Enhancement of the performance of a NEPCM filled shell-and-multi tube thermal energy storage system using magnetic field: A numerical study

In the present study, the effects of applying the magnetic field resulted from quadrupole magnets on charging (melting) and discharging (solidification) performance of a shell and multi-tube latent heat thermal energy storage (TES) system have been studied numerically. In the current three-dimensional transient numerical study, the magnetic field is used as an active heat transfer enhancement technique for the improvement of the charging and discharging processes inside a shell and multi-tube TES system. The results of the current unsteady modeling show that the charging process of the studied thermal energy storage system is shortened by applying the magnetic field. The natural convection circulation in the liquid is intensified by magnetic field implementation during the charging process, and the shape of the melt is influenced by the imposed magnetic field. The results also demonstrated that increasing the intensity of the magnetic field contributes to shorter charging time. Furthermore, applying the magnetic field accelerates the solidification process, and it takes a shorter time to release the stored energy. The percentage of the decrease in full charging time and full discharging time by applying the magnetic field with an intensity of B0 = 50mT is respectively 80.02% and 53.19% for the temperature difference of 10 K between the inlet HTF temperature and NEPCM melting point.