First and Second laws analyses of a closed latent heat thermal energy storage system

First and Second Law analyses were conducted to evaluate the performance of a closed latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) system employing calcium chloride hexahydrate (CaCl₂·6H₂O). The First and the Second Laws of thermodynamics were applied to the system from viewpoint of energy and exergy analyses, respectively. The energy storage tank in the system is neither fully mixed nor fully stratified. It may be considered as semithermal stratified. Experiments that include both charging and discharging periods were performed on sunny winter days in 1996. The energy and exergy variations and the overall energy and exergy efficiencies of the closed LHTES system were calculated for the complete charging and discharging cycle of the selected fifteen clear-sky winter days. Mean energy and exergy efficiencies were found to be 55.20% and 34.83%, respectively.