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Solar Energy 83 (2009) 15091520

www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

A comparison of heat transfer enhancement in a medium

temperature thermal energy storage heat exchanger using ns
Francis Agyenim a,*, Philip Eames b, Mervyn Smyth a
b

a
Centre for Sustainable Technologies, University of Ulster, Newtownabbey BT37 0QB, UK
Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Loughborough University, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK

Received 14 May 2008; received in revised form 25 March 2009; accepted 13 April 2009
Available online 20 May 2009
Communicated by: Associate Editor Halime Paksoy

Abstract
An experimental energy storage system has been designed using a horizontal concentric tube heat exchanger incorporating a medium
temperature phase change material (PCM) Erythritol, with a melting point of 117.7 C. Three experimental congurations, a control
system with no heat transfer enhancement and systems augmented with circular and longitudinal ns have been studied. The results presented compare the system heat transfer characteristics using isotherm plots and temperaturetime curves. The system with longitudinal
ns gave the best performance with increased thermal response during charging and reduced subcooling in the melt during discharging.
The experimentally measured data for the control, circular nned and longitudinal nned systems have been shown to vindicate the
assumption of axissymmetry (direction parallel to the heat transfer uid ow) using temperature gradients in the axial, radial and angular
directions in the double pipe PCM system.
2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Erythritol; Phase change material; Temperature gradient

1. Introduction
Most solar energy systems require thermal energy storage to eliminate the mismatch between energy supply and
demand. Latent heat thermal energy storage promises high
performance and reliability with the advantages of high
storage density and nearly constant temperature energy
delivery. The major disadvantage reported by most investigators, is that most phase change materials have an unacceptably low thermal conductivity, leading to slow
charging and discharging rates. Heat transfer enhancement
techniques are therefore required for most latent heat thermal energy storage applications. Several approaches have
been employed to enhance the heat transfer characteristics
of phase change materials. Some common techniques
*

Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 2890 368 227; fax: +44 2890 368 239.
E-mail addresses: fb.agyenim@ulster.ac.uk, aboour@hotmail.com (F.
Agyenim).
0038-092X/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.solener.2009.04.007

employed include nned tubes (Choi and Kim, 1992;

Horbaniuc et al., 1999; Zhang and Faghri, 1996), rings
and bubble agitation (Velraj et al., 1999), the use of carbon
bres and brushes (Fukai et al., 2003; Hamada et al., 2003)
and multitubes (Lacroix, 1993; Ghoneim, 1989; Esen and
Ayhan, 1996). Most of the studies have reported signicant
enhancement in the heat transfer to the phase change materials. Of the various enhancement procedures reported, the
nned system has been reported as one of the most practical, easy to fabricate and most intensely analysed yet lacking comparison of detailed experimental results of dierent
congurations of ns. This study presents results of an
experimental investigation to compare levels of heat transfer achieved by using circular and longitudinal ns in a
medium temperature thermal energy storage system, Erythritol, whose suitability for application to the hot side of a
LiBr absorption air conditioning system has been reported
(Agyenim et al., 2005).

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F. Agyenim et al. / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 15091520

Nomenclature
Cp
k
Nu
T
t

specic heat capacity (kJ kg 1 K 1)

thermal conductivity (W m 1 K 1)
Nusselt number
temperature (C)
time (s)

Symbols
q
density (kg m 3)

2. Experimental setup, operating parameters and procedure

2.1. Experimental setup
A schematic diagram of the experimental apparatus is
shown in Fig. 1. The PCM store consisted of a 1 m long
horizontally mounted cylinder made of 3 mm thick aluminium with inner diameter of 146.4 mm. A 54 mm copper
tube located centrally in the PCM in the cylinder was the
heat transfer tube through which hot silicon oil owed to
exchange heat with the PCM. The system consisted of
two uid ow loops; a charging loop, which transferred
heat from the hot oil to the PCM in the system during
the charging process and a discharging loop, which transferred energy from the PCM to water through a heat
exchanger during the discharge process. The thermophysical properties of the used PCM, Erythritol, supplied by the
manufacturer are listed in Table 1. Repeated thermal
cycling was conducted by analysing 19 mg of Erythritol
using Dierential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) for temperatures between 20 and 140 C with heating/cooling rates of

latent heat of fusion (kJ kg 1)

Subscripts
l
liquid
s
solid
m
melting
PCM phase change material

2 C min 1. The latent heat of fusion and melting temperature range of Erythritol were measured for a simulated
period of 20 cycles and the results are tabulated in Table
2. The results showed a change in the thermal characteristics of Erythritol with increased number of cycles with 7.5%
change in latent heat energy after 20 cycles. Further study
to measure the thermophysical properties for a longer period would be required for a meaningful conclusion to be
Table 1
Thermophysical properties of phase change material Erythritol (Anon.,
2005).
Property

Value

Melting point, Tm
Heat of fusion, kPCM
Specic heat of PCM, liquid, Cp,l
Specic heat of PCM, solid, Cp,s
Thermal conductivity of PCM, liquid, kl
Thermal conductivity of PCM, solid, ks
Density of PCM, liquid, ql
Density of PCM, solid, qs

117.7 C
339.8 kJ kg 1
2.76 kJ kg 1 K 1
1.38 kJ kg 1 K 1
0.326 W m 1 K 1 (140 C)
0.733 W m 1 K 1 (20 C)
1300 kg m 3 (140 C)
1480 kg m 3 (20 C)

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the experimental concentric tube PCM system used to investigate the eect of circular and longitudinal ns on the charging/
discharging of Erythritol.

F. Agyenim et al. / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 15091520

Table 2
Thermal cycling results of latent heat of fusion and melting temperature
range for Erythritol for 20 cycles (analysed using Dierential Scanning
Calorimetre).
Number of
cycles

Latent heat of fusion,

kJ kg 1

Melting temperature range

(C)

1
2
5
10
20

339.30
338.77
338.77
323.39
313.75

118.39119.96
116.49119.71
115.56119.70
115.29119.61
114.39118.71

drawn on whether or not Erythritol deteriorates with

repeated cycles.
Three experimental congurations were studied. In the
rst experiment, PCM lled the cylinder space and the heat
transfer uid owed inside the unaugmented heat transfer
tube. This served as a baseline (control) (Fig. 2a) for assessing the eectiveness of the two n augmented congurations. A review of the enhancement procedures studied
over the years showed that the nned tubes are the most
practical and most intensely analysed system (Agyenim et
al., 2007; Choi and Kim, 1992; Horbaniuc et al., 1999;
Zhang and Faghri, 1996; Sparrow et
al., 1978;
Abdel-Wahed et al., 1979; Sparrow et al., 1981; Sasaguchi
and Takeo, 1994; Velraj et al., 1997; Ismail et al., 2001;
Ermis et al., 2007) due to their eectiveness, relative ease
of construction and low cost involved. In the second and
third experiments, eight circular and eight longitudinal
copper ns were braised onto the surface of the central heat
transfer tubes. The circular ns were positioned at 62.5,
187.5, 312.5, 437.5, 562.5, 687.5, 812.5 and 937.5 mm along
the length of heat transfer tube (Fig. 2b) and the longitudinal ns were positioned equally around the pipe circumference at 45 spacing (Fig. 2c). The dimensions of the circular
and longitudinal ns welded onto the surfaces of the heat
transfer tubes are detailed in Table 3. In each of the nned
experimental setup, 3 mm gap was left between the tip of
the ns and the outer cylinder. Two circular Aluminium
end plates (3 mm thick) were used to seal the open ends
of the cylinder. A 100 mm thick glass wool insulation (thermal conductivity 0.04 W m 1 K 1) was wrapped around
the PCM container in order to decrease heat lost and to

1511

Table 3
Dimensions of circular and longitudinal ns in the nned systems.
Property

Control

Circular
nned

Longitudinal
nned

Number of ns
Fin material
Fin thickness (m)
Fin pitch (m)
Overn diameter (m)
Fin length (m)
Combined tube/n contact surface
area to PCM (m2)
Cylinder volume available for PCM
(m3)
Mass of PCM (kg)

0.1697

8
Copper
0.001
0.040
0.134

0.3587

8
Copper
0.001
0.040

0.95
0.7777

0.0147

0.0146

0.0144

20.2

20.2

20.2

make the surface adiabatic. The thickness of the insulation

was determined using thermal analogue network of resistances in the radial direction along the PCM store.
Each end plate had a central orice to allow the passage
of the 54 mm diameter copper heat transfer tube. A small
access hole was made in one end plate to accommodate
the passage of thermocouple wires. The location of the
thermocouples in the PCM along the axis, annotated by
A, B, C, D and E are indicated in Fig. 3, detailing the radial
and angular distances of the individual thermocouples
from the outer wall of the heat transfer tube. In addition,
measurements of inlet and outlet temperatures to the store
and three temperature readings each on the surfaces of the
PCM container and the outer insulation were undertaking
to help evaluate the cumulative energy charged and the
thermal performances of the three systems. The data acquisition system consisted of an array of K-type thermocouples (measured at 0.3% accuracy), an ultrasonic
owmeter KATFLOW 140 (measured at 3% accuracy),
data logger and personal computer system to measure
and record temperatures in the PCM and the mass ow
rate of the heat transfer uid.
2.2. Selection of operating parameters
The selection of maximum charge time and the appropriate inlet HTF temperature and mass ow rate for charging Erythritol was determined by solar availability time,

Fig. 2. Cross-sectional views of the control and nned experimental concentric tube PCM systems used to investigate the improvement in charging of the
Erythritol achieved by using ns.

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F. Agyenim et al. / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 15091520

Fig. 3. Locations of thermocouples positions in the control and n augmented systems.

preliminary experimental results and operational requirements of a LiBr/H2O absorption cooling system. Daily
solar availability in Europe for most of the seasons is less
than 8 h, prompting the need to charge as quickly as possible with a higher inlet HTF temperature, if desired. A preliminary experiment investigated temperature range
between 125 and 145 C (Agyenim, 2007) which showed
that increasing inlet HTF temperature above 140 C caused
overheating at the upper section and unequal heat distribu-

tion in the PCM. Also the convection eect dominated the

upper half which delayed the recovery of latent heat at start
of the discharge process, a situation previously reported by
Sparrow et al. (1978, 1981). The selection of inlet HTF temperature of 140 C was also appropriate because 140 C
can easily be achieved using an evacuated tube solar
collector.
At a constant inlet HTF temperature of 140 C, a series
of melting and solidication experiments were undertaken

F. Agyenim et al. / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 15091520

Table 4
Hydrodynamic entrance length required (for the dierent mass ow rates)
for ow to return to fully developed ow in the PCM section of the ow
circuit (at an inlet HTF temperature of 140 C).
Average mass ow rate (kg min 1)
Reynolds number
Hydrodynamic entrance length required
(m)

15
293.0
0.8

20
390.6
1.1

25
488.3
1.4

30
586.0
1.7

to study the eect of changing the mass ow rate of the

HTF on the thermal behaviour of the PCM. Mass ow
rates investigated were 15, 20, 25 and 30 kg min 1, selected
based on the mass ow rate requirements of a solar powered LiBr/H2O absorption cooling system (Agyenim
et al., 2009; Anon., 2008). The range of experimental oil
ow rates calculated indicated laminar ow because all
the ow readings gave Reynolds numbers less than 2300
(Table 4). However, an interruption of the laminar ow
occurred at the entrance to the PCM store because of the
change in pipe diameter (internal) from 28 to 51 mm. The
entrance length required for ow to return to fully developed laminar ow for the dierent mass ow rates were
estimated using Kays (1955) and Shah and Bhatti (1987)
and is given in Table 4. For a mass ow rate of 15 kg
min 1, ow returned to fully developed laminar state after
0.8 m (0.2 m to the exit of the PCM store). Flow did not
return to a fully developed laminar state for ow rates of
20, 25 and 30 kg min 1 within the 1 m long store. Velocity
uctuations therefore existed in the ow eld which is
known to enhance heat transfer. A ow rate of 30 kg min 1
was selected because velocity uctuations in the ow
increased with increased mass ow rate and enhanced the
transfer of heat to the PCM at higher mass ow rates. In
addition, the performance of solar powered LiBr/H2O
absorption cooling system has been found to improve with
high mass ow rate (Agyenim et al., 2009).
DOW Corning 550 was selected as the heat transfer uid
because of its high-temperature stability, low corrosion of
metals, low adverse eect on seals and constant thermal
conductivity (0.1465 W m 1 K 1) over a wide range of
temperatures. To employ water as a heat transfer uid
above 100 C would require greater than atmospheric pressure of one bar.

2.3. Procedure
At time t P 0, with an inlet HTF temperature T = 140 C
(PID controlled), hot silicon oil was pumped through the
tube at a mass ow rate of 30 kg min 1. During the charging
process, inlet HTF temperature was maintained at 140 C
using a PID controlled hot oil bath. Heat was transferred
to the PCM for 8 h during which time melting was initiated
at the boundary of the heat transfer tube and proceeded outwards towards the PCM shell container. After an imposed
8 h of charge time, heat was initially discharged from the
store using an inlet HTF temperature of 70 C and a counter

1513

current heat exchanger. The selection of an inlet HTF temperature of 70 C during the discharge was based on the minimum temperature requirement to power a LiBr/H2O
absorption cooling system (Anon., 2008; Li and Sumathy,
2000). Once PCM output temperature fell to 70 C, the discharge heater was switched o to discharge sensible heat
from the PCM. Each experiment was repeated three times
and the averages evaluated. Energy discharged from the
PCM was exchanged with relatively cold water in the heat
exchanger of the discharge loop. The water loop temperature
had electrically heated water bath that helped control the
inlet HTF temperature to the store during discharge.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Comparison of average measured temperatures in the
nned systems and the control
The average measured system temperatures in the control, circular nned and longitudinal nned systems during
the charging and discharging periods are shown in Fig. 4.
The temperature proles illustrate three dierent states
for longitudinal nned system (i, ii and iii) and two states
for the control and circular nned systems (i and ii) during
the charge process:
(i) Erythritol in the solid state below the lower limit
(115.6 C) of the melting temperature range. Energy
absorbed by the PCM during charging was in the
form of sensible heat, which increased the temperature of Erythritol from 20 to 115.6 C.
(ii) Erythritol in the solidliquid phase transition state
(115.6 to 119.7 C) where the temperature asymptotes
after reaching a temperature of 115.6 C. During the
phase transition period, energy absorbed from the
heat transfer tube and energy transferred to neighbouring PCM to melt it were nearly the same.
(iii) Erythritol in the liquid state (only applicable to longitudinally nned system) with temperatures above the
upper limit of the phase transition temperature
(119.7 C). Energy was absorbed in the form of sensible heat and the PCM temperature increased again as
seen from system augmented with longitudinal ns in
Fig. 4.
The average temperature in the longitudinal nned system was highest compared to temperatures in the control
and circular nned systems. The sharp rise in temperature
for the longitudinal nned system after 430 min of charging
indicated complete melt of the PCM. The average PCM
temperature in the circular nned system indicated that
the circular nned system did not improve the heat transfer
during the sensible heat absorption when heat transfer was
mainly by conduction even though the circular nned system had increased heat transfer surface area (Table 2) due
to the presence of circular ns.

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F. Agyenim et al. / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 15091520

Control

Circular

Longitudinal

Sensible heat addition

Phase change (solidification)

140

Sensible heat extraction

Phase change (melting)

120

Temperature (oC)

100
80
60
40
20

Charging

Discharging

0
0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Time (minutes)

Fig. 4. Comparison of average temperature prole in the PCMs of the circular and longitudinal nned systems with the control system for the charging
and discharging processes (Charging: Ti=140 C, m_ = 30 kg min 1).

At the very beginning of the discharge process, the PCM

temperature in the longitudinal nned system decreased
rapidly. This was because the nal temperature of
127.4 C achieved meant that PCM was in the liquid state.
Energy dissipated was mainly sensible heat with the highest
temperature driving potential between the PCM and the
inlet HTF (57 C) from the longitudinal nned system,
which accounted for the rapid temperature drop to
115.8 C. The onset of solidication at a PCM temperature
of 115.8 C (within the phase transition temperature range)
indicated that the longitudinal nned system did not experience subcooling eects. This was because the n surfaces
acted as nucleating sites from which solidication was initiated. The circular nned and the control systems did not
exhibit any noticeable temperature drop in the initial part
of the discharge cycle because the nal temperatures
achieved during charging indicated that melting was
incomplete for the 8-h imposed charge time. Temperature
driving potential between the PCM and the inlet HTF in
both the control and circular nned systems were lower
(48 C) compared to the longitudinal nned system. Conduction controlled the heat transfer in the control and circular nned systems at the start of the discharge process.
The temperature remained constant during the solidication process. As complete solidication approached, progressively less and less latent heat energy was discharged

Table 5
Solidication times for the control, circular and longitudinal nned
systems.
System

Control
system

Circular nned
system

Longitudinal nned
system

Solidication
time (min)

80

100

130

until the temperature started to decrease more rapidly as

sensible heat from the solid PCM was dissipated. The times
to achieve solidication for the dierent systems are given
in Table 5.
Dierences in the times required for solidication were
not fully comparable because of the incomplete melting
in the control and circular nned systems as a result of
the 8-h charge time imposed which resulted in the dierences in the amount of energy stored during charging. Discharge times have been included to give meaning to the
signicance of limited solar availability time.
3.2. Comparison of energy charged and discharged for the
three systems
The cumulative amounts of heat charged and discharged
_ the
were calculated from the product of mass ow rate (m),
specic heat capacity (Cp) and the dierence in inlet and
outlet temperatures of the HTF to the 20 kg Erythritol
store and the results are given in Table 6. This comprised
liquid sensible heat from 20 to 117.7 C, latent heat at
mean temperature of 117.7 C, and sensible solid heat from
Table 6
Comparison of storage eciency of the control, circular and longitudinally nned systems.

Cumulative energy charged (kJ)

Cumulative energy lost (kJ)
Charging eciency (%)
Cumulative energy discharged
(kJ)
Storage eciency of total amount
charged (%)

Control

Circular
nned

Longitudinally
nned

9035.0
475.3
94.7
4977.8

10418.2
583.0
94.4
7293.1

12429.2
670.0
94.6
8813.1

55.0

70.0

70.9

F. Agyenim et al. / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 15091520

117.7 to 126.4 C (in the case of longitudinally nned

system).
The total amount of energy charged to the longitudinally nned system was the highest, followed by the circular nned system and the control system. Percentage of
total energy charged that was recovered during the discharge from the longitudinally nned system (70.9%) was
however comparable to that of the circular nned system
(70%).
3.3. Comparison of hourly isotherm plots for the three
systems
The isotherm plots at hourly intervals midway along the
length (500 mm from the inlet, considered to be least inuenced by end eect) of the control, circular nned and longitudinal nned systems during the charging process are
shown in Fig. 5. Where complete melting occurred (longitudinally nned) with liquid sensible heating, heat transfer
to the PCM followed three regimes:
 conduction,
 mixed conduction and convection and
 convection.
In the conduction only regime, heat supplied from the
HTF equalled heat absorbed by the PCM at the early stage
of the melting process for the three systems. In the mixed
conduction/convection regime, conduction domination
was gradually replaced by convection when a suciently
large amount of liquid had formed. During the early stages
of melting, the eect of convection was minimal but
increased rapidly in the upper section of the PCM store,
as the hot, less dense liquid PCM moved upwards and
increased the rate of heat transfer and melting in the upper
section. Heat was transferred from the uppermost position
C2,0 and C2,45 (Fig. 5), which subsequently showed a
sharp rise above the upper phase transition temperature
of 119.7 C.
3.3.1. Heat transfer in the control system
The melting process in the control system started from
the outer wall of the heat transfer tube with the formation
of a thin lm of liquid around it in the second hour. This
was because, as heat at 140 C was supplied through the
heat transfer tube, the temperature of the solid PCM adjacent to the heated surface exceeded the melting temperature of the PCM. The size of liquid lm increased in the
third and fourth hours and remained symmetrical around
the heat transfer tube. The rest of the PCM remained in
the solid phase with apparently no sign of phase transition
occurring. Conduction was the dominant heat transfer
mechanism in the control system at the beginning of the
melting process up until the fth hour. As the molten
region increased, the eect of natural convection gradually
appeared, and disturbed the circular symmetry of the tem-

1515

perature distribution in the annulus, with two distinct

boundary layers formed;
 a hot boundary layer at 133 C formed adjacent to the
heat transfer tube and
 a relatively cooler boundary layer at 120 C formed at
the liquid/solid interface in the PCM.
Heat transfer in the lower region continued to be controlled by conduction whilst convection controlled the
upper region of the control system.
The liquid adjacent to the heat transfer tube wall
moved upwards (buoyancy eect) along the heated wall
as seen in the sixth hour. At the upper region of the annulus, the liquid was redirected downwards, causing it to
impinge on the upper section of the solid/liquid interface.
This resulted in the faster melting of the PCM at this
location, as is apparent in the seventh and eighth hours
of charging in the control system. The lower region
remained in the phase change temperature range with a
half-ring of unmelted PCM remaining even after 8 h of
charging. This was because, heat transfer due to conduction and convection was not sucient enough to bring
about complete melting within the 8 h charging at a heat
transfer uid temperature of 140 C and ow rate of
30 kg min 1. The melting process within the control system was a sequence of two regimes, conduction up until
the fth hour followed by mixed conduction and convection regime.
The eect of convection was insucient due to the limited size of the annulus, only 46 mm. This experimental
observation is in agreement with the explanation given by
Yao and Cherney (1981) on the importance of the size of
the molten region on natural convection who reported that
the eect of natural convection in an annulus increased
rapidly with the size of the liquid region.
3.3.2. Heat transfer in the circular nned PCM system
In the circular nned system, the charging process was
by conduction heat transfer in the initial 4 h of charging
as shown in Fig. 5. A mixed conduction/convection regime
began in the fth hour as the solid PCM was gradually
replaced by the formation of a sucient liquid volume.
As time increased, uneven heat transfer and melting rates
in the upper and lower regions led to temperature dierences between the upper and lower regions. Heat transfer
was by convection in the upper section of the PCM. The
lower section was however controlled by conduction for
the 8 h charge time. The fraction of molten PCM in the circular nned system was slightly higher than that in the control system after 8 h charging due to the presence of the
circular ns. As expected, heat transfer through the side
surfaces of the circular ns augmented melting within the
regions near the ns and improved overall melting over
the control system. Heat transfer contribution due to convection was however not sucient enough to cause rapid
melting in the circular nned system. The overall heat

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F. Agyenim et al. / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 15091520

Fig. 5. The measured temperatures midway along the length of the control, circular and longitudinal nned systems during charging (melting can be
considered to have occurred when the temperature is greater than 119.7 C).

F. Agyenim et al. / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 15091520

Fig 5. (continued)

1517

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F. Agyenim et al. / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 15091520

transfer improvement in the circular nned system over the

control system was not signicant enough to warrant further study.
3.3.3. Heat transfer in the longitudinally nned PCM system
Higher temperatures resulting from higher heat transfer
rate was apparent in the lower section of the longitudinal
nned system in the second hour when compared to the
fth hour for the control and circular nned systems. The
pale blue colour at the lower section of the longitudinal
nned system in Fig. 5 after 2 h indicates temperatures
between 115 and 120 C and signies phase change. A sizeable portion of the PCM was at the phase change temperature after 3 h of charging. The symmetrical thin lm of
liquid around the heat transfer tube in the longitudinal
nned system was disrupted in the fourth hour as liquid
started to ow upwards due to the buoyancy eect. This
is indicated by the increase in the green background colour
with temperatures between 122 and 130 C after the fourth
hour. Buoyancy eect led to more and more liquid moving
upwards after the fourth hour resulting in a signicantly
faster melting rate at the upper section. An apple shaped
prole developed with the phase change interface (pale blue
colour) surrounding the liquid region in the fourth hour.
By the fth hour, this interface had changed to a ring shape
around the liquid region. Heat transfer by conduction
dominated a greater portion of the PCM, in particular
the lower region up until the sixth hour. In the sixth hour,
heat transfer was by a mixture of conduction and convec-

tion. The convection eect dominated the upper half of

the PCM in the seventh hour whilst heat transfer via conduction still controlled the lower half. Except for a small
region at the bottom of the container, complete melting
was achieved after the eighth hour. Complete melting of
the small unmelted region was dicult to achieve due to
natural convection transferring most heat (through 3 mm
openings left between the PCM container and the longitudinal ns) to the upper region of the shell preventing melting of the PCM at the base.
3.4. Temperature gradients in the axial, radial and angular
directions
A common approach to the solutions of phase change
problems by dierent authors has been to ignore the thermal conductivity or the temperature gradient of the PCM
in the direction of the heat transfer uid ow and to
assume that the phase change problem is axisymmetric
(Lacroix, 1993; Ghoneim, 1989). The main objective for
the analysis of temperature gradient along the axial, radial
and angular directions was to:
 study the eect of the assumptions in the models used in
earlier studies and,
 relate the assumptions to the obtained experimental data.
Temperature gradients along the three directions were
calculated using thermocouple readings from Fig. 3 and
dimensions in Fig. 6. The mean temperature gradient

A2,90

E2,90

a. Axial direction thermocouples

Fig. 6. Illustration of thermocouples used in the evaluation of temperature gradient along the axial, radial and angular directions in the systems.

F. Agyenim et al. / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 15091520

Table 7
Time average temperature gradient along the axial, radial and angular
directions of the PCM systems during charging.

Control
Circular
Longitudinal

Temperature gradients (C m 1)

Percentage of
radial
temperature
gradient

Axial
direction

Radial
direction

Angular
direction

Axial

Angular

7.2
8.1
6.3

371.4
286.1
125.5

37.9
38.2
17.4

1.9
2.8
5.1

10.2
13.3
13.9

(C m 1) along the three directions during the charging

periods (time average) of the dierent systems is given in
Table 7. The average temperature readings in the axial
direction were calculated using average readings from locations A, B, C, D and E. The radial temperature readings
were calculated by nding time average of thermocouple
readings with equal distances from the heat transfer tube.
For example the average of all A1s, B1s, C1s, D1s and
E1s gave the readings for radial distance of 10 mm. In
the angular direction, temperature readings were averages
calculated from thermocouples of the same angle, 0, 45,
90, 135 and 180 C.
The temperature gradients along the radial direction was
the highest followed by that in the angular direction for all
three systems. The temperature gradients along the axial
direction for the control, circular and longitudinal nned
systems were 1.9%, 2.8% and 5.1% that of their respective
temperature gradients in the radial direction. This vindicates the assumption of most models that ignore the thermal conductivity in the axial direction (direction parallel
to the heat transfer uid ow). The highest percentage of
5.1% for the longitudinal nned system was due to the
reduced radial temperature gradient resulting from a more
uniform heat distribution compared to the circular and
angular directions. The mean temperature gradient in the
angular directions of the control, circular nned and longitudinal nned systems were 10.2%, 13.3% and 13.9% that
of the radial directions, respectively. Based on these results,
it is proposed that a two dimensional numerical model
which neglects thermal conductivity in the axial direction
would be able to adequately predict the overall heat transfer in these PCM systems, although for larger diameter
shells this assumption may not hold. It must also be
stressed that this result represents a time average of the
8 h charge time and dierent results can be achieved if
numerical model is restricted to the phase change temperature range, between 115.6 C and 119.7 C.
4. Conclusions
The experimental study compared two practical heat
transfer enhancement methods; circular nned and longitudinal nned systems with a control system with no heat

1519

transfer enhancement. Complete melting was achieved in

the longitudinal nned system but not in the control and
circular nned systems for an imposed 8-h charge time.
The longitudinal nned system is recommended for the
charging and discharge of Erythritol in a concentric tube
PCM system because it achieved the best charge performance with insignicant subcooling during discharge.
The circular nned system did not improve the heat transfer to the PCM over that in the control system sucient
enough to warrant further development. Based on temperature gradients in the axial, radial and angular directions in
the three systems investigated, the experimental data has
been shown to vindicate most models that ignore the thermal conductivity in the axial direction.
Acknowledgements
The research was supported by the Vice-Chancellors
Research Scholarship (VCRS) of the University of Ulster
through a postgraduate studentship for Dr. Francis Boateng Agyenim. The authors acknowledge the supply of
Erythritol from Mitsubishi Chemical, Japan for the study.
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