Heat transfer enhancement of the latent heat storage system using different encapsulating materials with and without fins

This study is aimed at analysing the heat transfer characteristics of different encapsulating materials and the fins on the overall heat transfer in the latent heat storage system (LHSS). Experimentation is done with different phase change materials (PCMs) (d-mannitol, d-sorbitol and paraffin wax) using different encapsulating materials, i.e. copper, aluminium and brass, with and without fins. During the charging process, there is an average 15% heat loss of copper encapsulations without using fins as compared with using fins. The heat losses in aluminium and brass encapsulations are 10% and 15%, respectively. In the discharging process, 23% of heat extraction loss is seen in copper encapsulations, 5% and 18% in aluminium and brass encapsulations, respectively. The results showed that the usage of fins is an effective technique to increase the heat stored and recovered in a LHSS. The most cost-effective encapsulation is aluminium balls with fins as it has the lowest cost/kJ as compared with other two.