Experimental investigation of a novel phase change cold storage used for a solar air-conditioning system

Solar energy systems in combination with thermal driven sorption chillers for air conditioning are gaining increasing attention. Since solar energy is available only during daytime and solar cooling systems are usually intermittent and susceptible to the weather, applying cold storage methods to solar air-conditioning systems is favorable to utilize renewable energy and enhance the system stability. A self-developed phase change material (PCM) providing a suitable phase change temperature of 14.97°C and a reasonable phase transition latent heat of 115.1 kJ/kg is used to fabricate a cold storage tank. The aim of this article is to experimentally investigate the performance of the cold storage tank for solar air-conditioning application. The experiment includes a small-scale steady-state testing of a single spherical capsule and a solar air-conditioning system integrated with the PCM cold storage tank. The temperature distribution and phase change interface movement of the capsule are theoretically predicted. Main parameters of the cold storage tank, namely the inlet and outlet water temperature, internal temperature variation of capsules, charging/discharging capacity and charging/discharging rate are analyzed. The experimental results show that the charging and discharging process completed in 230 min and 220 min under steady states. While under unsteady states of a solar air-conditioning system, the charging and discharging process of the phase change cold storage tank completed within 320 min and 110 min with the total amount of charging and discharging capacity of 1016.1 kJ and 942.8 kJ, respectively. The phase change cold storage tank manifests good feasibility and stability for solar air-conditioning application.