Abstract
This report deals with experimental and numerical analyses carried out to investigate the discharge characteristics of a latent heat storage vessel by using encapsulated polyethylene glycol as the phase change material and water as the heat transfer medium. The heat transfer medium flows in the axial direction between cylindrical capsules arranged vertically in the vessel, and heat is exchanged between water and capsules. In the experiment, the transient outlet temperature was measured under several conditions controlled by varying the initial temperature within the vessel, the inlet temperature and mass flow rate of the heat transfer medium. In the numerical analysis, the outlet temperature was calculated by considering effects of natural convection within capsules and within the heat transfer medium during heat transfer. Experimental results were found to be in fair agreement with the results of numerical analyses.
