Numerical simulation of enhanced heat transfer in heat storage units by metal foam and fins

Phase change energy storage technology can reduce energy waste, alleviate the energy crisis, and solve the problem of volatility and instability of renewable energy in the utilization process. This paper investigated the enhancement of heat transfer of shell-and-tube heat storage unit by adding tree-shaped fractal fins and metal foam. A three-dimensional numerical model is established, six different heat storage unit tubes are compared to explore the prominent influence of tree-shaped fins and metal foams on the melting process, the thermal performance of varying heat storage unit tubes in the melting process is comprehensively evaluated. The results show that the tree-shaped fractal finned metal foam tubes can significantly enhance the heat transfer to achieve the best heat transfer effect, compared with the smooth tube in terms of the phase change material can be reduced by about 84.7% of the complete melting time; the temperature response rate was increased by 526%, the integral-average heat flux was increased by 376% and the integral-average Nusselt number was increased by 367%.