Acceleration of discharge process of clean energy storage unit with insertion of porous foam considering nanoparticle enhanced paraffin

Abstract In current investigation, a clean energy storage unit has been designed aiming to decrease the energy consumption through the building. To increase the space between the passing air and the Phase change material (PCM), instead of a smooth channel, a sinusoidal channel has been considered for the airway passage. Furthermore, porous media and nanoparticles have been applied in this unit for the purpose of enhancing heat transfer. Considering previous research works, the simultaneous use of these three methods for augmenting the performance has not been scrutinized so far. In this study, three mechanisms for augmenting heat transfer and the interaction of these methods to augment the performance of the system have been evaluated. Based on comparison with experimental data, outputs are very excellent fit with maximum 9.3% deviation. For evaluate efficiency of unit, solidification duration was analyzed and outputs proved that for case with porous foam solidification finishes 21.4% faster than the base case. Slope of profile for second case is higher than first one and the process completed at t = 33 h. For case with porous foam, augmenting time up to 13 h leads to augmenting trend for heat release value and then opposite trend appears. Heat flux transfer to air reduces with rise of time which provides lower temperature of outlet air. Slope of profile for air outlet temperature augments at t = 33 h when all liquid convert to solid for second case. As porous foam utilizes, temperature of PCM reduces and no sensible difference appears in various positions in each section.