The control of ice storage systems

Journal Article · Mon May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995 · ASHRAE Journal

OSTI ID:69756

Carey, C W ^[1]; Mitchell, J W; Beckman, W A ^[2]

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1. Amana Corp., IA (United States)
2. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)

The tradeoffs between chiller and tank capacity for different load profiles and two storage strategies are evaluated in this article. Air-conditioning systems that employ ice storage incorporate equipment that produces ice during one period and melts it in another period to provide cooling for the building. In designing such systems, there are two basic strategies to consider: full-load and partial-load. In a full-load strategy, the entire daytime cooling energy is met using only cooling supplied by the ice storage tank. In a partial-load strategy, the chiller and the storage are used simultaneously to meet the load. With a full-load strategy, the tank capacity must be sufficient to meet the entire energy requirement, and the chiller capacity must be sufficient to recharge the tank during the night-time. In a partial-load strategy, a smaller chiller and tank than that for a full-load strategy are required, and there are many combinations of the two that will meet a given building load. The design and sizing of the components of an ice storage system depend not only on the desired strategy and total daily cooling energy but also on other factors. The maximum load dictates the amount of cooling required at any time. The cooling rate provided by an ice filled tank is not constant, but decreases as the ice inventory drops, and the time that the maximum load occurs is important. Thus, there is an interaction between the building load profile and tank size. In addition, the flow rate of the circulating fluid through the tank and the cooling coil may limit the supply air temperatures that may be reached. Thus, the circulating fluid flow rate must be sufficient to provide the desired rates of cooling to the building. The challenge to the design engineer is to size the components to meet the building load at all times at the lowest system cost. Effective designs must acknowledge the dynamic performance of the ice storage system.

• OSTI ID: 69756
• Journal Information: ASHRAE Journal, Journal Name: ASHRAE Journal Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 37; ISSN 0001-2491; ISSN ASHRAA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

25 ENERGY STORAGE
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
AIR CONDITIONERS
COLD STORAGE
CONTROL
COOLING LOAD
ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS
REFRIGERATING MACHINERY