Numerical simulation of a solar cooling system with and without phase change materials in radiant walls of a building

Abstract This work investigates energetically and financially a building solar cooling system with radiant walls which includes phase change materials (PCMs). The examined building has a floor area of 100 m2 and it is located in Athens (Greece). The solar cooling system includes evacuated tube collectors coupled to a single-effect absorption chiller for producing cold water for the building radiant walls. The use of PCM is examined in all the building’s outer walls and different scenarios with PCM in only some walls are also investigated in details. Different combinations of collecting areas and storage tank volumes are examined in order to determine the optimum design for every scenario. The study is performed with the commercial software TRNSYS which uses an active layer to simulate the radiant wall. The most important calculated parameters of this work are the auxiliary energy consumption, the solar coverage and the indoor temperature of the building. The results indicate that the best location of PCM layer is in south wall with a reduction of the auxiliary energy 30%, an increase of the solar coverage 3.8% and a reduction of the total system cost of about 3%.

[1]  Evangelos Bellos,et al.  Energetic, Exergetic, Economic and Environmental (4E) analysis of a solar assisted refrigeration system for various operating scenarios , 2017 .

[2]  Shiming Deng,et al.  Review on building energy performance improvement using phase change materials , 2018 .

[3]  Kimon A. Antonopoulos,et al.  Thermal Behavior of a Building with Incorporated Phase Change Materials in the South and the North Wall , 2019, Comput..

[4]  Ruzhu Wang,et al.  Simulation of solar cooling system based on variable effect LiBr-water absorption chiller , 2017 .

[5]  Denis Leducq,et al.  Enhancing the performance of household refrigerators with latent heat storage: An experimental investigation , 2009 .

[6]  M. A. Said,et al.  Effect of using nanoparticles on the performance of thermal energy storage of phase change material coupled with air-conditioning unit , 2018, Energy Conversion and Management.

[7]  Alibakhsh Kasaeian,et al.  Simulation and parametric study of a 5-ton solar absorption cooling system in Tehran , 2017 .

[8]  F. Methner,et al.  Adjustment of thermal behavior by changing the shape of PCM inclusions in concrete blocks , 2018 .

[9]  Pingfang Hu,et al.  A review on applications of shape-stabilized phase change materials embedded in building enclosure in recent ten years , 2018, Sustainable Cities and Society.

[10]  K. A. Antonopoulos,et al.  Energetic and financial evaluation of solar assisted heat pump space heating systems , 2016 .

[11]  Xiangfei Kong,et al.  Numerical and experimental research of cold storage for a novel expanded perlite-based shape-stabilized phase change material wallboard used in building , 2018 .

[12]  Jing Wu,et al.  Numerical evaluation on energy saving potential of a solar photovoltaic thermoelectric radiant wall system in cooling dominant climates , 2018 .

[13]  Z. Zhai,et al.  Thermal performance of an active-passive ventilation wall with phase change material in solar greenhouses , 2018 .

[14]  Soteris A. Kalogirou,et al.  The potential of solar industrial process heat applications , 2003 .

[15]  V. Tyagi,et al.  Integration of passive PCM technologies for net-zero energy buildings , 2018, Sustainable Cities and Society.

[16]  Guobing Zhou,et al.  Experimental investigations on the performance of a collector–storage wall system using phase change materials , 2015 .

[17]  S. Al-Hallaj,et al.  Design and optimization of a hybrid air conditioning system with thermal energy storage using phase change composite , 2018, Energy Conversion and Management.

[18]  K. A. Antonopoulos,et al.  Financial and energetic evaluation of solar-assisted heat pump underfloor heating systems with phase change materials , 2019, Applied Thermal Engineering.

[19]  B. Guendouz,et al.  An illustrated review on solar absorption cooling experimental studies , 2016 .

[20]  Stephen White,et al.  A systematic parametric study and feasibility assessment of solar-assisted single-effect, double-effect, and triple-effect absorption chillers for heating and cooling applications , 2016 .

[21]  Soteris A. Kalogirou,et al.  Thermoeconomic optimization of a LiBr absorption refrigeration system , 2007 .

[22]  Xiaoqin Sun,et al.  Parameter design for a phase change material board installed on the inner surface of building exterior envelopes for cooling in China , 2016 .

[23]  Dong Li,et al.  Numerical analysis on thermal performance of roof contained PCM of a single residential building , 2015 .

[24]  Alvaro de Gracia,et al.  Experimental evaluation of a cooling radiant wall coupled to a ground heat exchanger , 2016 .

[25]  O. Šikula,et al.  Insulation panels for active control of heat transfer in walls operated as space heating or as a thermal barrier: Numerical simulations and experiments , 2018 .

[26]  Soteris A. Kalogirou,et al.  Evaluation of the application of Phase Change Materials (PCM) on the envelope of a typical dwelling in the Mediterranean region , 2016 .

[27]  R. Hirmiz,et al.  Performance enhancement of solar absorption cooling systems using thermal energy storage with phase change materials , 2018, Applied Energy.

[28]  Evangelos Bellos,et al.  Parametric analysis and optimization of a cooling system with ejector-absorption chiller powered by solar parabolic trough collectors , 2018, Energy Conversion and Management.

[29]  Evangelos Bellos,et al.  Energetic and financial analysis of solar cooling systems with single effect absorption chiller in various climates , 2017 .

[30]  Jan Kosny,et al.  Cost Analysis of Simple Phase Change Material-Enhanced Building Envelopes in Southern U . S . Climates , 2012 .

[31]  Svend Svendsen,et al.  Dynamic behavior of radiant cooling system based on capillary tubes in walls made of high performance concrete , 2015 .

[32]  Ling Zhang,et al.  Experimental evaluation of an active solar thermoelectric radiant wall system , 2015 .

[33]  Pablo Eguía,et al.  PCM in the heat rejection loops of absorption chillers. A feasibility study for the residential sector in Spain , 2014 .

[34]  Fahad A. Al-Sulaiman,et al.  Experimental testing of the performance of a solar absorption cooling system assisted with ice-storage for an office space , 2017 .

[35]  Jia-ping Liu,et al.  Thermal performance analysis of PCM wallboards for building application based on numerical simulation , 2018 .

[36]  Jadran Vrabec,et al.  Reducing the power consumption of household refrigerators through the integration of latent heat storage elements in wire-and-tube condensers , 2015 .

[37]  Hamidreza Shabgard,et al.  Heat transfer and exergy analysis of a novel solar-powered integrated heating, cooling, and hot water system with latent heat thermal energy storage , 2018, Energy Conversion and Management.

[38]  D. Borelli,et al.  Summer thermal performances of PCM-integrated insulation layers for light-weight building walls: Effect of orientation and melting point temperature , 2018, Thermal Science and Engineering Progress.

[39]  Soteris A. Kalogirou,et al.  Solar thermal collectors and applications , 2004 .

[40]  Ruzhu Wang,et al.  Experimental and analytical study on an air-cooled single effect LiBr-H 2 O absorption chiller driven by evacuated glass tube solar collector for cooling application in residential buildings , 2017 .

[41]  Hang Yu,et al.  Experimental assessment on the use of phase change materials (PCMs)-bricks in the exterior wall of a full-scale room , 2016 .

[42]  Yimin Xiao,et al.  Research on cooling performance of phase change material-filled earth-air heat exchanger , 2018, Energy Conversion and Management.

[43]  G. Morrison,et al.  Solar-powered absorption chillers: A comprehensive and critical review , 2018, Energy Conversion and Management.

[44]  Yanjun Dai,et al.  Performance assessment of a single/double hybrid effect absorption cooling system driven by linear Fresnel solar collectors with latent thermal storage , 2017 .

[45]  Jungki Seo,et al.  Performance evaluation of the microencapsulated PCM for wood-based flooring application , 2012 .

[46]  Fahad Sarfraz Butt,et al.  Configuration based modeling and performance analysis of single effect solar absorption cooling system in TRNSYS , 2018 .

[47]  P. Deepak,et al.  Numerical Investigation on Vertical Generator Integrated with Phase Change Materials in Vapour Absorption Refrigeration System , 2015 .

[48]  Liming Liu,et al.  Exergoeconomic-optimized design of a solar absorption-subcooled compression hybrid cooling system for use in low-rise buildings , 2018, Energy Conversion and Management.

[49]  Salah Chikh,et al.  Experimental and numerical investigation for improving the thermal performance of a microencapsulated phase change material plasterboard , 2018, Energy Conversion and Management.

[50]  Tianshu Ge,et al.  Solar heating and cooling: Present and future development , 2017, Renewable Energy.

[51]  Luisa F. Cabeza,et al.  Experimental testing of cooling internal loads with a radiant wall , 2018 .

[52]  K. A. Antonopoulos,et al.  Energetic, exergetic and financial evaluation of a solar driven absorption chiller – A dynamic approach , 2017 .

[53]  K. A. Antonopoulos,et al.  Energetic investigation of solar assisted heat pump underfloor heating systems with and without phase change materials , 2018, Energy Conversion and Management.

[54]  Stephen White,et al.  A comprehensive, multi-objective optimization of solar-powered absorption chiller systems for air-conditioning applications , 2017 .

[55]  Z. S. Lu,et al.  Technical engineering design, thermal experimental and economic simulation analysis of absorption cooling/heating systems in China , 2018, Energy Conversion and Management.

[56]  Tuan Ngo,et al.  Effects of phase change material roof layers on thermal performance of a residential building in Melbourne and Sydney , 2016 .