A PCM-water heat exchanger with polymeric hollow fibres for latent heat thermal energy storage: a parametric study of discharging stage

The paper presents a theoretical parametric study into latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) employing polymeric hollow fibres embedded in a phase change material (PCM). The polymeric hollow fibres of five inner diameters between 0.5mm and 1.5mm are considered in the study. The effectiveness-NTU method is employed to calculate the thermal performance of a theoretical LHTES unit of the shell-and-tube design. The results indicate that the hollow fibres embedded in a PCM can mitigate the drawback of low thermal conductivity of phase change materials. For the same packing fraction, the total heat transfer rates between the heat transfer fluid and the PCM increase with the decreasing diameter of the hollow fibres. This increase in the heat transfer rate and thus the efficiency of the heat exchange to some extent compensate for the energy consumption of the pump that also increases with the decreasing fibre diameter.