Parametric study of a sustainable cooling system integrating phase change material energy storage for buildings

Zeinelabdein, Rami; Omer, Siddig; Mohamed, Elamin

Abstract

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd Free cooling of buildings uses the nocturnal outdoor air as a heat sink via a ventilation process. This could be performed by storing the night coolness for use during the daytime as appropriate. Due to the latent heat capacity, phase change material (PCM) could play anessential role in the effective operation of the free cooling systems by shifting the daytime peak load to the night. However, there is a scarceness on the technology application in hot climates. This paper presents results of a parametric investigation into the application of PCMs as thermal energy storage (TES) to provide sustainable cooling to buildings in hot arid climate by making use of the night-time free cooling. The proposed TES medium comprises an arrangement of metallic modules filled with RT28HC PCM. Numerous geometrical configurations and operational parameters have been assessed. A transient CFD simulation has been employed using ANSYS Fluent software. Validation of the numerical results with experimental data has shown a good agreement. The results have demonstrated that the temperature difference between the PCM and the air, at appropriate air flow rate would have a significant impact on the performance of the system. A free cooling system based on the proposed arrangement has the potential to meet around 42% of a typical building cooling load and has the ability to save up to 67% of building cooling energy load in summer season compared to conventional air-conditioning systems in hot arid climates.

Citation

Zeinelabdein, R., Omer, S., & Mohamed, E. (2020). Parametric study of a sustainable cooling system integrating phase change material energy storage for buildings. Journal of Energy Storage, 32, Article 101972. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2020.101972

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 9, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Oct 22, 2020
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Nov 4, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 23, 2021
• Journal: Journal of Energy Storage
• Electronic ISSN: 2352-152X
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 32
• Article Number: 101972
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2020.101972
• Keywords: Free cooling; Energy storage; Phase change material; CFD modelling
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5017073
• Publisher URL: https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.nottingham.ac.uk/science/article/pii/S2352152X20318077