Dynamic modelling of the storage of an encapsulated ice tank

The objective of this work is the study of an industrial process of energy storage which consists in the use of a cylindrical tank filled with encapsulated phase change materials (PCM). A particularity is met in this kind of processes; it concerns the delay of the crystallization of the PCM, called supercooling phenomenon. A detailed analysis of the system permitted the development of the two-dimensional porous-medium model for cold storage with coolant flowing. First the numerical model has been compared with experimental results for the tank in vertical position. Then, the code was used to study the thermal behaviour of the tank in horizontal position. We found that the optimum running of the charge mode is obtained in the case of the vertical position where the motions due to the natural convection are in the same direction as the forced convection.