scholarly journals Performance Evaluation of an Active PCM Thermal Energy Storage System for Space Cooling in Residential Buildings

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 74-89
Author(s):  
Sandris Rucevskis ◽  
Pavel Akishin ◽  
Aleksandrs Korjakins
Keyword(s):  
Energy Storage ◽  
Phase Change ◽  
Phase Change Material ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Cold Water ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Pipe System ◽  
Space Cooling ◽  
Change Material

Abstract This paper presents a numerical simulation-based study that evaluates the potential of an active phase change material (PCM) incorporated thermal energy storage (TES) system for space cooling in residential buildings. In the proposed concept, TES system is composed of stand-alone PCM storage units which are installed between the concrete ceiling slab and the ceiling finishing layer. Active control of the thermal energy storage is achieved by night cooling of a phase change material by means of cold water flowing within a capillary pipe system. Effectiveness of the system under the typical summer conditions of the Baltic States is analysed by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software Ansys Fluent. Results showed that installation of the active TES system has a positive effect on thermal comfort, reducing the average indoor air temperature by 6.8 °C. The outcome of this investigation would be helpful in selecting the key characteristics of the system in order to achieve the optimum performance of an active TES system for space cooling of buildings in similar climates.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the State of Charge of a Solid/Liquid Phase Change Material in a Thermal Energy Storage Tank

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Zsembinszki ◽  
Christian Orozco ◽  
Jaume Gasia ◽  
Tilman Barz ◽  
Johann Emhofer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Storage ◽  
Phase Change ◽  
Phase Change Material ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
The State ◽  
State Of Charge ◽  
Accurate Estimation ◽  
Change Material

Monitoring of the state of charge of the thermal energy storage component in solar thermal systems for space heating and/or cooling in residential buildings is a key element from the overall system control strategy point of view. According to the literature, there is not a unique method for determining the state of charge of a thermal energy storage system that could generally be applied in any system. This contribution firstly provides a classification of the state-of-the-art of available techniques for the determination of the state of charge, and secondly, it presents an experimental analysis of different methods based on established sensor technologies, namely temperature, mass flow rates, and pressure measurements, tested using a lab-scale heat exchanger filled with a commercial phase change material for cooling applications. The results indicate that, depending on the expected accuracy and available instrumentation, each of the methods studied here can be used in the present application, the deviations between the methods generally being below 20%. This study concludes that a proper combination of two or more of these methods would be the ideal strategy to obtain a more reliable and accurate estimation of the state of charge of the latent heat thermal energy storage.

Thermal Energy Storage Through Melting of a Commercial Phase Change Material in an Annulus with Radially Divergent Longitudinal Fins

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tonny Tabassum Mainul Hasan ◽  
Latifa Begum
Keyword(s):  
Energy Storage ◽  
Phase Change ◽  
Phase Change Material ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Storage System ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Melting Time ◽  
Bottom Part ◽  
Change Material

This study reports on the unsteady two-dimensional numerical investigations of melting of a paraffin wax (phase change material, PCM) which melts over a temperature range of 8.7oC. The PCM is placed inside a circular concentric horizontal-finned annulus for the storage of thermal energy. The inner tube is fitted with three radially diverging longitudinal fins strategically placed near the bottom part of the annulus to accelerate the melting process there. The developed CFD code used in Tabassum et al., 2018 is extended to incorporate the presence of fins. The numerical results show that the average Nusselt number over the inner tube surface, the total melt fraction, the total stored energy all increased at every time instant in the finned annulus compared to the annulus without fins. This is due to the fact that in the finned annulus, the fins at the lower part of the annulus promotes buoyancy-driven convection as opposed to the slow conduction melting that prevails at the bottom part of the plain annulus. Fins with two different heights have been considered. It is found that by extending the height of the fin to 50% of the annular gap about 33.05% more energy could be stored compared to the bare annulus at the melting time of 82.37 min for the identical operating conditions. The effects of fins with different heights on the temperature and streamfunction distributions are found to be different. The present study can provide some useful guidelines for achieving a better thermal energy storage system.

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