Analysis of a thermal energy storage system for air cooling-heating application through cylindrical tube

In order to reduce building energy consumption, thermal energy storage (TES) system has been explored as an alternative solution for air cooling-heating application. Different types of phase change materials (PCMs) along with the different geometries of TES system have been investigated for this application. In this work, a theoretical model was used to analyse the TES system for air cooling-heating application. The heat transfer phenomena in a phase change material (PCM) outside a double wall circular tube with heat transfer fluid (HTF) as air inside the tube were studied. Potassium fluoride tetrahydrate was used as a PCM for the TES system. Laminar forced convection with varying wall temperature was considered to analyse this system. Here, some important design parameters like inner radius and thickness of the tube for HTF flow were also investigated. It was found that an optimum inner radius and thickness of the tube should be considered to design a TES system. Since, significant change in outlet air temperature from the system was observed for reducing inner radius and increasing the thickness of the tube. The coefficients of performances (COPs) for cooling were found 8.79 and 7.20 for 15 mm and 25 mm inner radiuses of the PCM container respectively. Hence, the system can be optimized by reducing the volume of the PCM container. Furthermore, better COP was observed for higher inlet air temperature while the outlet air temperature was almost identical. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.