Performance Study of Direct Integration of Phase Change Material into an Innovative Evaporator of a Simple Vapour Compression System

Abstract

This paper experimentally investigates the direct integration of 3.15 kg of phase change materials (PCM) into a standard vapour compression system of variable cooling capacity, through an innovative lab-scale refrigerant-PCM-water heat exchanger (RPW-HEX), replacing the conventional evaporator. Its performance was studied in three operating modes: charging, discharging, and direct heat transfer between the three fluids. In the charging mode, a maximum energy of 300 kJ can be stored in the PCM for the cooling capacity at 30% of the maximum value. By doubling the cooling power, the duration of charging is reduced by 50%, while the energy stored is only reduced by 13%. In the discharging mode, the process duration is reduced from 25 min to 9 min by increasing the heat transfer fluid (HTF) flow rate from 50 L·h−1 to 150 L·h−1. In the direct heat transfer mode, the energy stored in the PCM depends on both the cooling power and the HTF flow rate, and can vary from 220 kJ for a cooling power at 30% and HTF flow rate of 50 L·h−1 to 4 kJ for a compressor power at 15% and a HTF flow rate of 150 L·h−1. The novel heat exchanger is a feasible solution to implement latent energy storage in vapour compression systems resulting to a compact and less complex system.

Keywords

• heat exchangers
• thermal energy storage (TES)
• phase change materials (PCMs)
• refrigeration cycle
• cooling applications
• experimental study