This communication extends the thermodynamic analysis of latent heat storage in a shell-and-tube heat exchanger, developed recently, to the complete heat storage-removal cycle. Conditions for the cyclic operation of this system are formulated within the quasi-steady approximation for the axisymmetric two-dimensional conduction-controlled phase change. Explicit expressions for the overall number of entropy generation units that account for heat transfer and pressure drop irreversibilities are derived. Optimization of this figure of merit with respect to the freezing point of the phase-change material and with respect to the number of heat transfer units is analyzed. When the frictional irreversibilities of the heat removal stage are negligible, the results of these studies are in agreement with those developed recently by De Lucia and Bejan (1991) for a one-dimensional latent heat storage system.

Issue Section:
Technical Briefs
Topics:
Cycles, Heat exchangers, Phase change materials, Shells, Storage, Heat, Heat transfer, Latent heat, Approximation, Entropy, Heat conduction, Optimization, Phase transition temperature, Pressure drop
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Copyright © 1993
 by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers
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