Analysis of the influence of asymmetric V-shaped fins on the melting of phase change materials in latent heat storage units

Improving the melting performance of latent heat storage devices is highly important for achieving efficient utilization of thermal energy. To achieve this goal, this paper proposes an innovative thermal storage unit with asymmetric V-shaped fins. The influence of structural parameters including eccentricity, fin angle, height and shape on the melting process of phase change materials is analysed. The results show that compared with concentric tubes without eccentricity, when the eccentricity is increased to the point where the bottom fins are in contact with the outer tube, the total melting time is shortened by 33.56%, and the average heat storage rate is increased by 32.95%. At the same time, increasing the angle and height of the top branch fins can strengthen the natural convection in the heat storage unit and shorten the total melting time by 13.54%. It is worth noting that changing the upper-side branch fin parameters has little effect on the melting process. In addition, when the shape of the branch fins constituting the V-shaped fin changes from rectangular to trapezoidal, the total melting time decreases by 3.11%. In summary, the use of asymmetric V-shaped fins can improve the melting performance and heat storage performance of eccentric heat storage units, and changing the fin shape can further shorten the total melting time and increase the average heat storage rate. © 2024 Elsevier Ltd