Inverse design methodology to optimize sensible thermal energy storage systems working as rectifiers

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to present a methodology to achieve the optimal design of a sensible thermal energy storage system (T3S) working as a thermal rectifier. The system was composed by the heat storage material (HSM), distributed in a set of flat parallel plates, and the working fluid, both modeled by a simplified lumped element model (LEM). The ratio of operational outlet temperature range to source temperature oscillation is defined as the designed rectifying duty. Optimization procedure combines a one‐factor‐at‐a‐time (OFAT) and line search strategies in order to find optimal T3S design that satisfies the designed rectifying duty with the minimum HSM mass. The inverse design philosophy is applied to the optimal results to generalize the T3S dynamic behavior as functions fitting curves of the number of transfer unit (NTU) and the time constant τ. These fitting curves can be used to identify T3S geometric parameters, HSM thermal properties, fluid inlet conditions, among others, which guarantee the outlet fluid temperature to be found within the operational range with the minimum HSM mass. A three step‐by‐step sequence design methodology is presented and detailed, based on design charts from the NTU and τ correlations. The proposed design methodology is able to find the optimal plate length L, plate thickness es, and plate distance e f that satisfies the designed rectifying duty for three test cases. These optimal T3S designs are simulated in a computer fluid dynamics (CFD) code, with deviations below 1.5% between the designed rectifying duty and the one simulated. With the proposed approach, several design solutions or configurations can be found for T3S operating as a thermal rectifier based on NTU and τ fitting curves submitted to a sinusoidal cyclic temperature input and with constant and uniform HSM and fluid properties.