BLOWING (SUPPLY) AIR DIRECTLY INTO AN ICE STORAGE FOR COLD AIR DISTRIBUTION

Using cold air distribution in thermal storage systems is one of the major areas of energy conservation in HVAC systems. In this paper, blowing of supply air directly through an ice storage system has been investigated. Heat transfer calculations have been performed and by obtaining the leaving air temperature. A comparison between this system and the conventional air handling units using cold water of ice storage, as working fluid, has been considered. In other words, this paper concerns the possibility of blowing supply air directly into a charged ice storage tank, in order to omit water circuit between the storage and the air-handling unit and its coils as well. In this method after ice has been formed in the storage, water is evacuated from the storage and air is blown through the tank. It is found that for the same amount of made ice, due to omitting the water circuit (and coils of air-handling unit), a considerable lower temperature could be achieved. This results in reduced required air flow, size of ductworks, fan energy consumption and generated noise in supply air distribution. It is also shown that escaped air is reduced by decreasing free bypass area inside the storage which leads to increase the efficiency of the method.