NUMERICAL-SIMULATION OF A LATENT-HEAT THERMAL-ENERGY STORAGE-SYSTEM WITH ENHANCED HEAT-CONDUCTION

A latent heat storage system has been designed to take advantage of th e off-peak electrical energy for space heating. Using an enthalpy form ation and a fully implicit finite difference method, the thermal perfo rmance of such a storage system with and without fins has been analyse d. For the one-dimensional simulation model, calculations have been ma de for the melt fraction and energy stored for conduction plus convect ion and the conduction modes of heat transfer, while for the two-dimen sional model, the same calculations have been made for conduction only . The magnitude of the melt fraction with fins is found to be consider able, dominating the melt fraction when no fin is used. (C) 1997 Elsev ier Science Ltd.