Performance enhancement of phase change material based heat storage systems using multiple entries reservoir

This paper reviews different structures for thermal energy storage system by the mean of solar energy for domestic water heating. The various configurations described in literature are characterized by having a single entry to the phase change material (PCM) reservoir for one or multiple types of PCMs. These configurations are presented and compared to the proposed ones aimed at the enhancement of the global system performance in order to predict the best system one. Simulation results show that the storage efficiency can be improved by using a reservoir with multiple entries since it improves the storage efficiency in different seasons. It also shows that the use of independent PCM stocks is even more effective than the connected ones and contributes to a higher storage efficiency. Therefore, the multiple entries reservoir is shown as a promising technique to override the intermittency drawback of solar energy encountered in the solar system compared to the single-entry tank.