TY  - EJOU
AU  - Ma, Bo 
AU  - Gao, Xujun 
AU  - Chen, Wei 
AU  - Lei, Yongzhi 
AU  - Zhang, Liao 
AU  - Yao, Ge 
AU  - Shang, Anfan 
AU  - Liu, Xuan 
AU  - Li, Yuanji 
AU  - Yang, Xiaohu 

TI  - Enhancement of Heat Discharging in Thermal Storage Tanks by Combining Curved Fins and Nanoparticles
T2  - Energy Engineering

PY  - 
VL  - 
IS  - 
SN  - 1546-0118

AB  - Latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) using phase change material (PCM) is an effective technique to buffer the fluctuating supply of renewable energy and improve its overall utilization. Aiming to further accelerate the phase change heat transfer rate and maximize renewable energy deployment, this work investigates the synergistic enhancement effect achieved by coupling non-uniformly distributed curved fins with Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> nanoparticles in a horizontal shell-and-tube storage configuration. A two-dimensional numerical model was constructed to systematically evaluate the impacts of fin quantity and nanoparticle doping concentration on the transient solidification behavior. The results demonstrate that increasing the number of fins dramatically shortens the complete solidification time: from 2043 s in the finless case to only 168 s when 12 fins are installed, which corresponds to a 91.78% reduction. Incorporating nanoparticles further expedites solidification by raising the effective thermal conductivity of the PCM; however, excessive nanoparticle loading suppresses natural convection and leads to diminishing marginal gains. Importantly, the coupling benefit between fins and nanoparticles becomes more pronounced as the fin density increases. The optimum performance is achieved with the combination of 12 fins and 3% nanoparticles, which elevates the average heat release rate by 526.9% compared to the reference case with three-fin configuration and 0% nanoparticles. This study clarifies the complementary roles of extended surfaces and high-conductivity additives and provides quantitative guidance for the design of high-performance LHTES units.
KW  - Heat transfer enhancement; solidification characteristic; finned tube; nanoparticles

DO  - 10.32604/ee.2026.080848