Experimental assessment of a solar water tank integrated with nano-enhanced PCM and a stirrer

In the present work, an experimental assessment of the performance of a Solar Water Tank (SWT) integrated with Nano-enhanced Phase Change Material (Ne-PCM) and a Stirrer. Two configurations of SWT/Ne-PCMs, a spiral-type and a jacketed shell-type heat exchangers are designed and developed. These SWTs are integrated with the Nano-enhanced PCM within cylindrical capsules. A laboratory-scale experimental setup is conducted to examine the performance effect of the SWTs integrated with a propeller stirrer. In addition, an analysis of the effects of various process parameters including HTF flow rate and stirring speed was carried out. The results show that compared to the jacketed tank (without stirring), the completion time for the SWT/ Ne-PCM charging and discharging processes (with a stirrer and a coil) is reduced by 12.5% and 23.51%, respectively.(c) 2022 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier BV on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).