Heat transfer enhancement of ice storage systems: a systematic review of the literature.

Thermal resistance of ice slows down the charging/discharging process of ice storage systems which results in long operating cycles and thus high energy consumption. To overcome this drawback, various heat transfer enhancement methods have been investigated in the literature. In this paper, a systematic review of the studies dealing with heat transfer enhancement methods is presented. The enhancement methods covered in this review paper include adding fins, embedding metal foam, dispersing nano-additives as well as hybrid methods combining at least two of the mentioned techniques. The literature review shows the significant potential of each enhancement method in reducing the charging/discharging time. Hybrid enhancement methods showed higher impact for reducing the time of operating cycles. Fins combined with metal foam are shown to achieve the highest enhancement with heat transfer rate increase of 200.9% but a trade-off is often required to keep the storage capacity. On the other hand, the review shed light on limitations of the literature, research gaps, and future challenges. The future of heat transfer enhancement methods is headed toward optimization approaches that can play a significant role in improving the performance of ice storage units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]