TY - JOUR TI - Thermal behavior of encapsulated phase change material energy storage ID - scholars3202 KW - Cylindrical containers; Different mass; Energy recovery; Experimental setup; Finite-difference techniques; Low costs; Operational modes; Spherical capsule; Storage systems; Thermal behaviors; Thermal solar system; Transient behavior; Working fluid KW - Packed beds; Paraffin waxes; Paraffins; Phase change materials; Solar system KW - Heat storage N2 - The performance of thermal solar systems can be enhanced by extending its operational time by the aid of thermal energy storage. In the present work, the transient behavior of packed bed thermal energy storage (TES) was investigated experimentally and numerically. An experimental setup was designed and fabricated to simulate the charging and discharging operational modes of the system. 101 spherical capsules were filled with wax paraffin as PCM and packed in cylindrical container bed of 105 mm diameter and 420 mm long. The processes of the experimented storage system were simulated mathematically and solved numerically by finite difference technique. The analyses were carried out at two different mass velocity of the working fluid. The numerical model described the transient behavior of the system and it was in acceptable agreement with the experimental results. The transient period in the charging mode of the tested storage was around 30 min, while the energy recovery period in the discharging mode was around 60 min. The achieved results demonstrated that the tested TES could be used to enhance the performance of the thermal solar systems. The proposed packed bed thermal energy storage is easy to implement with low cost. © 2012 American Institute of Physics. IS - 1 N1 - cited By 20 AV - none VL - 4 A1 - Al-Kayiem, H.H. A1 - Alhamdo, M.H. JF - Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84857866976&doi=10.1063%2f1.3683532&partnerID=40&md5=25f5c34befc7ca2f09502a46a3c68223 SN - 19417012 Y1 - 2012/// ER -