Parametric Study of a Thermal Energy Storage Module Coupled with a Heat Exchanger

Parametric Study of a Thermal Energy Storage Module Coupled with a Heat Exchanger

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kulkarni, Rituja
Language:English
Published: University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK 2021
Subjects:
Mechanical Engineering
Thermal Energy Storage Module
Phase Change Material
Heat Exchanger
Air-Cooled Condenser
Parametric Study
Optimization
Online Access:http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1627666160707063
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spelling ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ucin16276661607070632021-10-05T05:10:37Z Parametric Study of a Thermal Energy Storage Module Coupled with a Heat Exchanger Kulkarni, Rituja Mechanical Engineering Thermal Energy Storage Module Phase Change Material Heat Exchanger Air-Cooled Condenser Parametric Study Optimization Electric power plants generally operate on the Rankine cycle where the steam from the turbine exhaust is cooled and condensed. A significant amount of water is used as the coolant for the condensation process, and it becomes a challenge where water resources are scarce. Use of air-cooled condensers can help solve the problem. However, the air-cooled condensers can be less efficient in the hottest months of the year and this issue must be addressed to increase their adoption in power plants. One method to overcome this second law limitation is to use an air pre-cooler coupled with a phase change material (PCM) based thermal energy storage (TES) to cool the air supplied to the air-cooled condenser during peak day time temperatures. The TES is recharged at night when ambient air temperature drops below the PCM freezing temperature. In the present study, a computational model is developed to simulate the working of a TES unit coupled with an air pre-cooler using an Eulerian approach. The model was developed using MATLAB and the numerical results are validated against the available experimental data. The energy storage capacities of the two units considered in the study are 100 kJ and 1 MJ. The hot fluid entering the TES unit enables the PCM to undergo melting (extraction). The heat absorbed from the fluid is stored in the PCM and is released during the daytime when the air temperatures are high. The flow direction is switched based on certain conditions and the cold fluid is passed through the opposite direction in the TES unit. This enables the PCM to freeze (charging) and be ready for the next cycle. A parametric study involving the effect of changing PCM melt temperatures and mass flow rates has been carried out for the system. Results show that the PCM melting temperature significantly affects the performance of the TES. A change in the mass flow rate of the heat transfer fluid between the air pre-cooler and the TES can change the melt fraction of the PCM. The combined TES with the pre-cooler is an efficient way to reduce water usage in power plants. The developed model can be used to obtain optimized conditions at different locations by using appropriate ambient temperature conditions. 2021-10-04 English text University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1627666160707063 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1627666160707063 restricted--full text unavailable until 2023-08-09 This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection NDLTD
language English
sources NDLTD
topic Mechanical Engineering
Thermal Energy Storage Module
Phase Change Material
Heat Exchanger
Air-Cooled Condenser
Parametric Study
Optimization
spellingShingle Mechanical Engineering
Thermal Energy Storage Module
Phase Change Material
Heat Exchanger
Air-Cooled Condenser
Parametric Study
Optimization
Kulkarni, Rituja
Parametric Study of a Thermal Energy Storage Module Coupled with a Heat Exchanger
author Kulkarni, Rituja
author_facet Kulkarni, Rituja
author_sort Kulkarni, Rituja
title Parametric Study of a Thermal Energy Storage Module Coupled with a Heat Exchanger
title_short Parametric Study of a Thermal Energy Storage Module Coupled with a Heat Exchanger
title_full Parametric Study of a Thermal Energy Storage Module Coupled with a Heat Exchanger
title_fullStr Parametric Study of a Thermal Energy Storage Module Coupled with a Heat Exchanger
title_full_unstemmed Parametric Study of a Thermal Energy Storage Module Coupled with a Heat Exchanger
title_sort parametric study of a thermal energy storage module coupled with a heat exchanger
publisher University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK
publishDate 2021
url http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1627666160707063
work_keys_str_mv AT kulkarnirituja parametricstudyofathermalenergystoragemodulecoupledwithaheatexchanger
_version_ 1719486817398423552

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