Experimental Investigation of Discharge Performance and Temperature Distribution of an External Melt Ice-on-Coil Ice Storage Tank

A 633 MJ (50 ton-h) ice storage tank was built to study the discharge characteristics of an external melt ice-on-coil ice storage tank. Temperature distributions in the tank were measured to analyze the performance of the ice storage tank. Several control parameters, including the entering mode, water flow rate, inlet temperature, load power, initial ice storage quantity, and ice bridging were considered to determine the outlet temperature, discharge rate, and cumulative heat transfer, etc. The results showed that (1) the tank using bottom-in mode could more easily acquire stratified temperature distribution in the ice tank and a lower output temperature than in top-in mode; (2) the increase of water flow rate led to an even temperature distribution and a slightly higher outlet temperature; (3) the increase of inlet temperature led to the decrease of thermocline thickness and slightly increased the outlet temperature; (4) initial ice storage quantity and load power had little effect on the discharge performance; (5) ice bridging could badly deteriorate discharge.