Waste heat recovery from diesel engine using custom designed heat exchanger and thermal storage system with nanoenhanced phase change material

Abstract

In this research study an attempt has been made to recover the heat energy of the exhaust gas from a Diesel engine, using a triangular finned shell and tube heat exchanger with segmental baffle at 20°, and efficiently store as sensible and latent heat energy using thermal storage tank having phase change material with CuO nanoparticles. The nanoparticles and the phase change material form the nanoparticle-enhanced phase change material and mainly the thermal conductivity of the phase change material can be enhanced through the dispersion of the nanoparticles. The temperature variations of the heat transfer fluid in the heat recovery heat exchanger with various load conditions of the Diesel engine are studied. The performance of the heat exchanger is evaluated using heat extraction rate and effectiveness. Evaluation of the performance of the thermal storage system can be analyzed by using the total heat energy stored and charging rate during the charging period for the selected nanoparticle-enhanced phase change material.