Numerical analysis of the thermal energy storage behavior of a novel composite PCM/concrete wall integrated solar collector toward the PCM position

For many year’s solar energy downs sides are that it is often unpredictable and peak solar irradiations is mismatched with peak’s demands. So, it’s essential to develop efficient, economical solar thermal energy storage (TES). in most patterns of domestic application, such as solar water heating systems that have been widely used around the world for many years, in maintaining buildings comfort levels, there still exist many options to increase the efficiency of those systems using thermal energy storage (TES). As such an introduction of a novel hybrid composite PCM/concrete wall integrating a plan solar water heater is presented. The studied system consists of a three layered composite PCM/concrete wall, the middle layer is the paraffin wax PCM with a thickness of e_m= 2cm the total length of the wall is L=20cm the outer interface is directly coupled with a solar water heat absorber. The boundary conditions on the outer surface of the glass cover are due to the combined effects of solar radiation and ambient air convection. Meteorological data for every one hour in Casablanca city, Morocco (33°36’N, 07°36’W) are used. the transmitted heat is transferred to the water causing a gradual increase in its temperature which causes the melting of PCM inside the concrete wall leading to the maximum benefit of using latent heat storage techniques. in such solar thermal energy systems. A mathematical model has been developed to assess the effect of PCM position on its Thermal Energy Storage capacity. The equations that govern the problem are treated using the finite volume method.