Flow Characteristics and Heat-Transfer Enhancement of Air Agitation in Ice Storage Air Conditioning Systems

Xiao Yang, Qiyang Wang, Yang Liu, Dongmei Yang, Yixu Wang, Haiyan Qin, Zedong Liu and Hua Chen ()
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Xiao Yang: NARI Group Corporation (State Grid Electric Power Research Institute), Nanjing 210003, China
Qiyang Wang: NARI Group Corporation (State Grid Electric Power Research Institute), Nanjing 210003, China
Yang Liu: NARI Group Corporation (State Grid Electric Power Research Institute), Nanjing 210003, China
Dongmei Yang: NARI Group Corporation (State Grid Electric Power Research Institute), Nanjing 210003, China
Yixu Wang: State Grid Jinhua Power Supply Company, Jinhua 321035, China
Haiyan Qin: College of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University of Commerce, Tianjin 300134, China
Zedong Liu: College of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University of Commerce, Tianjin 300134, China
Hua Chen: College of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University of Commerce, Tianjin 300134, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 16, 1-16

Abstract: A large number of bubbles generated by the air agitation device in an external melting ice storage system can cause the disturbance of the ice–water mixture, which can enhance the heat transfer and contribute to the reduction in energy consumption. The structural design and optimization of the air agitation device in an external melting ice storage system is the key issue for energy savings. In this study, the influence of different orifice spacings and diameters on the distribution of the gas–liquid flow field, gas holdup, heat-transfer coefficient, and power consumption in the ice storage tank was investigated by numerical simulation. The simulated results showed that the heat-transfer coefficient of the ice–water mixture with air bubbles should be 3–5 times higher than the natural convection when the air superficial velocity is 0.03 m/s. The gas holdup was mainly affected by the orifice spacing, and the maximum varied from 5.0% to 8.2%. When the orifice spacing was less than 150 mm, the gas holdup changed a little in the horizontal direction, and the uniformity became worse when the orifice spacing was larger than 180 mm. An orifice diameter larger than 3 mm can improve the heat transfer and cause less air-compressing energy consumption, which decreased by approximately 1.62%.

Keywords: ice thermal storage; air conditioning system; air agitation; air holdup (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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