Performance improvement and investigation of radiation heat transfer of chloride salt as high-temperature heat storage medium

The development of solar phase change thermal storage technology is significant for the efficient use of energy. In this study, molten chloride salt was used as a high-temperature phase change thermal storage material to improve the heat transfer performance of the chloride salt by reacting citric acid with sodium chlorite to generate a flaky carbon morphology in the molten salt. The results indicated that the carbon generated by the reaction was uniformly distributed in the molten salt matrix, and the modified molten salt obtained a high latent heat of phase change with a maximum latent heat of phase change of 227.3 J center dot g(-1), which was 13.7 % higher than that of the undoped molten salt, and the maximum thermal conductivity could reach 2.313 W center dot m(-1)center dot K-1, which effectively improved the applicability range. In addition, the combination of ANSYS simulations and the constructed temperature measurement platform showed that the radiation heat transfer effectively improved the temperature distribution of the molten salt in the high-temperature stage. This study may promote the research of the heat transfer behavior of molten salt at high temperature and play an important role in concentrated solar power generation.

Automated summary

The use of molten chloride salt as a high-temperature phase change thermal storage material was investigated in this study. By reacting citric acid with sodium chlorite, a flaky carbon morphology was generated in the molten salt to improve its heat transfer performance. The modified molten salt showed a higher latent heat of phase change and thermal conductivity compared to the undoped molten salt. Additionally, the combination of ANSYS simulations and temperature measurements indicated that radiation heat transfer effectively improved the temperature distribution of the molten salt at high temperature. This study may contribute to the understanding of heat transfer behavior in molten salt and its application in concentrated solar power generation.