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A study on heat transfer in packed bed

A DISSERTATION [14]

Submitted in fulfillment of the award of Degree of Master of Technology

In
Thermal Engineering

Uttaranchal Institute of Technology

Uttaranchal University Dehradun

Submitted by

Candidate’s Name
Enrollment No. – 000000000000

Under the Supervision of

Mr.Sanjeev kumar Joshi

Mr.Piyush.Agrawal

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

UTTARANCHAL UNIVERSITY DEHRADUN
UTTARAKHAND 248007
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This is to certify that the work embodies in this dissertation entitled ‘A study on heat transfer
in packed bed ’ being submitted by ‘Candidate’s Name Enrollment No. – 000000000000
for partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of ‘Master of Technology’ in
Thermal Engineering discipline to Uttaranchal Institute of Technology, Uttaranchal
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Uttaranchal University

UTTARANCHAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

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UTTARANCHAL UNIVERSITY DEHRADUN

UTTARAKHAND

Department of Mechanical Engineering

DECLARATION

I ‘Candidate Name’, a student of ‘Master of Technology in Thermal Engineering,

Session: 2017 - 18, Uttaranchal Institute of Technology, Dehradun hereby declare
that the work presented in this dissertation entitled ‘A study on heat transfer in
packed bed ’ is the outcome of my own bona fide work and is correct to the best of
my knowledge and this work has been undertaken taking care of Engineering Ethics. It
contains no material previously published or written by another person nor material
which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of the
university or other institute of higher learning, except where due acknowledgment has
been made in the text.

(Candidate Name)
Enrollment No.: xxxxxxxxxxxx
Uttaranchal University, Dehradun
DATE:
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ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION

Today’s need is to find a better way to utilize energy not only in the field of energy

production, transmission, distribution, and consumption, but also in the area of energy

storage. With the help of energy storage technology, imbalance between the energy production

and consumption can be minimized. Moreover, the energy storage is a need to minimize the

shortcomings of renewable energy technologies. Currently, most of the renewable energy

sources, especially wind energy and solar energy are timely-based energy sources, whose

available energy densities are variable during different hours. Therefore, the energy storage

technology can be used for storing the excess renewable energy in high production hours, to

make up the channel during low production hours, and to better integrate the energy generator

into the local electricity grid.

Solar energy is the most important among renewable energy resources due to its quantitative

abundance. Although the solar energy is available everywhere but its availability is

intermittent. Therefore it is necessary to provide a storage system with solar collectors to store

energy and to meet the demand in the absence of solar radiation. Packed bed is generally

recommended for thermal energy storage with solar air heaters.

A packed bed heat storage system consists of loosely packed solid material of good heat

capacity through which the heated air is circulated. During charging mode, solar heated air is

forced into the top of the container and it then passes evenly down through the bed, heating

the storage and passes out through the lower plenum. Air is drawn off at the bottom and

returned to the collectors. When energy is needed from this energy storage system, the airflow

is reversed.

Since the generalized heat transfer coefficient and friction factor correlations are not available
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in the literature which could predict the thermal and thermo-hydraulic performance of the

system for different shapes of the large size cylindrical elements at different void fractions of

the bed. It was planned to investigate the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of the

packed bed with the following objectives:

i) To investigate the effect of system parameters (void fraction of the bed and aspect

ratio of packing elements) and operating parameter (Reynolds number)

on heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of grooved packed bed heat storage

system. Aspect ratio of element (le/de) has been used to define the shape of the

material elements.

ii) To develop the correlations for Nusselt number and friction factor as a function of the

system and operating parameters. These correlations may be useful for the better

understanding of grooved packed bed thermal energy storage system.

To achieve those objectives, an experimental set-up has been designed, fabricated and

commissioned. Extensive data has been collected for the analysis of heat transfer and fluid

flow characteristics of packed bed. The data of air temperature and material temperature at

different locations inside the packed bed and pressure drop across the bed were collected for

five different Reynolds number which ranges from 1666 to 2150 for each set of material size

and void fraction of the bed. In order to take into account the effect of temperature gradients

inside the material elements on heat transfer coefficient, values of a new parameter called

apparent volumetric heat transfer coefficient have been determined. Using the experimental

data following correlations for Nusselt number and friction factor have been developed as

function of Reynolds number, void fraction of bed and aspect ratio of element.

In these correlations elements aspect ratio (le/de) is varies due to change in length of elements

at constant diameter of elements. It has been observed that the experimental values and the

values of Nusselt number and friction factor predicted by the above correlations are in good

agreement. Validity of the correlations has been checked by comparing experimental data of
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Nusselt number and friction factor and that predicted by the correlation for Nusselt number

and Friction factor respectively. The maximum percentage deviations between the

experimental and predicted data for Nusselt number and friction factor have been found to be

7% and 12% respectively. Validity of correlations has also been checked by comparing the

values predicted by the present correlations and those predicted by the previous correlations

reported in the literature. The present correlations can be used to forecast the thermo-

hydrodynamics performance of the actual packed bed solar energy storage system employing

cylindrical element in the range of system and operating parameter.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

iii) GENERAL

A packed bed in a solar heating system does not operate normally with constant temperature.
During daytime different conditions like solar radiations, ambient temperature, collector inlet
temperature and load requirements result in a variable collector outlet temperature. For design
a packed bed energy storage system we have to consider many operating and system
parameters such as pressure drop in bed, heat transfer between air and material elements,
storage temperature, storage material, storage heat losses, costs of the storage medium
container, heat exchanger, cost of auxiliary energy etc.

2.2 PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PACKED BEDS

Paul [7] mention that the packed bed material not only absorbed the energy carried by the air
but also retains it for extended period of time due to inherent energy retaining characteristics
of the material and its inherent restriction of convection. In order to avoid the heat losses the
storage system is generally well insulated and installed near the solar collectors. The high heat
transfer coefficient between the air and solid causes quick heat transfer from air to the solid.
The particles near the entrance are heated but the temperature near the exit remains
unchanged and the air comes out of the bed at a temperature very close to the initial bed
temperature. As time progresses air at higher temperature passes through the bed and the exit
air temperature begins to rise. When the bed is fully charged its temperature becomes
uniform.

Duffie and Bechman [4] described that the optimum size of the storage system is a function of
several system parameters such as storage temperature, material, storage heat losses, costs of
the storage medium container, heat exchanger, cost of auxiliary energy and operating
conditions such as insolation, ambient temperature, wind speed and solar
fraction of the total heat load. Physical Characteristics of packed beds include the details of
the internal packing geometry or the structural properties of the bed, which in turn influences
the velocity distribution within the bed. Packing geometry concerns with the arrangement of
material elements in the bed and void fraction of the bed, which influence the thermal and
hydrodynamic behavior of a packed bed. In the case of spheres the most commonly used
method is the random packing. It is formed by haphazard positioning of the elements to form
an assembly or bed.
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Knowledge of void fraction distribution in the bed is essential for any rigorous analysis of the
fluid dynamics within the bed. Bulk voidage of the randomly packed bed is generally
evaluated from the following relation:

 Vb Vs (2.1)

Vb

The number of spheres „Ns‟ in a unit volume of the bed can be calculated from the following
equation:

6(1  )
Ns  D3 (2.2)
s

The specific surface area „S „of the bed is the ratio of the surface area of packing element to
the bulk volume and is given by:

Attempts have been made to describe the deviation of particle shape from spherical by a shape
factor. Standish and Drinkwater [8] defined the shape of the material elements in terms of
“sphericity”. It is defined as the ratio of surface area „a s‟ of the equivalent sphere having volume

same as the material element to the surface area „ae‟ of the material element. Therefore
sphericity is given by the following relation:

Generally it is assumed that the packing is sufficiently large in extent so that any external
surface such as bed support or wall has an insignificant effect upon the packing properties.
This assumption does not always hold. It is obvious that adjacent to an external surface there
will be region of relatively high voidage due to the discrepancy between the radii of curvature
of the wall and the elements. The effect of wall is to increase the overall voidage due to
increase in local voidage in the region near the wall. Ziolkowska & Ziolkowski [9] reviews
the literature extensively to discuss the structural properties of the packed beds, as well as the
influence of the same on the transport process within such system.
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2.3 STORAGE MATERIALS

Energy can be stored in rocks or pebbles packed in insulated vessels. This type of storage
o
system is used very often for temperatures up to 100 C in conjunction with solar air heaters. It
is reported to be simple in design and relatively inexpensive. Direct contact between the solid
storage media and a heat transfer fluid is necessary to minimize the cost of heat exchange in a
solid storage medium. The use of rocks for thermal storage provides advantages such as:

1. Rocks are non-toxic and non-flammable.

2. Rocks are inexpensive.
3. Rocks act both as heat transfer surface and storage medium.

The heat transfer between air and a rock bed is good, due to large heat transfer area, low
effective heat conductance of the rock pile and small area of contact between the rocks. These
factors contribute the advantage of low heat losses from the pile.

Hasnain [10] reported that solid materials such as rocks, metals, concrete, sand and brick can
be used for low as well as high temperature heat storage. The pebble beds or rocks are
generally used as storage material because of their low cost. Typically the size of rock used
varies from 1 cm to 5 cm. Among metals, aluminum, magnesium and zinc have been
mentioned as suitable materials. The use of metallic media is useful where high thermal
conductivity is required and the cost is of the secondary importance. Solid industrial wastes
such as copper slag, iron slag, aluminum slag and copper chips may be used as storage
material for energy storage. Various metallic, refractory materials and different stones can also
be used as storage material.

Atear [11] presented a detailed coverage on the sensible heat storage techniques and materials
generally used for storage. It was reported that sensible heat storage systems were simpler in
design; however they suffer from the disadvantage of being bigger in size. For this reason, an
important criterion for selecting a material for sensible heat storage system is its heat capacity.
A variety of substances have been used in sensible heat storage systems. The choice of
material depends largely on the temperature level of the application. Water being used for
o o
temperature below 100 C and refractory bricks used for temperatures up to 1000 C.

Aly and El-Sharkawy [12] reported that the increase in storage medium density considerably
increases the rate of charging and the storage capacity of the bed, and decreases the solid
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temperature rise inside the bed. The thermal conductivity of the solid phase was having an
intriguing effect on the packed bed thermal performance. It increases the charging rate and
amount of energy stored, and causes a higher temperature rise throughout the bed for a certain
charging period, beyond which this trend completely reverses. The specific heat of the storage
material affects the thermal behavior of the packed bed in the same general manner as the
density. An increase in specific heat of storage material causes a higher rate of charging and
greater storage capacity. A list of various materials along with their properties is given in
Table 2.1.
Table 2.1: Properties of sensible heat storage materials [11].
Heat Thermal
Thermal Specific
S. Density capacity diffusivity
3 -6 6
No. Medium (Kg/m ) C10 conductivity =k/C10 heat
(W/m K) (J/kg K)
3 2
(J/m K) (m /s)
1. Aluminum 2707 2.4255 204 84.100 896
2. Brick 1698 1.4263 0.69 0.848 840
3. Concrete 2240 2.5310 1.2 0.488 1130
4. Cast iron 7900 6.6123 29.3 4.431 837
5. Copper 8954 3.4294 385 112.3 383
6. Earth(wet) 1700 3.5581 2.51 0.705 2093
7. Lime stone 2500 2.2500 1.26 0.560 900
8. Marble stone 2600 2.0800 2.42 1.313 800

2.4 HEAT TRANSFER AND PRESSURE DROP

CHARACTERISTICS OF PACKED BED

The heat transfer between the fluid and the solid in a packed bed is considered to be a
complex phenomenon. The rate of heat transfer to or from the solid in the packed bed is a
function of the physical properties of the fluid and solid. Pressure drop depends upon the
flow rate of the fluid and the physical characteristics of the packed bed. Usually the shape
of individual elements, voidage and specific surface area of the packing are assumed to be
sufficient to characterize the geometry of the packed bed [13].

Tortuous nature of the fluid flow makes the heat transfer mechanism to be complex.
Another factor influencing the rate of heat transfer is the mixing action within the fluid that
results from the Eddies created. The temperature of the surface of the bed element is
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dependent on the intra particle heat conduction i.e. from the surface to the interior of the
element. It is also dependent, to a lesser degree, on the inter particle conduction of heat
when the adjacent bed elements come into direct contact with each other. The transfer of

Lof and Hawley [15] mentioned correlation for volumetric heat transfer coefficient (h v)
between air and gravel commonly used for the design of packed bed solar energy storage
systems.

 G 0.7
hv  652   (2.10)
d

A detailed analysis of pressure drop associated with the flow of fluid through a packed bed
has been carried out by Ergun [16]. The Ergun equation describes flow in both the laminar
and turbulent regimes. This method treats the packed column as a compact irregular bundle of
tubes. This analysis assumes several conditions. First condition is that there is no channeling
in the packed bed. Channeling occurs when the fluid flowing through the packed bed finds a
“preferred path” through the bed. It is also assumed that the diameter of the packing elements
is much smaller than the diameter of the column. The maximum recommended element
diameter is one-fifth of the column diameter. Assume that velocity, element diameter and void
fraction behaves as a bulk behavior and hence an average value can be considered.
With straight pipes, Ergun relates the flows and pressure drops to a Reynolds number and
friction factor respectively. The Reynolds number (Re) for packed beds depends upon the
controlled variable G and the system parameters ρ, ε, μ, and De and it is defined as:

GDe
Re  (1  ) (2.11)
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The friction factor (f) depends upon G and the pressure drop, and system parameters and is
defined as:

P D  3
2 e

f  L G (1  )
2
(2.12)

In laminar flows, viscous forces dominate the friction factor. The Blake-Kozeny equation
shows a strong dependence of the friction factor to the Reynolds number which is valid for
Re < 10.

(1 )2 
f  75  3 GD (2.13)
e

In turbulent flows, kinetic forces dominate the friction factor. The Burke-Plummer equation
[17] shows that the friction factor is independent of the Reynolds number. That equation is
valid for Re > 1000.

f  7(1 3 ) (2.14)

8

Ergun superimposes equation (2.13) and (2.14) into an equation that describes the friction
factor for all flows as:

(1 )2  7(1 )
f  75  3 GD  8 3 (2.15)
e

Ergun [16] checked the equation for a variety of material and flow rates and determine that is
equation (2.15) valid even for Reynolds number between 10 and 1000. Ergun simplified the
parameters into:

f  150 1.75 (2.16)

Re

Equation (2.16) shows the constants which obtained by Ergun with his materials and flow
rates. We call the values 150 and 1.75 to be the Ergun‟s constants.
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Dunkle and Ellul [18] presented the following correlation for pressure drop calculation. It was
mentioned that due to variability of rock shapes, void fraction and size distribution departure
of ± 25 % or more in the values indicated by this equation must be anticipated.

LG2  1750 
P  21
  (2.17)
 fDe  Re 

Pressure drop in the bed is generally represented by a non-dimensional number known as

friction factor. It is a dimensionless form of pressure drop in the packed bed. Ergun [16]
reported that the pressure drop or total energy loss in a packed bed can be treated as the sum
of viscous energy loss within the fluid itself, and kinetic energy loss with flow over the
surface of the material particles.

Foumeny et al. [19] studies have been carried out on pressure drop characteristics on beds of
equilateral and non-equilateral solid cylinders of aspect ratio ranging from 0.5 to 2.0. These
studies have exposed the shortcomings of the commonly used Ergun type correlation for
predicting the pressure drop in beds of cylindrical elements which has already been
developed.
Ozahi et al. [20] planned to clarify the applicability of the well known Ergun correlation
proposed for beds composed with spherical particles on beds with non-spherical particles.
They use two different irregular shaped and one spherical-shaped packing materials for
understanding the effect of particle shape (or sphericity), particle size, bed porosity and bed
length to diameter ratio on pressure drop.

Hollands and Sullivan [21] gave a relation, which is generally used to determine the
numerical value of friction factor.

P a De
f LG2 (2.18)

2.5 DESIGN OF PACKED BED SOLAR ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM

To design a storage unit for solar system is very complicated process. While designing the
storage system all the system components such as collector, storage unit, and auxiliary
equipment should be taken into consideration. A packed bed energy storage system is
comprised of energy storage material, a container and provision for adding and removing heat
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energy. The design of packed bed system depends upon the amount of energy to be stored.
Stratification of the bed is also an important factor in the design of such system.

In the design of packed beds there are effectively four variables which control the packing
process. These include particle (shape, absolute size, size distribution, mass, elasticity and
surface properties), container (shape, size and surface properties), deposition (intensity, speed
and method) and treatment after deposition (process vibration). These variables are most
important parameters for the designing of a packed bed solar energy storage system.

2.5.1 Design methods

The daily variation in the solar energy incident on the collector and daily heat load both are
varies in irregular fashion from day to day hence a statistical approach to select all possible
combinations is preferred.

One of the methods commonly used in design of solar system is the f-chart method,
described by Beckman et al. [22]. A number of different factors were taken into account in
developing the design recommendations associated with that method and many simplifying
assumptions are also necessary. Beckman et al. [22] made the following general
recommendations relative to the design of storage unit for air heating systems.

3 2
1. Collector air flow rate : 0.005-0.02 m /s per m of collector area
3 2
2. Storage capacity : 0.152-0.457 m /s per m of collector area
3. Pebble size (equivalent diameter): 1.27-3.8 cm
4. Pressure drop in bed : 0.25-0.76 cm of water

The following quantities associated with the storage unit were used in the development of f-
chart for an air heating system.

3 2
1. Collector air flow rate : 0.01-0.02 m /s/ m of collector surface area
3 2
2. Bed volume : 0.25 m / m of collector surface area

Courtier and Farber [6] used rocks in solar system for heat storage with packed beds. They
concluded that a general and reliable method was needed while designing a packed bed;
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particularly to determine the most critical parameters as: (i) air flow rate per unit surface area
of the bed, (ii) rock equivalent diameter and (iii) bed length and the bed surface area. Two
main variables, mass flow rate per unit surface area of the bed and the rock equivalent
diameter were shown to determine volumetric heat transfer coefficient. Finally the design
considerations included the effect of fan power, total energy transferred, temperatures reached
and noise control. They resulted that the convective heat transfer coefficient increases along a
straight line with an increase in the flow rate to particle diameter ratio, while the energy used
by the blower decreased with a decrease in flow rate and with an increase in the particle
diameter.

Design of a storage unit by Balcomb [23] is based on the pressure drop and heat transfer
characteristics of packed bed. These characteristics were obtained for a symmetric regenerator
operating with uniform inlet temperatures. The design chart was constructed so that the
storage unit has retained 95% of the available energy.

Howell et al. [24] mentioned that horizontal flow has occasionally been used in packed beds
because heat exchange effectiveness is lower than vertical flow beds. In horizontal beds the
tendency for warm air is to flow through the upper portion and of cold air through the bottom
portions. To overcome that problem of horizontal arrangement, baffles should be provided.

Kulakowski and Schimdt [25] point out, when the by-pass control is used in the storage
system, flow rate and temperature are not constant. The difference between fluid temperature
at the beginning and the end of the retrieval processes frequently referred to as the
„temperature swing‟ of the unit. If the storage device is over sized, low heat storage per unit
volume of storage material, the „temperature swing‟ will be reduced. The by-pass
arrangement is necessary during the heat retrieval process to avoid the „Temperature Swing‟
of the unit because there are many instances where a very small „temperature swing‟ is
desirable. For commercial heating system the temperature of the air supplied can be
maintained at a selected value during the complete retrieval process, minimizing any
discomfort which might result from a large „temperature swing‟. With the use of by-pass
control, temperature of the air supplied to the load becomes time independent.

Schmidt and Willmott [26] have been presented accurate method for the prediction of
performance of storage units. These methods have the capabilities of predicting the
performance of the storage unit while it is subjected to time-wise variations in inlet fluid
temperature and flow rate.
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2.5.2 Shape and Sizes of Storage Material for Packed Bed

Selection of particle shape for a given purpose will be influenced by the active surface area
per unit volume of material, structural strength, ease of construction, manufacturing cost, bed
voidage, pressure drop through bed matrix, and the transport properties. Many of the possible
shapes can be discarded because they would not be easy or economical to fabricate and/or
they would not have the necessary structural strength to resist crushing and abrasion.
Elements with poor strength would soon crumble in the process of intense loading and the
resulting dust and fragments would plug the spaces between pellets. This causes premature
build-up in bed pressure drop. However, the desired features of the preferred shape, for a
given application, should be such that certain properties are high (e.g. active surface area per
unit volume, voidage, strength and transport coefficients) even as the rest are low (e.g.
pressure drop and cost). In the field analysis, optimum design will be a compromise between
competing and convicting characteristics.

Afandizadeh and Foumeny [27] show that for a given volume, cylindrical elements provide
higher surface area than their spherical counterparts. It is clear that a solid cylinder gives at
least 14.5% more surface area than a sphere of equivalent volume. Extreme values of element
aspect ratio (i.e. le/de is close to zero and very high) should be avoided because of their
adverse performance characteristics. On the basis of detailed examinations, value of aspect
ratio should be near about one (le/de =1).They also show that the 0.75 le/de< 1.50 and 0.4< di
/do < 0.8, giving some 20±30% extra surface area
for hollow cylinders compared to the corresponding solid cylinders. This extrusion of solid
cylinders should also result in higher voidage and hence significantly lowers the pressure
drop.

Hassan [28] conducted an extensive study on different energy storage techniques and
materials used in sensible heat storage systems. The author reported that large storage size
usually not required. The author also mentioned that the „temperature swing‟ and
„extraction of the energy‟ were two major disadvantages in most sensible heat storage
systems. A large storage space besides occupying a large space and increasing cost also causes
large thermal losses. Further, use of storage materials having a large thermal capacity decrease
the size. The storage materials should have high thermal diffusivity.

Standish and Drinkwater [8] investigated the effect of particle shape on flooding rates in
packing columns. The values of sphericity were used to characterize the packing shape. They
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reported that the shape of packing was a significant variable. Besides size distribution, the
element shape was most likely factor to affect the packing structure and its properties in
randomly packed beds.

Sagara and Nakahara [29] suggested that the improvement of thermal performance and the
reduction of friction in the packed beds are a trade-off in designing air based solar heating
systems. The energy performance of solar heating systems using various kinds of storage
materials were suggested to be investigated in order to prepare data with which designers can
select the optimum storage material for their purpose. In case of large sized materials
temperature gradient inside the solid cannot be ignored. It was found that thermal
performance for a large size material like brick and concrete blocks was poor but they
required less power supply to run the fans. They reported that the large size materials had
almost the same thermal performance as small size materials in a solar heating system with a
heat pump. If the bed is longer, the difference of fan energy between large and small materials
becomes greater and then in that case, large size materials may be more favorable as storage
materials. They mentioned that economic evaluation might become a decisive factor for the
ability to utilize large size materials.
Singh et al. [30] conducted an extensive experimental study on different large sized storage
materials. The material elements that were investigated included T-joint masonry tile bricks,
standard masonry tile bricks, standard masonry bricks, concrete cubes and concrete spheres.
They reported that for a given value of Reynolds number, Nusselt number decreased as the
value of sphericity was decreased from 1.00 to 0.80 and it was found to increase with further
decrease of sphericity from 0.80 to 0.55. The change of flow patterns and area of contact
available for heat transfer were supposed to be responsible for such a change in Nusselt
number. With shift from cubical to other shapes with lower sphericity, it was observed that the
flatness of surface increased with decrease in sphericity which caused more exposure of
surface area for heat transfer and chances of higher turbulence intensity of fluid flow were
more due to more number of sharp corners. This resulted in an increase in the value of Nusselt
number as the value of sphericity decreased from 0.80 to 0.55. However, during fluid flow in
the bed of spheres, fluid film remained in contact with the maximum portion of the surface of
elements of spherical shape as compared to that for the other shapes, which resulted in an
increase in the Nusselt number.

2.5.3 Sizing of packed bed energy storage

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The size of the packed bed depends on the amount of energy stored per unit mass or per unit
volume of storage material. The higher energy density have two advantages: (a) the size of
storage is reduced and (b) lesser quantity of storage material is required. A smaller weight of
storage also preferred because easy transportation. The weight may not be very important in
the case of an underground storage or storage in the basement, but may be critical in the case
of roof-top storage. The cost of the floor space or volumetric space should be one of the
parameter in optimizing the size of the storage. The economics of packed bed thermal storage
system depends on proper heat exchanger design. Designer must consider how the heat
exchanger will perform in practice, which requires a shrewd understanding of heat transfer
mechanisms occurring in packed beds.
2.5.4 Thermal and hydrodynamic performance of packed bed energy storage
system

A theoretical model for the performance of the bed was developed by Schumann [31], which
described the heat transfer process within a packed bed. In this work a liquid initially at
uniform temperature passes lengthwise through a right porous prism. The sides of the prism
are adiabatic and impervious to the liquid and the temperatures of both liquid and solid will be
the functions of time and a distance between inlet and outlet. For a gas instead of a liquid, the
problem became much more complicated but a dimensional method of treating the problem
leads to results which may be very useful in practice. He presented one-dimensional two-
phase model for packed bed system by ignoring the thermal capacity of the fluid, axial
conduction in the fluid and axial conduction in the bed material. The governing equations of
the model are given as below:

(i) For fluids,  C v Ta  h (T T ) (2.19)

a a a  v b a

T
(ii) For solids, C   b  h (T T ) (2.20)
b b  va b

Using infinite series and Bessel functions Schumann originally solved these equations for step
change in inlet temperature of a semi-infinite packed bed initially at uniform temperature.

Saez and McCoy [32] presented a mathematical model for simulating the dynamic response of
a packed column to an arbitrary time dependent inlet air temperature. It included features like
axial thermal dispersion as well as intra-particle conduction that have usually been neglected
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but can be important in solar energy applications. Energy loss to the surroundings was also
neglected. They mentioned that if the value of Biot number (Bi) is large, intra-particle
conduction effects could not be ignored. If Bi << 1 then intra-particle heat conduction is
negligible and at any cross-section of the bed column, fluid and solid temperature will be
same.

Colburn [33] used granular materials, pebbles, porcelain balls and zinc balls of different sizes
in the experimental study on heat transfer between air flowing through a filled tube and
granular materials. They presented correlations for heat transfer coefficient and the heat
transfer coefficient was found to be dependent on the mass flow rate of air and particle to tube
diameter ratio.

Lof and Hawley [15] determined the heat transfer between air and loose solids in an
experimental study. They concluded that the heat transfer coefficient increases along a straight
line with an increase in airflow rate. However, it decreased along a straight line with an
increase in the element diameter (size of element).

Ergun [16] carried out a detailed analysis of the pressure drop associated with flow of a fluid
through a packed bed. The author mentioned that there are number of factors determining the
energy loss (pressure drop) in the packed beds. He reported that the pressure drop or total
energy loss in a packed bed can be treated as the sum of viscous energy loss within the fluid
itself, and kinetic energy loss with flow over the surface of the material elements. Friction
factor was defined as the ratio of total energy loss to the kinetic energy loss.

Gauvin and Katta (34) mentioned that the major operating cost in packed bed system is
directly related to the pressure drop in the bed, which cannot be predicted with reliability
when the elements in the bed depart from the spherical shape.

Chandra and Willits [35] founds that the pressure drop is depend on rock size, bed porosity
and air flow rate. Coefficient of heat transfer was dependent on rock size and flow rate only.
No influences of inlet air temperature or initial rock bed temperature on coefficient of heat
transfer was found.

Nsofor and Adebiyi [36] conducted an experimental investigation of forced convection heat
transfer coefficient and correlations were given for Nusselt number. The results
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covered a temperature range up to 1000 C and Reynolds number range was 50 to 120. The
uncertainties in Nusselt number was reported to be as 10–30%.

Singh et al. [30] critically analyzed the works done on large sized storage elements and
developed correlations for Nusselt number and friction factor. They reported that the
correlations developed in this study can be useful to investigate the performance of a packed
bed solar energy system within the investigated range of parameters. It was also concluded
that the performance of the packed bed system with other shapes of material elements might
be investigated.

Singh et al. [37] made an attempt to develop the correlations for Nusselt number and friction
factor by using the earlier published data of masonry bricks having dimensions different from
Indian masonry bricks. Based on the developed correlations, performance of the system
having Indian masonry bricks as storage material was compared with the masonry bricks used
in earlier works. The data presented by them was reported to be useful for predicting the
thermal and hydraulic performance of packed bed system having masonry bricks as storage
material.

Nallusamy et al. [38] reported that in case of constant heat transfer fluid temperature, the mass
flow had only a small effect on the rate of charging and the rate of heat transfer increases in
direct proportion with the increase in inlet temperature of the heat transferring fluid
temperature. The mass flow rate had a significant effect on the heat extraction rate. It was
concluded that combined storage system gave better performance than the conventional
sensible heat storage system when there was a direct mixing of the heat transfer fluid with the
storage material.
2.5.5 Duration of packed bed energy storage

Since in energy storage systems energy has to be stored hence duration of energy storage is
important parameter to be taken into account while dealing with the storage. If energy is
converted into a fuel such as hydrogen, it can be stored almost infinitely. However, if
energy is stored as thermal energy, one has to be insuring that the thermal losses during the
length of the time for which energy is to be stored are within the acceptable duration.

On the basis of duration, energy storage system can be classified as short-term duration,
medium-term duration or long-term duration. Short-term storage is used to address peak
power loads lasting a few hours to a day in order to reduce the sizing of systems and/or to take
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advantage of energy-tariff daily structures. Short-term is often called diurnal storage. Short-
term storage is a dynamic system that undergoes a daily charge. Medium or long term storage
is recommended when waste heat or seasonal energy loads can be transferred with a delay of
a few weeks to several months. Long term storages that take advantage of seasonal climatic
variations are often referred to as annual or seasonal storage [2].

For the long term storage, heat losses should be low. For that storage device should be well
insulated. The thermal resistance to the loss of heat from a storage device called “R” and that
value of R is indication of the effectiveness of insulation. Krieder and Kreith [39]
recommended that R-4 insulation should be used for pipes with diameter less than 1 inch
(0.0254 m) and R-6 insulation for pipes with diameter 1-4 inch (0.0254-0.1016 m)

2.5.6 Stratification

Crandall and Thacher [40] performed numerical simulations for solar energy storage with
rock in stratified beds. They reported that the packed beds can have high degree of
stratification and this was a major advantage. Stratification provides higher temperature at top
of the bed and coolest at the bottom. This allowed the warmest air to be delivered from the top
of packed bed. Warm air satisfied the load more efficiently. Stratification in a rock bed
decreased during the later part of the day, with a decrease in solar insolation and hence with a
decrease in the collector outlet temperature.

Howell et al. [24] described a typical packed bed unit of length or height „L‟ and cross
sectional area „A‟ packed with solid particles having an equivalent diameter „De‟ and a
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void fraction „ε‟ as shown in Figure 2.2. The bed is assumed to consist of „N‟ number of
elements of thickness Δx each. One of the bed element „m‟ at initial uniform temperature of
Tbm is shown in Figure 2.3. It is shown that the air enters into this bed element „m‟ at
temperature Ta,m and exits at Ta,m+1 .

Mumma and Marvin [41] proposed a straightforward simulation method for the thermal
behavior of packed bed storage systems. The simulation is based on a one- dimensional
transient analysis of energy exchange between the air stream and the material particles, using
a finite difference method. Energy balance of air over the length Δx=L/N of element „m‟
(shown previously in Figure 2.3) is given by

mC   
Ta , m Ta , m 1   hv AX Ta , m Tb , m 

 P dTa  mC
 P (2.21)
 a  a

Equation (2.21) can be integrated to find the final temperature of the air „T am‟ at the exit of
each element.

2.6 OPTIMIZATION OF PACKED BED SOLAR ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM

Several studies have been reported to carrying out the optimization of the packed bed solar
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energy storage system. Out of them some methods are discussed here. Wyman et al. [42]
reviewed the energy storage technologies for intermediate temperature storage. They reported
that the total cost of a thermal energy storage unit was equal to sum of the energy related cost
and the power related cost. They reported that while using water as storage material above
o
100 C, the storage tank must be able to contain water at its vapor pressure and the storage
tank cost rises sharply with temperature beyond this point. The difficulties of vapor pressure
of water and the limitations of other liquids can be avoided by storing thermal energy as
sensible heat in solids. But large amounts of solids are needed than water since the heat
storage density of solids is usually less than water. The cost of storage media per unit energy
cost is not as low as for water, but is still acceptable for rocks. Direct contact between the
solid storage media and the heat transfer fluid was found to be vital to minimize the cost of
heat exchange in a solid storage medium.

CHAPTER 3
EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP AND DATA REDUCTION

GENERAL
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This chapter deals with the detail of experimental investigation, data collection and processing
of the data for heat transfer and pressure drop in packed bed. The objective of this work is to
see the effect of the various system and operating parameters on the heat transfer and pressure
drop in packed bed energy storage system. To achieve these objectives, an extensive and
systematic investigation has been carried out. The cylindrical elements with internal grooves
have been used to investigate heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of packed bed
energy storage system.

2.4 EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP

The schematic diagram of experimental set-up is shown in Figure 3.1. It consists of an air
duct, heat source, fan for handling air, control valve, pipeline, orifice plate with U-tube
manometer, storage tank, micro-manometer and appropriate instrumentations for the
measurement of various parameters. The elements of storage material were packed in the
storage tank to formulate the packed bed.

4. Design of storage tank

In case of packed bed, the most significant parameter is the tube (bed) to element diameter
ratio (dt/de). It has been found that where d t/de <10, the total pressure drop  is very
sensitive to the bed voidage ().

The storage tank is of internal diameter 0.45 m which is made of mild steel (MS) sheet of 3
mm thickness. Tank height is 1.1 m including upper and lower plenums of height 0.222 m
each. Thus the actual packed bed height is 0.65 m. The length of upper and lower plenum is
decided as 0.222 m as per the recommendation by Hollands and Sullivan [21].

The lower and upper part of storage tank each are made up of two circular plates diameter of
0.43 m and 0.55 m which are weld on a box of MS channels. The upper plenum with
distribution vanes are provided for proper distribution of air in the bed. While the lower
plenum’s 0.43 m diameter plate provides support to storage material in the storage tank and
plate of 0.55 m diameter used as a cover plate. This tank is mounted on a stand which is made
of MS channels. Two taps are provided at upper and lower part of the bed to attaching micro-
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manometer for measuring pressure drop through the bed. Four more taps are provided on bed
to take out thermocouple wires for temperature measurements in the bed. Tank is insulated
with polyethylene foam to minimize the heat losses from bed to environment.

To make air supply from air duct to storage tank, galvanized iron pipeline of 0.080 m
diameter is used. To insure minimum heat losses, pipe line is properly insulated with
polyethylene foam and all pipe joints are sealed properly to avoid any air leakage.

Selector Flow pipe Orifice plate

switch

Upper
Flange
plenum
tap

Storage tank

Storage
material

Lower
plenum
Projection micro
manometer
Digital
Air outlet multimeter

Air inlet

Figure 3.1: Schematic diagram of experimental set-up.

3.2.2 Design of storage material elements

The selection of storage material is based on the characteristics which are recommended in
the literature of packed bed solar energy storage system. Energy storage material should be
such type that it can be formed easily in any shape according to requirement. Its availability in
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the local market at reasonable cost is also considered. Following parameter should be kept in
mind during selection of particle shape for thermal storage system:

2.5 The active surface area per unit volume of material should be high.

2.6 Pressure drop through bed matrix should be low.

Aspect ratio of element should be nearly equal to unity (le /de  1).

Considering these selection criteria, a solid cylindrical element with internal grooves has
been selected based upon following points:

1. Solid cylinder gives at least 14.5% more surface area then sphere of
equivalent volume.

2. Pressure drop in beds of grooved cylindrical elements is much less than sphere
elements, when compared on the basis of flow rate of the fluid.

3. When element aspect ratio nearly equal to unity (l e /de  1), heat transfer rate is
high.

In this experimental investigation, cylindrical elements made of cement and sand. The
proportion of cement and sand is 1:2. In this experimental investigation large size cylindrical
elements with internal grooves have been used and the geometry of these elements are shown
in Figure 3.3. The width and depth of internal grooves are 2 cm and 1.2 cm respectively.
These cylindrical particles with internal grooves are made of cement and sand with the help of
PVC pipe of internal diameter of 10.5 cm and wood strip of width of 2 cm and thickness of
1.2 cm.