Abstract
Phase change materials (PCM) are able to store a large amount of latent heat, and can be applied to thermal energy storage systems. In a PCM, it takes a long time to store heat in the storage system because of the low thermal conductivity. In this study, a finned-tube-in-tank heat exchanger was applied to a PCM thermal energy storage system to increase heat transfer efficiency. The effects of geometric and operating parameters were investigated, and the results were compared with those of the tube-in-tank heat exchanger. The finned-tube-in-tank heat exchanger showed higher heat transfer effectiveness than the tube-in-tank heat exchanger. The heat exchange effectiveness of the storage tank was determined as a function of the average NTU.