Abstract
There is a growing interest in sustainable energy sources for energy demand growth of power industries. To align the demand and the consumption of electrical energy, thermal energy storage appears as an efficient method. In the summer days, by using a cold storage system like ice storage, peaks of the energy usage shift to low-load hours of midnights. Here, we investigate the charging process (namely solidification) numerically in an ice-on-coil thermal energy storage configuration, where ice is formed around the coil or tube to store the chilled energy. The considered ice storage system is a shell and tube configuration, with three kinds of tubes including a U-shaped tube, a coil tube with an inner return line, and a coil tube with an outer return line. Advanced 3D unsteady simulations are achieved to determine the effects of tube type and position of the ice storage (horizontal or vertical) on the solidification process. Results indicate that using a coil tube speeds up the ice formation, as compared with the simple U-shaped tube. The coil tube with an outer return line exhibits a better performance (more produced ice), as compared with the coil tube with an inner return line. After 16 h of solidification, the coil tube with the outer return line has about 1.057% and 1.32% lower liquid fraction in comparison with the coil tube with the inner return line and U-shaped tube, respectively, for both positions (vertical and horizontal).
Highlights
The enormous consumption of energy, especially for electrical demand from polluting energy sources, is expected to increase by 48% till 2040 [1]
The numerical solver was based on the finite volume method
The governing equations written in a Cartesian frame were solved in 3D in their unsteady formulation through ANSYS Fluent 18.2
Summary
The enormous consumption of energy, especially for electrical demand from polluting energy sources, is expected to increase by 48% till 2040 [1]. Thermal energy storage is an efficient method to shift the peak demand and to balance the electricity consumption [3]. Cold storage systems can shift the load from peak to off-peak hours. Cold storage during the low load periods can reduce the size of the system and decrease electricity needs. It drastically reduces the cost of energy [4]. Using a thermal energy storage (TES) system in heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems can reduce energy costs and play a significant role in reducing carbon emissions [5]. In the case of intermittent energy sources such as solar systems, TES systems can be efficient to absorb and release energy during daylight and nighttime (heating purposes), respectively [6]
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