Vapor Chamber Energy Storage System with Al2O3 and Water Mixture as Medium
Abstract
This article experimentally investigates the thermal performance of the vapor chamber energy storage system with Al2O3 and water mixture as thermal storage medium. The energy storage system is composed of the vapor chambers, the charge and discharge heat exchanges and an energy storage tank. Thermal energy is stored or released from heat exchangers to storage tank through vapor chambers. Vapor chamber utilizes evaporation and condensation to transfer heat, which provides an effective heat spreading area between heat exchanges and energy storage tank. The energy storage tank utilizes the aluminum oxide (Al2O3) which mixes with water as the energy storage material. The experimental parameter is the inlet water temperature of heat exchanges with constant mass flow rate of 0.5 kg/min. The results indicate that with 10 oC increment for the temperature difference between the inlet water and the energy storage tank, the heat in charge and discharge processes increase from 40% to 50%, respectively. This study also analyzes the mixture ratio of energy storage material. The results demonstrate that the optimal mixture ratio of aluminum oxide and water is 1.25, and the heat storage quantity of the system compared to the energy storage tank without aluminum oxide can be increased by 6%.