EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF A SHELL AND TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER WITH PHASE CHANGE MATERIAL.

Abstract

The use of a latent heat storage system using phase change materials (PCMs) is an effective way of storing thermal energy.Among the different types of thermal energy storage, latent heat thermal energy storage has gained significant attention recently because of its high energy density per unit mass/volume at nearly constant temperature. PCMs have been widely used in latent heat thermal storage systems for heat pumps, solar engineering, and spacecraft thermal control applications. There are large numbers of PCMs that melt and solidify at a wide range of temperatures, making them attractive in a number of applications. The aim of this paper is to analyze the thermal behavior of PCM material in the shell and tube heat exchanger. The selected PCM is Lauric acid and melting point is 42OC.The effect of mass flow rate and latent heat of PCM in the shell and tube heat exchanger is evaluated experimentally. The experimental work had been done the results indicate the when the flow rate is high the efficiency will be increased and higher latent heat ofLauric acid is 204 J/kg is having maximum thermal efficiency of 54.65% at 20 lit/hr.