Experimental study of enhanced PCM exchangers applied in a thermal energy storage system for personal cooling

Yiyuan Qiao; Yilin Du; Jan Muehlbauer; Yunho Hwang; Reinhard Radermacher

doi:10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2019.03.006

Experimental study of enhanced PCM exchangers applied in a thermal energy storage system for personal cooling

Yiyuan Qiao, Yilin Du, Jan Muehlbauer, Yunho Hwang, Reinhard Radermacher

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

The personal cooling device investigated is based on the vapor compression cycle and has a condenser integrated with the phase change material (PCM), in order to increase building thermostat setpoint and provide high-level human comfort. Since the PCM thermal conductivity is low, the objective of this study is to investigate five PCM exchanger designs with different heat transfer enhancement methods including increasing heat transfer area, embedding conductive structures, and using uniform refrigerant distribution among condenser branches. In the proposed system, PCM exchanger capacity was approximately constant, which is different from most of the previous works. Various refrigerant heat transfer coefficient along condenser length, refrigerant flow maldistribution and PCM natural convection could result in the uneven PCM melting, leading to higher condensing temperature. The graphite matrix exchanger with uniform refrigerant distribution performs the best with 5.5 times higher overall heat transfer coefficient and 49% increased coefficient of performance.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	22-34
Number of pages	13
Journal	International Journal of Refrigeration
Volume	102
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2019.03.006
State	Published - Jun 2019
Externally published	Yes

Funding

This research was supported by the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) under Award DE- AR0000530 and Center for Environmental Energy Engineering (CEEE). The authors acknowledge the support of the team members of the Roving Comforter Project.

Keywords

Copper sponge
Graphite matrix
Personal cooling
Phase change material
Vapor compression cycle

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10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2019.03.006

Cite this

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title = "Experimental study of enhanced PCM exchangers applied in a thermal energy storage system for personal cooling",

abstract = "The personal cooling device investigated is based on the vapor compression cycle and has a condenser integrated with the phase change material (PCM), in order to increase building thermostat setpoint and provide high-level human comfort. Since the PCM thermal conductivity is low, the objective of this study is to investigate five PCM exchanger designs with different heat transfer enhancement methods including increasing heat transfer area, embedding conductive structures, and using uniform refrigerant distribution among condenser branches. In the proposed system, PCM exchanger capacity was approximately constant, which is different from most of the previous works. Various refrigerant heat transfer coefficient along condenser length, refrigerant flow maldistribution and PCM natural convection could result in the uneven PCM melting, leading to higher condensing temperature. The graphite matrix exchanger with uniform refrigerant distribution performs the best with 5.5 times higher overall heat transfer coefficient and 49% increased coefficient of performance.",

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author = "Yiyuan Qiao and Yilin Du and Jan Muehlbauer and Yunho Hwang and Reinhard Radermacher",

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AU - Qiao, Yiyuan

AU - Du, Yilin

AU - Muehlbauer, Jan

AU - Hwang, Yunho

AU - Radermacher, Reinhard

PY - 2019/6

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AB - The personal cooling device investigated is based on the vapor compression cycle and has a condenser integrated with the phase change material (PCM), in order to increase building thermostat setpoint and provide high-level human comfort. Since the PCM thermal conductivity is low, the objective of this study is to investigate five PCM exchanger designs with different heat transfer enhancement methods including increasing heat transfer area, embedding conductive structures, and using uniform refrigerant distribution among condenser branches. In the proposed system, PCM exchanger capacity was approximately constant, which is different from most of the previous works. Various refrigerant heat transfer coefficient along condenser length, refrigerant flow maldistribution and PCM natural convection could result in the uneven PCM melting, leading to higher condensing temperature. The graphite matrix exchanger with uniform refrigerant distribution performs the best with 5.5 times higher overall heat transfer coefficient and 49% increased coefficient of performance.

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KW - Graphite matrix

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KW - Phase change material

KW - Vapor compression cycle

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Experimental study of enhanced PCM exchangers applied in a thermal energy storage system for personal cooling

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

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