Performance enhancement of latent heat storage unit by the multiple chambers

The thermal conductivity of phase change material (PCM) is one of the essential variables for the fast heat transfer process for latent heat energy storage (LHES) units. The thermal characteristics of a novel LHES rectangular enclosure based on multiple chambers separated by insulating and rigid walls are numerically investigated. The enthalpy-porosity strategy supported by the finite volume method is implemented to perform the simulation. Simulation results exhibited that thermal charging and discharging performance was enhanced without affecting the system's total heat storage capacity by creating multiple chambers. Liquid fraction, mean temperature, heat flux, contours of liquid fraction and temperature of PCM are demonstrated as a function of the melting time. The thermal charging time of PCM is diminished by increasing the number of chambers. Although, the consequences of the number of chambers on the melting time of PCM are diminished by surging the number of chambers. It was also found that continuously raising the heating temperature is not beneficial for reducing the total time of liquid fraction during melting. Thermal discharging performance is poor than that of the thermal charging process.