INVESTIGATION OF MELTING HEAT TRANSFER CHARACTERISTICS OF LATENT HEAT THERMAL STORAGE UNIT WITH FINNED TUBE

The heat transfer characteristic of latent heat thermal storage system with finned tube during melting process is studied experimentally in this paper. A unit of experimental rig consists of a heater, data acquisition and heat exchanger type shell and tube was set up. The longitudinal finned tube and radial finned tube proposed to enhance thermal transfer rate. Paraffin wax used for thermal storage medium. The melting heat transfer characteristics are investigated under different heat flux conditions. The experimental results show heat transfer characteristics show similarity for heat exchanger tube. At initial heating process was dominated by conduction but at melting temperature dominated by convection heat transfer. The longitudinal fin has performed good ability to raise thermal conductivity. (C) 2012 Elsevier B. V ... Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Bin Nusantara University