Experimental Study on the Solidification Behaviors in a Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage Unit with Tree-Shaped Fins

Abstract

- the fractal tree-shaped structure is introduced in this paper to configure the fin geometry of a shell-tube LHTES unit. A visualization experimental investigation of the solidification process in the LHTES unit with tree-shaped fins is conducted. The dynamic temperature distribution and the solidification front evolution is analysed and compared to those in a corresponding LHTES with plate fins. Additionally, by arranging a certain number of thermocouples at different positions, the temperature changes of the fin region and the PCM region of the tree-shaped structure heat exchanger were recorded during the experiment. Then, the temperature of PCM at different radial distances is analyzed,