IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v239y2019icp526-535.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Numerical investigation of phase change material thermal storage for space cooling

Author

Listed:
  • Farah, Sleiman
  • Liu, Ming
  • Saman, Wasim

Abstract

Space cooling is the main contributor to high electrical power demand in summer. This research investigates the effect of adding a phase change thermal energy storage unit (PCTSU) to an air source heat pump (HP) cooling system. The HP model improves on an existing model in the simulation software library to simulate the HP performance. The PCTSU performance is simulated using a newly developed two-dimensional transient heat transfer model, which is experimentally validated against available experimental results. The cooling system is operated in three modes to satisfy the space cooling demand of a 7.6 stars house in the City of Adelaide, Australia. The PCTSU is charged by the HP when outdoor temperature is relatively low and discharged either whenever space cooling is required during the day (mode M2) or during the peak period only (mode M3). The simulation is conducted for the whole cooling season, and the cooling energy and electricity usage performances of the system with a PCTSU (modes M2 and M3) are compared with those of the system without a PCTSU (mode M1). A sensitivity analysis reveals that the PCTSU performance is slightly sensitive to the uncertainties of melting temperature of the phase change material and to the inlet temperature of the heat transfer fluid. The PCTSU provides 25% and 13% of the cooling energy and requires 11% and 6% of the electrical energy usage for charging by the HP in modes M2 and M3 respectively. Both electricity usage and demand tariffs are considered, and the cost savings are 14% and 7% in the former and 14% and 13% in the latter, in modes M2 and M3 respectively. The cost analysis indicates that techno-economic benefits of using PCTSUs should be carefully analysed. Appropriate economic incentives are needed to accelerate the uptake of thermal storage for space cooling applications to reduce high electrical power demand and help to avoid the need to further increase the grid capacity.

Suggested Citation

  • Farah, Sleiman & Liu, Ming & Saman, Wasim, 2019. "Numerical investigation of phase change material thermal storage for space cooling," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(C), pages 526-535.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:239:y:2019:i:c:p:526-535
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.01.197
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261919302090
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.01.197?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Halawa, E. & Saman, W., 2011. "Thermal performance analysis of a phase change thermal storage unit for space heating," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 259-264.
    2. Saffari, Mohammad & de Gracia, Alvaro & Fernández, Cèsar & Cabeza, Luisa F., 2017. "Simulation-based optimization of PCM melting temperature to improve the energy performance in buildings," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 420-434.
    3. Kong, Xiangfei & Jie, Pengfei & Yao, Chengqiang & Liu, Yun, 2017. "Experimental study on thermal performance of phase change material passive and active combined using for building application in winter," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 293-302.
    4. Dolado, Pablo & Lazaro, Ana & Marin, Jose M. & Zalba, Belen, 2011. "Characterization of melting and solidification in a real-scale PCM–air heat exchanger: Experimental results and empirical model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 2906-2917.
    5. Fleming, Evan & Wen, Shaoyi & Shi, Li & da Silva, Alexandre K., 2013. "Thermodynamic model of a thermal storage air conditioning system with dynamic behavior," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 160-169.
    6. Borderon, Julien & Virgone, Joseph & Cantin, Richard, 2015. "Modeling and simulation of a phase change material system for improving summer comfort in domestic residence," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 288-296.
    7. Said, M.A. & Hassan, Hamdy, 2018. "Parametric study on the effect of using cold thermal storage energy of phase change material on the performance of air-conditioning unit," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 1380-1402.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nelson, James & Johnson, Nathan G. & Chinimilli, Prudhvi Tej & Zhang, Wenlong, 2019. "Residential cooling using separated and coupled precooling and thermal energy storage strategies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C), pages 1-1.
    2. Nie, Binjian & She, Xiaohui & Du, Zheng & Xie, Chunping & Li, Yongliang & He, Zhubing & Ding, Yulong, 2019. "System performance and economic assessment of a thermal energy storage based air-conditioning unit for transport applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    3. Maleki, Mahdi & Imani, Abolhassan & Ahmadi, Rouhollah & Banna Motejadded Emrooz, Hosein & Beitollahi, Ali, 2020. "Low-cost carbon foam as a practical support for organic phase change materials in thermal management," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    4. Lizana, Jesus & de-Borja-Torrejon, Manuel & Barrios-Padura, Angela & Auer, Thomas & Chacartegui, Ricardo, 2019. "Passive cooling through phase change materials in buildings. A critical study of implementation alternatives," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    5. Farah, Sleiman & Andresen, Gorm Bruun, 2024. "Investment-based optimisation of energy storage design parameters in a grid-connected hybrid renewable energy system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 355(C).
    6. Xiong, Chengyan & Meng, Qinglong & Wei, Ying'an & Luo, Huilong & Lei, Yu & Liu, Jiao & Yan, Xiuying, 2023. "A demand response method for an active thermal energy storage air-conditioning system using improved transactive control: On-site experiments," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 339(C).
    7. Zhang, Wei & Hong, Wenpeng & Jin, Xu, 2022. "Research on performance and control strategy of multi-cold source district cooling system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PB).
    8. Liu, Ming & Jacob, Rhys & Belusko, Martin & Riahi, Soheila & Bruno, Frank, 2021. "Techno-economic analysis on the design of sensible and latent heat thermal energy storage systems for concentrated solar power plants," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 443-455.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sharif, M.K. Anuar & Al-Abidi, A.A. & Mat, S. & Sopian, K. & Ruslan, M.H. & Sulaiman, M.Y. & Rosli, M.A.M., 2015. "Review of the application of phase change material for heating and domestic hot water systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 557-568.
    2. Wu, Jing & Tremeac, Brice & Terrier, Marie-France & Charni, Mehdi & Gagnière, Emilie & Couenne, Françoise & Hamroun, Boussad & Jallut, Christian, 2016. "Experimental investigation of the dynamic behavior of a large-scale refrigeration – PCM energy storage system. Validation of a complete model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 116(P1), pages 32-42.
    3. Chen, Xiaoming & Zhang, Quan & Zhai, Zhiqiang John & Ma, Xiaowei, 2019. "Potential of ventilation systems with thermal energy storage using PCMs applied to air conditioned buildings," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 39-53.
    4. Waqas, Adeel & Ud Din, Zia, 2013. "Phase change material (PCM) storage for free cooling of buildings—A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 607-625.
    5. Zheng, Ziao & Huang, Bin & Lu, Gaofeng & Zhai, Xiaoqiang, 2022. "Design and optimization of an air-based phase change cold storage unit through cascaded construction for emergency cooling in IDC," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    6. Pirasaci, Tolga, 2020. "Investigation of phase state and heat storage form of the phase change material (PCM) layer integrated into the exterior walls of the residential-apartment during heating season," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    7. Ahmad, Abrar & Memon, Shazim Ali, 2024. "A novel method to evaluate phase change materials' impact on buildings' energy, economic, and environmental performance via controlled natural ventilation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 353(PB).
    8. Mosaffa, A.H. & Garousi Farshi, L., 2016. "Exergoeconomic and environmental analyses of an air conditioning system using thermal energy storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 515-526.
    9. Gholamibozanjani, Gohar & Farid, Mohammed, 2020. "Application of an active PCM storage system into a building for heating/cooling load reduction," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    10. Said, M.A. & Hassan, Hamdy, 2018. "Parametric study on the effect of using cold thermal storage energy of phase change material on the performance of air-conditioning unit," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 1380-1402.
    11. Jin, Xing & Hu, Huoyan & Shi, Xing & Zhou, Xin & Yang, Liu & Yin, Yonggao & Zhang, Xiaosong, 2018. "A new heat transfer model of phase change material based on energy asymmetry," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1409-1416.
    12. Adilkhanova, Indira & Memon, Shazim Ali & Kim, Jong & Sheriyev, Almas, 2021. "A novel approach to investigate the thermal comfort of the lightweight relocatable building integrated with PCM in different climates of Kazakhstan during summertime," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    13. Gao, Xiangkui & Li, Na & Xiao, Yimin & Zhang, Zujing & Sun, Meng & Gao, Penghui, 2024. "Thermal storage process of phase change materials under high humidity and laminar natural convection condition: Prediction model and sensitivity analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 286(C).
    14. Lamrani, B. & Johannes, K. & Kuznik, F., 2021. "Phase change materials integrated into building walls: An updated review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    15. Piselli, Cristina & Prabhakar, Mohit & de Gracia, Alvaro & Saffari, Mohammad & Pisello, Anna Laura & Cabeza, Luisa F., 2020. "Optimal control of natural ventilation as passive cooling strategy for improving the energy performance of building envelope with PCM integration," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 171-181.
    16. Pop, Octavian G. & Fechete Tutunaru, Lucian & Bode, Florin & Abrudan, Ancuţa C. & Balan, Mugur C., 2018. "Energy efficiency of PCM integrated in fresh air cooling systems in different climatic conditions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 976-996.
    17. Zeinelabdein, Rami & Omer, Siddig & Gan, Guohui, 2018. "Critical review of latent heat storage systems for free cooling in buildings," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2843-2868.
    18. Diao, Y.H. & Liang, L. & Zhao, Y.H. & Wang, Z.Y. & Bai, F.W., 2019. "Numerical investigation of the thermal performance enhancement of latent heat thermal energy storage using longitudinal rectangular fins and flat micro-heat pipe arrays," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233, pages 894-905.
    19. Yang, Haiyue & Wang, Yazhou & Yu, Qianqian & Cao, Guoliang & Yang, Rue & Ke, Jiaona & Di, Xin & Liu, Feng & Zhang, Wenbo & Wang, Chengyu, 2018. "Composite phase change materials with good reversible thermochromic ability in delignified wood substrate for thermal energy storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 455-464.
    20. Saurbayeva, Assemgul & Memon, Shazim Ali & Kim, Jong, 2023. "Integrated multi-stage sensitivity analysis and multi-objective optimization approach for PCM integrated residential buildings in different climate zones," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(PB).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:239:y:2019:i:c:p:526-535. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.