Design and analysis of an ice thermal storage system for residential air-conditioning applications

In recent years, owing to electricity consumption growth in Iran particularly during warm seasons, problems have emerged in the electricity distribution networks like electricity shortage. Studies show that a large portion of the Iranians' electricity consumption during warm seasons is related to the air-conditioning systems. These systems operate higher during warm hours of the day which often coincide with periods of high electricity consumption. To balance the energy consumption of air-conditioning systems, the ice -storage technology is utilised to move the energy consumption away from the on-peak hours. A case study has been carried out on a residential apartment in the north of Iran to compare the performance of the system compared with that of a conventional air-conditioning system. The results signify that using an ice -storage system can reduce the energy consumption during the on-peak hours by 56% and the cooling charge by approximately 18.6%.