Investigation of metal foam enhancement under multilayer interaction for large-scale latent heat storage

Abstract

Development of multitube configurations for latent heat thermal energy storage is necessary for industrial applications. This study enhances the melting performance of multitube units by inserting the foam. The heat transfer mechanism, particularly multilayer interaction, is numerically studied by investigating the intersection angles within the multilayer interacted characteristic melting region. Based on the mechanism, partially/fully filled foams with constant material are investigated to attain the optimal filling strategy. Furthermore, the economic analysis is employed to evaluate the cost performance under different porosities. Results indicate the multitube unit is affected by the natural convection development and the influenced area of multilayer interaction. Cases with intersection angles of 90°/240° reduce melting time notably by expanding interaction area without impairing natural convection. Maintaining constant material usage, the foam is expanded across the melting region. Compared to the partially filled, the melting time is reduced by 63.16 % because the influenced area of multilayer interaction covers the whole melting region. For the comprehensive evaluation, the fully filled foam with 0.92 porosity demonstrates superior comprehensive performance. Compared to the optimal filling strategy in the single tube, the fully filled foam in the multitube exhibits better performance, providing a totally different filling strategy.