Effect of Dispersing Copper Oxide Nanoparticles to RT-35 filled a Circular Thermal Energy Storage System

Phase Change Materials (PCMs) have been widely used in Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage Systems (LHTES) to store and release thermal energy. However, PCMs suffer from their low thermal conductivities, which leads to longer melting (charging) or solidification (discharging) time. Dispersing highly conductive nanoparticles into PCM is one of the methods to improve the thermal conductivity of the PCM. In this paper, we have experimentally and numerically investigated the effect of dispersing Copper Oxide nanoparticles into RT-35 filled a vertical cylindrical Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system. The TES system is consisted of two vertical cylindrical enclosures, which are attached to a thick acrylic plate. One of the enclosures is filled with pure PCM and the other one is filled with nano-PCM. The setup is insulated from the bottom and isothermally heated from its sides by using a constant temperature bath. To study more about the thermal and velocity fields, melting fraction and stored energy, a numerical simulation is conducted by using COMSOL Multiphysics software. It is concluded that although adding nanoparticles to PCM improves the melting rate, it is lowering the amount of energy stored inside the TES system.