Performance Assessment of Cold Thermal Storage-Based Building Air-Conditioning Layouts for Different Climates

Abstract

In this work, a detailed study is done to explore thermal features and operational aspects of thermal energy storage (TES)-based air-conditioning strategies. Three approaches, such as traditional air-conditioning, radiant air-conditioning unit (RACU) and desiccant-incorporated radiant air-conditioning unit (DRACU) have been undertaken by assimilating them with the TES. A validated triple-floor building with 10,690 m2 floor space is studied under warm-humid, composite, and hot-dry climates. Validated strategies with TES and non-TES based techniques were then compared for exploring parametric trends defined by temperature, humidity, electricity consumption, thermal load, coefficient of performance (COP), and other aspects. In comparison with traditional non-TES strategy, results disclose that electrical energy savings offered by the TES vary between 7.6 and 11.4% for the traditional system, 4.8 and 8.6% for RACU, and 3.8 and 6.1% for DRACU, based on the subjected climate. For all of the considered systems, it is further projected that adoption of the TES although causes an increased thermal energy gain, but the same causes declination in the chiller’s overall cooling load, as well as improves the net COP. Both of these factors contribute in reducing the electricity consumption. The integration of TES has revealed opposite trends for the radiant chiller attached to RACU and DRACU.