Experimental investigation of the temperatures and performance of a commercial ice-storage tank

Abstract This paper presents the results of an experimental installation with an internal melt-ice-on-coil tank which has a total capacity of 172 kWh. The aim of this work is to analyse the freezing process in a tank with counter-current spiral-shaped coils immersed in around 1855l water. An experimental campaign has been performed with different inlet temperatures and mass flow rates of the heat transfer fluid. This study analyses (i) the chiller performance, (ii) the ice-formation process and (iii) the energy consumption of the installation. Supply temperatures between −2.5 °C and −5.2 °C have been sufficient to charge the tank without using any nucleating agents. The lowest energy consumption has been achieved for the fastest charging tests.

[1]  Sih-Li Chen,et al.  An experimental investigation of nucleation probability of supercooled water inside cylindrical capsules , 1998 .

[2]  Sih-Li Chen,et al.  A study of supercooling phenomenon and freezing probability of water inside horizontal , 1998 .

[3]  Halime Ö Paksoy,et al.  Thermal energy storage for sustainable energy consumption : fundamentals, case studies and design , 2006 .

[4]  Liwu Fan,et al.  Experimental and computational study of constrained melting of phase change materials (PCM) inside a spherical capsule , 2009 .

[5]  Badr Habeebullah,et al.  An experimental study on ice formation around horizontal long tubes , 2007 .

[6]  Michael Kauffeld,et al.  From physical properties of ice slurries to industrial ice slurry applications , 2005 .

[7]  Aytunç Erek,et al.  Experimental study on charging and discharging periods of water in a latent heat storage unit , 2011 .

[8]  L. Cabeza,et al.  Heat and cold storage with PCM: An up to date introduction into basics and applications , 2008 .

[9]  M. A. Acar,et al.  Ice formation around a finned-tube heat exchanger for cold thermal energy storage , 2006 .

[10]  Xianting Li,et al.  A measurement method of ice layer thickness based on resistance-capacitance circuit for closed loop external melt ice storage tank , 2005 .

[11]  A. Bejan,et al.  Thermal Energy Storage: Systems and Applications , 2002 .

[12]  I. Eames,et al.  Freezing and melting of water in spherical enclosures of the type used in thermal (ice) storage systems , 2002 .

[13]  Xianting Li,et al.  Experimental Investigation of Discharge Performance and Temperature Distribution of an External Melt Ice-on-Coil Ice Storage Tank , 2003 .

[14]  John J. J. Chen,et al.  Simulation and experiment of the unsteady heat transport in the onset time of nucleation and crystallization of ice from the subcooled solution , 2003 .

[15]  Luisa F. Cabeza,et al.  Review on thermal energy storage with phase change: materials, heat transfer analysis and applications , 2003 .

[17]  Yingxin Zhu,et al.  Heat transfer processes during an unfixed solid phase change material melting outside a horizontal tube , 2001 .

[18]  M Kauffeld,et al.  ICE SLURRY APPLICATIONS. , 2010, Revue internationale du froid.