Title: A fast reduced model for a shell-and-tube based latent heat thermal energy storage heat exchanger and its application for cost optimal design by nonlinear programming

Abstract

Numerical simulation of latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) systems plays a fundamental role in studying the physical process and guiding the engineering design. Discretization of the PDEs describing the nonlinear solidification/melting process of phase change materials (PCMs) leads to a large-scale complex dynamics system, where the system behavior depends on a set of parameters. In a design setting, repeated model evaluations are required over the set of parameters results in significant computational burden. In this paper, an explicit analytic solution was built for the propagation of the solidification front in a cylindrical coordinate. The analytic solution approach is further employed to develop a low computational reduced model (RM) as a module for a shell-and-tube based LHTES heat exchanger. The levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) is used as a design metric and the RM model is used to apply system-level constraints in the nonlinear programming formulation that facilitates efficient global optimal design of the PCM properties, flow conditions and tube geometries. The use of LCOE as the design metric prevents over design of the heat transfer rate and also establishes a fair ground for evaluation of different thermal storage technologies and their integrated applications with other systems. Optimal results showedmore » that a higher effectiveness results in a higher LCOE; the velocity of the HTF and the length of the channel are highly correlated with each other; both larger PCM latent energy and conductivity result in lower LCOE.« less

Authors:

Pan, Chunjian ^[1]; Vermaak, Natasha  ^[1];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Vermaak, Natasha"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-4077-7960"

Wang, Xingchao  ^[2];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Wang, Xingchao"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-0398-3925"

Romero, Carlos ^[1]; Neti, Sudhakar ^[1]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Lehigh Univ., Bethlehem, PA (United States)
2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)

Publication Date:

Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2021

Research Org.:

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)

OSTI Identifier:

1805195

Alternate Identifier(s):

OSTI ID: 1785404

Report Number(s):

NREL/JA-5700-80162
Journal ID: ISSN 0017-9310; MainId:42365;UUID:3dc935f2-7f79-41ec-8191-e22963ee0e74;MainAdminID:25708

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC36-08GO28308; AR0000582

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 176; Journal ID: ISSN 0017-9310

Publisher:

Elsevier

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

25 ENERGY STORAGE; latent heat thermal energy storage system; nonlinear programming; reduced order model