Performance of a small domestic eutectic solder medium temperature latent heat storage system during charging

The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of a packed bed latent heat storage system for domestic medium temperature applications. The packed bed thermal energy storage (TES) system consists of encapsulated eutectic solder (Sn63Pb37) capsules charged up with Sunflower Oil as the heat transfer fluid (HTF). Three charging flow-rates of 4 ml/s, 6 ml/s and 8 ml/s are used to evaluate the charging performance. Temperature profiles along the height of the storage tank, energy rate profiles and exergy rate profiles are used as thermal performance parameters. The lowest flow-rate (4 ml/s) results in a higher degree of thermal stratification along the height of the storage tank and in a lower charging duration. The charging exergy and exergy rates increase with an increase in the flowrate. The highest flow-rate (8 ml/s) shows the highest charging energy and exergy rates. The system is suitable for domestic solar cooking applications to provide heat when the sun is not available.