Experimental study on influence of structural parameters of water distributors on thermal stratification effect of assembled square hot-water storage tanks

This study proposes a square water distributor for improving the thermal stratification effect of the assembled square hot-water storage tank, and compares the impacts of water distributors and no water distributors on the thermal stratification of hot-water storage tanks. The effects of three structural parameters of the water distributor (plate size, plate spacing, baffle installation form) on the thermal stratification of the hot-water storage tank are experimentally studied. The results show that the inlet method of the water distributor can effectively improve the thermal stratification effect in the water tank. When the ratio of the equivalent diameter of the plate to the equivalent diameter of the water tank is 0.15 and the ratio of the plate spacing to the water tank height is 0.05, the water distributor shows a better diversion effect. The installation form of the baffle has little effect on the thermal stratification effect of the water tank.