Thermal performance analysis of a cascaded cold storage unit using multiple PCMs

In this paper, a three-stage cascaded cold storage unit (CCSU) is designed. The heat transfer characteristics of the CCSU have been experimentally and numerically studied in terms of the solidification processes by comparing them with those of a single-stage cold storage unit (SCSU). The results show that: although the cold and exergy stored in CCSU are 2%-5% and 4%-8% less than those stored in the SCSU, the cold charging rate, however, has been enhanced by about 11%-35% in the CCSU. Moreover, the exergy efficiency has also been improved, manifesting the advantage in the thermal performance of a CCSU.