Thermal Analysis of Phase Change Material Based Energy Storage Module With Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces

ABSTRACT The thermal performance of two triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) thermal Energy Storage modules, Diamond and Primitive, was investigated using computational fluid dynamics. The melting and solidification behaviors, as well as the charging and discharging characteristics, of the TPMS Energy Storage units were studied for various flow rates. The charging and discharging rates were significantly higher in the TPMS storage modules than in the Base geometry. The superior performance was attributed to the high surface‐to‐volume ratios and the increased convective surface area of the TPMS geometries. The IWP geometry yields charging and discharging rates 8 and 9 times higher, respectively, than those of the baseline configuration. The ratio of the heat transfer rate to the friction factor was used as a merit number to compare the efficiency of different geometries. The merit number improved by a factor of 4 in the TPMS structures compared to the Base geometry at low flow rates. These findings support the use of TPMS structures as compact, efficient designs for heat exchangers integrated with latent heat storage systems.