Thermal–hydraulic optimization of airfoil fins in an air–molten salt printed circuit heat exchangers for Carnot battery thermal energy storage

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ID: 328295
2026
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Abstract
Abstract Printed circuit heat exchangers show considerable potential for high-temperature air–molten salt heat transfer and thermal storage in Carnot batteries, but weak air-side heat-transfer capability and the flow resistance induced by enhancement structures limit their thermal–hydraulic performance. To address this issue, a three-dimensional conjugate heat-transfer model of a representative periodic air–molten salt print circuit heat exchanger segment was developed, with the local boundary conditions mapped from a nominal 89.3 MW Carnot-battery heat-transfer duty. The shear stress transport k–ω turbulence model was used to examine the effects of air-side fin geometry. Triangular, diamond, rectangular, and NACA0025 airfoil fins were first compared under identical chord length and cross-sectional area. The diamond fin produced the highest Nusselt number (Nu) but caused a large flow-resistance penalty, whereas the NACA0025 airfoil fin achieved the lowest Fanning friction factor and the highest heat-transfer-to-flow-power ratio, making it a suitable baseline for low-pressure-drop air-side enhancement. The effects of maximum fin thickness, maximum-thickness location, and leading-edge radius were then analyzed. Based on 100 computational fluid mechanics samples, a back-propagation neural network-assisted two-objective optimization framework was developed to maximize Nu and minimize f under baseline non-deterioration constraints. Entropy-weight TOPSIS (technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution) identified Wf=0.934 mm, Df=0.804 mm, and Rf=0.260 mm as the recommended design. Computational fluid mechanics verification yielded Nu=61.07, f=0.00830, and ηQ/P=122.92. Compared with the baseline NACA0025 fin, the recommended structure increased Nu by 1.03%, reduced f by 3.48%, and increased ηQ/P by 4.48%. A controlled local air-side sensitivity analysis showed that the recommended fin retained its relative thermal–hydraulic advantages over the baseline structure under the investigated air-side inlet-temperature and mass-flow-rate ranges, while the molten-salt-side boundary conditions were fixed. This study provides local fin-level design guidance for low-pressure-drop air-side enhancement of air–molten salt printed circuit heat exchangers under operating conditions relevant to Carnot-battery thermal energy storage.
Reference Key
openalex_W7212059949 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Honggang Wang, Han Yang, Xianglong Zhao, Zhide Wang, Meiyan Zhang, Yonghui Qiao
Journal journal of modern power systems and clean energy
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/ce/zkag062
URL
https://academic.oup.com/ce/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/ce/zkag062/71012141/zkag062.pdf
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