The performance of a solar collector with wax as a phase change material (PCM) located in a set of staggered pipes configuration was simulated computationally in this work. For the solar radiation of Chile, the accumulation of heat in the PCM system and the heat release at different time intervals were analyzed during the process of energy capture in summer: (a) without wax and with airflow, (b) with wax and without airflow, and (c) with wax and with airflow. Furthermore, the effects of solar radiation (summer and winter) airflow in the collector were analyzed on the performance of the system. The simulation results show that the use of a PCM in a solar air heater allows to store greater amounts of energy and it helps to extend the period of time when the air coming out of the collector has an elevated temperature. By increasing the airflow rate, the efficiency of the system increases and also the energy released to the air to be absorbed.

References

1.
Dutil
,
Y.
,
Rousse
,
D. R.
,
Salah
,
N. B.
,
Lassue
,
S.
, and
Zalewski
,
L.
,
2011
, “
A Review on Phase-Change Materials: Mathematical Modeling and Simulations
,”
Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev.
,
15
(
1
), pp.
112
130
.
2.
Palaniappan
,
C.
, and
Subramanian
,
S. V.
,
1998
, “
Economics of Solar Air Pre-Heating in South Indian Tea Factories: A Case Study
,”
Sol. Energy
,
63
(
1
), pp.
31
37
.
3.
Md. Azharul Karim
,
M. A.
, and
Hawlader
,
M. N. A.
,
2006
, “
Performance Evaluation of v-Groove Solar Air Collector for Drying Applications
,”
Appl. Therm. Eng.
,
26
(
1
), pp.
121
130
.
4.
Gupta
,
M. K.
, and
Kaushik
,
S. C.
,
2009
, “
Performance Evaluation of Solar Air Heater for Various Artificial Roughness Geometries Based on Energy, Effective and Exergy Efficiencies
,”
Renew. Energy
,
34
(
3
), pp.
465
476
.
5.
Karmare
,
S. V.
, and
Tikekar
,
A. N.
,
2007
, “
Experimental Investigation of Optimum Thermohydraulic Performance of Solar Air Heaters With Metal Rib Grits Roughness
,”
Sol. Energy
,
83
(
1
), pp.
6
13
.
6.
Ekechukwu
,
O. V.
, and
Norton
,
B.
,
1999b
, “
Review of Solar Drying Systems III: Low Temperature Air-Heating Solar Collectors for Crop Drying Applications
,”
Energy Convers. Manage.
,
40
(
6
), pp.
657
667
.
7.
Aboul-Enein
,
S.
,
El-Sebali
,
A. A.
,
Ramadan
,
M. R. I.
, and
El-Gohari
,
H. G.
,
2000
, “
Parametric Study of Solar Air Heater With and Without Thermal Storage for Solar Drying Applications
,”
Renew. Energy
,
21
(
3–4
), pp.
505
522
.
8.
Abhat
,
A.
,
1983
, “
Low Temperature Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage: Heat Storage Materials
,”
Sol. Energy
,
30
(
4
), pp.
313
332
.
9.
Morrison
,
D. J.
, and
Abdel-Khalik
,
S. I.
,
1978
, “
Effects of Phase-Change Energy Storage on the Performance of Air-Based and Liquid-Based Solar Heating Systems
,”
Sol. Energy
,
20
(
1
), pp.
57
67
.
10.
Zalba
,
B.
,
Marin
,
J.
,
Cabeza
,
L.
, and
Mehling
,
H.
,
2003
, “
Review on Thermal Energy Storage With Phase Change Materials, Heat Transfer Analysis and Applications
,”
Appl. Therm. Eng.
,
23
(
3
), pp.
251
283
.
11.
Kumaresan
,
V.
,
Velraj
,
R.
, and
Das
,
S. K.
,
2012
, “
The Effect of Carbon Nanotubes in Enhancing the Thermal Transport Properties of PCM During Solidification
,”
Heat Mass Transfer
,
48
(
8
), pp.
1345
1355
.
12.
Dincer
,
I.
, and
Rosen
,
M. A.
,
2002
,
Thermal Energy Storage, Systems and Applications
,
John Wiley & Sons
,
Chichester
.
13.
Marin
,
J. M.
,
Zalba
,
B.
,
Cabeza
,
L. F.
, and
Mehling
,
H.
,
2005
, “
Improvement of a Thermal Energy Storage Using Plates With Paraffin–Graphite Composite
,”
Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer
,
48
(
12
), pp.
2561
2570
.
14.
Shatikian
,
V.
,
Ziskind
,
G.
, and
Letan
,
R.
,
2008
, “
Numerical Investigation of a PCM-Based Heat Sink With Internal Fins: Constant Heat Flux
,”
Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer
,
51
(
5–6
), pp.
1488
1493
.
15.
Fath
,
H. E. S.
,
1995b
, “
Thermal Performance of a Simple Design Solar Air Heater With Built-In Thermal Energy Storage System
,”
Energy Convers. Manage.
,
36
(
10
), pp.
989
997
.
16.
Reyes
,
A.
,
Negrete
,
D.
,
Mahn
,
A.
, and
Sepúlveda
,
F.
,
2014
, “
Design and Evaluation of a Heat Exchanger That Uses Paraffin Wax and Recycled Materials as Solar Energy Accumulator
,”
Energy Convers. Manage.
,
88
, pp.
391
398
.
17.
Enibe
,
O. S.
,
2002
, “
Performance of a Natural Circulation Solar Air Heating System With Phase Change Material Energy Storage
,”
Renew. Energy
,
27
(
1
), pp.
69
86
.
18.
Flaherty
,
B.
,
1971
, “
Characterisation of Waxes by Differential Scanning Calorimetry
,”
J. Appl. Chem. Biotechnol.
,
21
(
5
), pp.
144
148
.
19.
Giavarini
,
C.
, and
Pochetti
,
F.
,
1973
, “
Characterization of Petroleum Products by DSC Analysis
,”
J. Therm. Anal.
,
5
(
1
), pp.
83
94
.
20.
Salyer
,
I. O.
,
Sircar
,
A. K.
, and
Chartoff
,
R. P.
,
1986
, “
Analysis of Crystalline Paraffinic Hydrocarbons for Thermal Energy Storage by Differential Scanning Calorimetry; Part 1
,”
5th North American Thermal Analysis Society Conference
,
Cincinnati, OH
,
May
.
21.
Hadjieva
,
M.
,
Kanev
,
S.
, and
Argirov
,
J.
,
1992
, “
Thermophysical Properties of Some Paraffins Applicable to Thermal Energy Storage
,”
Sol. Energy Mater. Solar Cells
,
27
, pp.
181
187
.
22.
Regin
,
A. F.
,
Solanki
,
S. C.
, and
Saini
,
J. S.
,
2009
, “
An Analysis of a Packed Bed Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage System Using PCM Capsules: Numerical Investigation
,”
Renew. Energy
,
34
, pp.
1765
1773
.
23.
Farid
,
M. M.
,
Khudhair
,
A. M.
,
Razack
,
S. A. K.
, and
Al-Hallaj
,
S.
,
2004
, “
A Review on Phase Change Energy Storage: Materials and Applications
,”
Energy Convers. Manage.
45
, pp.
1597
1615
.
24.
Tian
,
Y. Y.
, and
Zhao
,
C. Y.
,
2013
, “
A Review of Solar Collectors and Thermal Energy Storage in Solar Thermal Applications
,”
Appl. Energy
,
104
, pp.
538
553
.
25.
Hill
,
J. M.
,
1987
,
One-Dimensional Stefan Problems: An Introduction
,
Longman Scientific Technical
,
Harlow
.
26.
Ma
,
Z.
, and
Zhang
,
Y.
,
2006
, “
Solid Velocity Correction Schemes for a Temperature Transforming Model for Convection Phase Change
,”
Int. J. Numer. Methods Heat
,
16
(
2
), pp.
204
250
.
27.
Nedjar
,
B.
,
2002
, “
An Enthalpy-Based Finite Element Method for Nonlinear Heat Problems Involving Phase Change
,”
Comput. Struct.
80
, pp.
9
21
.
28.
Hamdan
,
M. A.
, and
Elwerr
,
F. A.
,
1996
, “
Thermal Energy Storage Using a Phase Change Material
,”
Sol. Energy
,
56
(
2
), pp.
183
189
.
29.
Lacroix
,
M.
,
2001
, “
Contact Melting of a Phase Change Material Inside a Heated Parallelepedic Capsule
,”
Energy Convers. Manage.
42
, pp.
35
44
.
30.
Costa
,
M.
,
Buddhi
,
D.
, and
Oliva
,
A.
,
1998
, “
Numerical Simulation of a Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage System With Enhanced Heat Conduction
,”
Energy Convers. Manage.
,
39
(
3–4
), pp.
319
330
.
31.
Vakilaltojjar
,
S. M.
, and
Saman
,
W.
,
2001
, “
Analysis and Modeling of a Phase Change Storage System for Air Conditioning Applications
,”
Appl. Therm. Eng.
,
21
, pp.
249
263
.
32.
Ettouney
,
H.
,
El-Dessouky
,
H.
, and
Al-Ali
,
A.
,
2005
, “
Heat Transfer During Phase Change of Paraffin Wax Stored in Spherical Shells
,”
ASME J. Sol. Energy Eng.
,
127
, pp.
357
365
.
33.
Wilchinsky
,
A. V.
,
Fomin
,
S. A.
, and
Hashida
,
T.
,
2002
, “
Contact Melting Inside an Elastic Capsule
,”
Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer
,
45
, pp.
4097
4106
.
34.
Trp
,
A.
,
2005
, “
An Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Heat Transfer During Technical Grade Paraffin Melting and Solidification in a Shell-and-Tube Latent Thermal Energy Storage Unit
,”
Sol. Energy
,
79
, pp.
648
660
.
35.
Trp
,
A.
,
Lenic
,
K.
, and
Frankovic
,
B.
,
2007
, “
Analysis of the Influence of Operating Conditions and Geometric Parameters on Heat Transfer in Water-Paraffin Shell-and-Tube Latent Thermal Energy Storage Unit
,”
Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer
,
50
(
9–10
), pp.
1790
1804
.
36.
Zukowski
,
M.
,
2007
, “
Mathematical Modeling and Numerical Simulation of a Shortterm Thermal Energy Storage System Using Phase Change Material for Heating Applications
,”
Energy Convers. Manage.
48
, pp.
155
165
.
37.
Vynnycky
,
M.
, and
Kimura
,
S.
,
2007
, “
An Analytical and Numerical Study of Coupled Transient Natural Convection and Solidification in a Rectangular Enclosure
,”
Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer
,
50
(
25–26
), pp.
5204
5214
.
38.
Arkar
,
C.
, and
Medved
,
S.
,
2005
, “
Influence of Accuracy of Thermal Property Data of a Phase Change Material on the Result of a Numerical Model of a Packed Bed Latent Heat Storage With Spheres
,”
Thermochim. Acta
,
438
(
1–2
), pp.
192
201
.
39.
Wei
,
J.
,
Kawaguchi
,
Y.
,
Hirano
,
S.
, and
Takeuchi
,
H.
,
2005
, “
Study on a PCM Heat Storage System for Rapid Heat Supply
,”
Appl. Therm. Eng.
25
, pp.
2903
2920
.
40.
Alva
,
L. H.
,
González
,
J. E.
, and
Dukham
,
N.
,
2006
, “
Initial Analysis of PCM Integrated Solar Collectors
,”
ASME J. Sol. Energy Eng.
128
, pp.
173
177
.
41.
Goel
,
V. K.
,
Chandra
,
R.
, and
Raychaudhuri
,
B. C.
,
1987
, “
Experimental Investigation on Single-Absorber Solar Air Heaters
,”
Energy Convers. Manage.
,
4
, pp.
343
349
.
42.
Duffie
,
J. A.
, and
Beckman
,
W. A.
,
2006
,
Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes
, 3rd ed.,
John Willey & Sons, Inc
,
New York
.
43.
Fath
,
H. E. S.
,
1994
, “
Thermal Performance of a Simple Design Solar Air Heater With Built-In Thermal Energy Storage System
,”
Renew. Energy
,
6
(
8
), pp.
1033
1039
.
You do not currently have access to this content.