Thermal behavior of a heat exchanger module for seasonal heat storage

Experimental and theoretic investigations are carried out to study the heat transfer capacity rate of a heat exchanger module for seasonal heat storage with sodium acetate trihydrate (SAT) supercooling in a stable way. A sandwich heat storage test module has been built with the phase change material (PCM) storage box in between two plate heat exchangers.

Charge of the PCM storage is investigated experimentally with solid phase SAT as initial condition. Discharge of the PCM storage with the presence of crystallization is studied experimentally. Fluid flow and heat transfer in the PCM module are theoretically investigated by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) calculations.

The heat transfer rates between the PCM storage and the heating fluid/cooling fluid in the plate heat exchangers are determined. The CFD calculated temperatures are compared to measured temperatures. Based on the studies, recommendations on how best to transfer heat to and from the seasonal heat storage module are given.