of this paper is the study of an industrial process of energy storage usable for air conditioning or refrigeration, investigating a test plant which is a tank with a reduced size, filled with randomly dispersed commercial nodules, placed in a refrigeration loop. The nodules are spherical capsules in which phase change materials (PCM) are encapsulated. This test plant permits the study at length of the behaviour of the tank with, in particular, the charge mode taking into account the undercooling and the discharge mode. A simulation program that considers aspects of both the surrounding heat transfer fluid and the phase-change material packed inside the nodules is developed here in the cases of the charge and the discharge processes. The simulation results are then compared with experimental observations.