Air Heating with Latent Heat Storage For Thermal Energy Management Of Solar Applications

Authors

  • S. Karthikeyan Indira Institute of Engineering and Technology, Chennai
  • Dr. R. Velraj Anna University Chennai, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13052/dgaej2156-3306.2742

Keywords:

Air heating, Thermal Energy Storage, Phase Change Mate- rial, Spherical capsules, Packedbed, Air heating, Latent heat storage

Abstract

Renewable energy, particularly the solar energy, is gaining more
importance worldwide for its clean, non polluting, inexhaustible and
cost free nature. Though there are many applications possible, an im-
portant factor is that solar energy is time dependant in nature. Hence
the commercial acceptance and the economics of solar thermal utilities
or devices are tied to the design of an efficient thermal storage system to
meet the time-dependant supply and end use requirements. Latent heat
thermal storage units have received greater attention in recent years,
due to their isothermal behavior during the charging and discharging
processes, and higher energy storage density. In this study, an experi-
mental investigation is performed to analyze the transient behavior of a
packed bed latent heat storage unit, comprised of a cylindrical storage
tank filled with Phase Change Material (PCM). PCM is encapsulated in
spherical containers for thermal energy management and efficient utili-
zation of solar energy. Applications include space heating and industrial
drying. Experimental results are reported and discussed.

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Author Biographies

S. Karthikeyan, Indira Institute of Engineering and Technology, Chennai

S. Karthikeyan is presently working as Assistant Professor in
Indira Institute of Engineering and Technology, Chennai and also pur-
suing doctoral research on Thermal energy storage systems for low temperature air heating applications at Institute for Energy Studies, Anna
University, Chennai, India. He has more than ten years of experience in
industry and teaching and has guided several project works for Under-
graduate and Postgraduate Engineering students in the field of Energy
Engineering. His areas of interest include Thermal storage, Energy ap-
plications and Numerical modeling.
Contact details:
Research Scholar,
Institute for Energy Studies,
College of Engineering,
Anna University,
Chennai 600025,
India
thamiz.karthik@gmail.com

Dr. R. Velraj, Anna University Chennai, India

Dr. R. Velraj received his M.E. degree in the field of Energy Engi-
neering and Ph.D. degree in the field of Thermal energy storage from
Anna University Chennai, India. As part of his doctoral work, he car-
ried out his research in Solar Institute, Julich, Germany for a period of
20 months during 1995-97. He is working in Institute for Energy Studies
since 1992 and presently holding additional responsibility as Director,
AU-FRG Institute for CAD/CAM from February 2010. His areas of
interest include Heat Transfer, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Heat Ex-
changers, Thermal Storage and Energy Applications. He has completed
several research projects and under his supervision, 14 Ph.D. candidates
have completed their Ph.D. and he is involved in the consultancy works
in the area of energy applications and performance evaluation of ther-
mal systems.
Contact details (corresponding author):
Dr. R.Velraj, Professor
Institute for Energy Studies,
College of Engineering,
Anna University,
Chennai 600025,
India
velrajr@gmail.com
Tel: + 91 44 22 35 80 51, Fax: +91 44 22 35 19 91

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Published

2012-10-10

How to Cite

Karthikeyan, S. ., & Velraj, D. R. . (2012). Air Heating with Latent Heat Storage For Thermal Energy Management Of Solar Applications. Distributed Generation &Amp; Alternative Energy Journal, 27(4), 20–35. https://doi.org/10.13052/dgaej2156-3306.2742

Issue

2012: Vol 27 Iss 4

Section

Articles