Spiral phase-change material for enhancing natural circulation solar water heater: An experimental study

Abstract

This article studies the use of spiral phase-change material as an energy storage to improve the performance of a domestic solar water heater. The heating and cooling tests have been conducted for the vertical and horizontal position of the phase-change material in the water heater tank. The vertical position phase-change material yields better results than horizontal position. The charging energy and system thermal efficiencies of the tank are increased up to 20% and 12%, respectively, when the phase-change material is kept vertically. Also, it is observed that better heat transfer coefficient between water and phase-change material and upgraded thermal stratification during the cooling tests.

Keywords::

• phase-change material
• solar water heater
• stratification
• charging energy efficiency
• system thermal efficiency