Performance of energy storage unit equipped with vase-shaped fins including nanoparticle enhanced paraffin

Inventing new fins with vase-shaped to incorporate in the storage enclosure has been suggested in current work to decline the energy consumption. Combination of heat storage with shape of triplex tube with parabolic solar unit makes the efficiency to intensify. The properties of paraffin were intensified with dispersing SiO2 nanoparticles. Different proposed models contain various ranges of fraction of nano-powders and three arrangements of vase-shaped fins. Finite volume method with involvement of both conduction and convection modes was applied to scrutinize the system numerically and its accuracy was assessed by comparing the outputs with previous article. The best arrangement for the target of maximum efficiency and minimum time of charging was the third style of fins (Diameter ratio (DR) = 1) in which fins are attached to both hot surfaces and with inclusion of nano-powders, it takes 20.91 min to achieve full melting. With changing the features of paraffin due to dispersing nano-powders, the melting time reduces around 3.83 % when DR = 1. Moreover, with the change of style of fins from DR = 0.6 to DR = 1, the melting time drops around 6.06 %.