Y-shaped Fins Positioning Effect on Latent Heat Energy Storage Unit

Phase transition materials (PCMs) store energy efficiently in latent heat thermal energy storage systems (LHTES). LHTES's key advantage is storing thermal energy and reducing temperature changes. Due to their poor heat conductivity, thermal performance improved. In the present investigation, Y-shaped fins with different position angles and nanoparticle concentrations were considered as investigating parameters to enhance the melting performance inside a vertical enclosure. The TES unit features wings and paraffin wax PCM with copper nano-additives. With Cu concentrations (0%, 4%, and 8% by volume) and various angles of fins (60(degrees), 120(degrees);, and 18(degrees)), the results indicate that the bottom fin promotes the greatest heat transfer. This reduces melting time by 29.4% compared to top-fin. Cu nanoparticles at 8% and 4% lower melting time by 19.23% and 14.1% and reducing the angles of the tributaries results in higher system performance.