Energy 144 (2018) 443e455

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Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Enhancement in free cooling potential through PCM based storage

system integrated with direct evaporative cooling (DEC) unit
Karthik Panchabikesan a, *, Antony Aroul Raj Vincent b, Yulong Ding c, Velraj Ramalingam a
a
Institute for Energy Studies, Anna University, Chennai, 600025, India
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Easwari Engineering College, Chennai, 600089, India
c
School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, United Kingdom

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The present work reports the enhancement in free cooling potential using a modified cooling system
Received 12 July 2017 compared to the conventional free cooling system. The proposed modified system is a novel pilot scale
Received in revised form model packed with spherically encapsulated phase change material in a cylindrical tank along with
10 November 2017
water spray nozzles (direct evaporative cooling unit) at the inlet of the tank. The experiments were
Accepted 20 November 2017
Available online 20 November 2017
conducted in Bangalore, a city located in south India that possesses moderate/temperate climate
throughout the year. Considering the local ambient conditions, an organic phase change material with
the phase transition temperature range of 25.6e27.1
C was used in the present study. Significant
Keywords:
Free cooling
reduction in total charging duration and enhancement in heat transfer rate was achieved through the
Evaporative cooling hybrid cooling system. The reduction in charging duration of 28.7% and 34.8% was observed for the
Thermal energy storage proposed hybrid cooling system at heat transfer fluid (HTF) inlet velocities of 2 and 1.5 m/s respectively.
Phase change material It is observed from the results that in the experiments conducted with conventional free cooling system
Solidification behavior at 1 m/s HTF velocity, the phase change material (PCM) placed in the last two rows of the storage tank did
Heat transfer rate not reach its end freezing temperature even after 10 h of experimentation due to the low heat transfer
rate, whereas in the experiments conducted with the modified free cooling system, the storage tank is
completely charged at all HTF velocities. It is construed from the results that the integration of evapo-
rative cooling unit along with phase change material based free cooling system aids the chosen phase
change material to completely solidify at a faster rate and augments the thermal performance of the
storage unit. The proposed system can be operated as a single stand-alone cooling system to meet the
cooling demand of the buildings or it can be integrated with the mechanically operated HVAC systems to
achieve energy efficiency in the overall cooling system.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction requirement of local climatic conditions, PCMs are either used for
building cooling, heating, or both. Thermal comfort in a building
In India, 75% of the buildings that are anticipated by 2030 are using PCMs can be achieved by two methods, i) PCM integration in
still in the blue print stage and yet to be built [1]. This single data building envelopes/materials, and ii) PCM based free cooling. Both
portrays the vital need for energy efficient buildings in the devel- the methods depend on local climatic conditions and PCM phase
oping countries. Knowing the significant role of the building sector change temperature range. The first method is a passive cooling
in managing a nation's energy demand, researchers around the method in which no additional storage place or mechanical
world are working in every possible aspect to make a building equipment is required. In the second method, night time ambient
energy efficient and eco-friendly. In recent years, use of PCM in air is circulated actively by using a fan/blower. The cold source
buildings as a technology has transformed its application from freely available in HTF is used to charge the PCM and the stored
research labs to commercial products. Depending on the energy in the PCM is retrieved during the daytime to reduce the
temperature swing in the room. Since there is no energy spent to
produce the cold source, this methodology is called as free cooling
* Corresponding author. [2]. Both methodologies have its own advantages and disadvan-
E-mail address: [email protected] (K. Panchabikesan). tages. The first method is a well matured and a commercialized

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.11.117
0360-5442/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
444 K. Panchabikesan et al. / Energy 144 (2018) 443e455

technology. Whereas free cooling technology is not implemented effect of sub-cooling during the charging of RT 21 PCM at different
widely compared to PCM integration in buildings. HTF temperature and velocities. It is reported that duration of sub-
The performance of PCM-based free cooling technology pri- cooling is proportional to the heat flux. Lower the heat flux, lower
marily depends on three parameters (a) local climatic condition, (b) the duration of the sub-cooling. Thambidurai et al. [20] experi-
PCM phase change temperature range and its thermophysical mentally analyzed the potential of free cooling application in
properties and (c) HTF inlet temperature/velocity and its thermo- reducing the room temperature during day hours. The experiments
physical properties. The other parameters that influence the per- were conducted for the climatic condition of Pune city, India. Their
formance are encapsulation geometry/material, porosity/contact results revealed that by extracting the useful stored energy in the
area between the PCM and HTF, fill volume, etc. Several review PCM actively, 2.5
C drop in the designated room temperature was
articles [3e9] were published in recent times that reported the observed during the day time. Karthik et al. [8] estimated the
influence of above said parameters on the thermal performance of annual cooling potential of the PCM-based free cooling system for
the PCM-based free cooling system. The important inferences from five different cities of India. Their results indicated that city with
the literature are i) places with minimum diurnal temperature moderate climate possessed higher cooling potential compared to
variation of 15
C are highly suitable to implement the concept, ii) other climatic zones. Considering the energy efficiency and po-
temperature driving potential of at least 3e4
C is required be- tential of free cooling system in maintaining the room temperature,
tween PCM and HTF for efficient charging, discharging of energy, several recent research works have focused on improving the
iii) PCM with appropriate phase change temperature in corre- thermal performance of the TES system by introducing fin config-
spondence with local climatic conditions should be chosen and iv) urations, metal matrix and Lessing rings [21e27], dispersion of high
if the temperature driving potential between the HTF and PCM is conducting nanomaterials [28e30], increasing the PCM fill volume
small, increasing the HTF velocity has only negligible impact on the ratio [31] and by adopting high conductive encapsulation materials.
charging process of PCM. Zalba et al. [10] analyzed the performance Few works also have been carried out by the researchers by
of the PCM-based free cooling system during both the charging and combining equivalent passive cooling concept such as evaporative
discharging process in a pilot scale model using the PCM with cooling, nocturnal radiative cooling concept with the TES system
phase temperature range of 20e25
C. Their results showed that and thereby increase the thermal performance of the whole system
encapsulation thickness, HTF temperature/mass flow rate and the [32,33].
contact between PCM encapsulation/HTF significantly influences It is inferred from the literature that implementation of the
the performance of the system during both solidification and PCM-based free cooling concept is recommended in the climatic
melting process. zones that possess a high diurnal temperature and temperature
Stritih and Butala [11] conducted a free cooling experiment driving potential. HTF Velocity/Temperature, PCM phase transition
using a pilot scale thermal energy storage (TES) system with 3.6 kg temperature range, and encapsulation geometry/material are the
mass of PCM. The authors developed an equation for estimating other parameters that influence the thermal performance of the
the required solidification time with respect to HTF temperature/ free cooling system. Most of the studies found in the literature were
velocity and validated the equation with their experimental re- performed under controlled conditions by simulating the ambient
sults. Antony and Velraj [12] investigated the charging process of conditions. The data available on addressing the performance of the
RT 27 PCM for free cooling application in a heat exchanger based free cooling system under real time ambient conditions are scarcely
experimental setup. One of the major inferences from their study found. It is also observed that all the studies reported in the liter-
is the increase in tube side surface heat transfer coefficient in ature were aimed at improving the thermal performance of the
correspondence with the increase in HTF velocity. Arkar et al. [13] thermal storage system by adopting the heat transfer enhancement
integrated the free cooling system into the ventilation system and techniques such as adding fin configurations, nanomaterials in the
analyzed the thermal response of a building using TRNSYS. The PCM, etc. As per the author's best knowledge, no research work has
authors used spherically encapsulated RT 20 PCM for their anal- been reported in the literature to enhance the potential of free
ysis. They reported that for their case study, 6.4 kg of PCM/m2 of cooling by increasing the temperature driving potential between
floor area is optimum for the free cooling application. The free the PCM and HTF.
cooling system resulted in energy savings through reducing the In the present work, the major novelty is the integration of PCM
air flow rates during the night and it also reduced the noise based storage system with the direct evaporative cooling (DEC) unit.
associated problems [14]. The performance of free cooling system An attempt is made to study the charging behavior of PCM-based
should be improved during the charging process in order to make free cooling system with and without the operation of water
the system competitive in terms of its operating cost as higher spray nozzles under real time moderate climate ambient condi-
mass flow rate of air is required during the charging process [15]. tions. The main aim is to report the enhancement achieved in the
Medved and Arkar [16] developed a correlation to estimate the thermal performance of the PCM-based free cooling system when
free cooling potential based on the local climate. The authors re- operated in conjunction with DEC unit. The experiments were
ported that free cooling potential of a given location is propor- conducted during the months of May-June in the Bangalore city,
tional to the diurnal temperature range. Vidrih et al. [17] India and the results obtained are reported in the present paper.
developed a generalized model based predictive weather control
(G-MPWC) algorithm to predict the operational feasibility and 2. Experimentation
efficiency of free cooling system for the next day. The G-MPWC
was presented in the form of control matrixes based on the chosen 2.1. Experimental setup
building thermal response, free cooling system parameters and
local weather data. An experimental setup is constructed in a pilot scale that con-
Mosaffa et al. [18] investigated the effect of HTF temperature sists of a cylindrical tank, organic PCM encapsulated in high-
and velocity on the charging process of multiple PCM based free density polyethylene (HDPE) spherical balls, an axial fan, water
cooling system. The major inference from their results is that, spray nozzles, centrifugal pump, water tank and resistance tem-
reducing the inlet HTF temperature than increasing the HTF flow perature detectors (RTD) sensors. The schematic diagram of the
rate during the charging process had a significant impact in PCM based free cooling experimental setup with water spray
increasing the exergy efficiency. Solomon et al. [19] analyzed the nozzles is shown in Fig. 1 and the photographic representation of
 K. Panchabikesan et al. / Energy 144 (2018) 443e455 445

Table 1
Thermophysical properties of RT 28HC PCM [34].

Property Value Unit

Solidification Onset temperaturea 27.07 C


Peak temperaturea 27.03 C


End temperature 25.61 C
Latent heat of fusiona 251 J/g
Specific heat 2000 J/g. K
Thermal Conductivity (Solid) 0.2 W/m.K
Thermal Conductivity (Liquid) 0.2 W/m.K
Density @ 15
C (solid) 880 kg/m3
Density @ 40
C (liquid) 770 kg/m3


Maximum operating temperature 50 C
Volume expansion 12.5 %
a
Data obtained from DSC results.

height of the PCM test section is 450 mm. The PCM used in the
present study is commercially available RT28 PCM (paraffin wax)
with a high concentration of n-Docosane (C22 H46). The differential
scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis of the chosen PCM was per-
formed using Mettler Toledo - MT DSC2 instrument at a scanning
rate of 0.5
C/min. The thermophysical properties of the PCM ob-
tained from the manufacturer and the DSC analysis are given in
Table 1 and Fig. 3. It is seen from Fig. 3 that the phase change occurs
in the temperature range of 25.6e27.1
C and the peak transition
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of modified free cooling system integrated with DEC unit.
phase change temperature of the PCM is observed at 27
C. In the
the fabricated setup is shown in Fig. 2. The TES tank is made up of TES tank, totally 49 HDPE spherical balls of OD 75 mm, 2 mm
two acrylic cylinders with outer diameter (OD) 245 mm, 5 mm thickness were arranged in 7 rows with 7 balls in each row. The
thickness, and 600 mm height, which on assembling together PCM in liquid state was filled inside the HDPE balls with a fill vol-
forms a single vertical cylindrical tank of height 1200 mm in which ume ratio of 85%.

(a)

(c)

(d)

Fig. 2. Photographic views of (a) modified free cooling system without insulation, (b) water spray nozzle, (c) axial fan placed at the top of the TES tank, (d) Data acquisition system.
446 K. Panchabikesan et al. / Energy 144 (2018) 443e455

20 (2 m/s or 0.11 kg/s, 1.5 m/s or 0.08 kg/s and 1 m/s or 0.05 kg/s)
o
Scanning rate: 0.5 C/min respectively. In the first case, pump was kept OFF and the ambient
15 Sample size: 6.045 mg air was circulated inside the TES tank as the HTF. In the second case,
the pump was turned ON and OFF in a chosen intermittent fre-
quency to cause the required water spray inside the TES tank
10 Cooling
wherein the evaporatively cooled moist and saturated air is the
Latent heat of Fusion - 251 J/g
HTF. It is ensured that the phase change material in storage tank
Heat flow (mW)

o
5 Peak freezing temperature - 27.02 C
remained in liquid state within the temperature range of
~30.5
Ce32.0
C before the start of each experiment. The experi-
0 ments were conducted during the night time from ~10.00 p.m. until
the PCM gets completely charged or until once there was a
noticeable rise in the ambient temperature after the sun rise. The
-5 Heating TES tank is considered to be completely charged once the PCM in all
Latent heat of Fusion - 249.23 J/g
o
rows reached 25.6
C (the end solidification temperature obtained
-10 Peak melting temperature - 28.91 C from DSC analysis). All the experiments were repeated twice and
the difference between the recorded data observed was to be
-15 negligible. Since the experiments were conducted under real time
ambient conditions there was no control over the HTF temperature
14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 and relative humidity. However, it is ensured that all the experi-
Sample Temperature ( C)
o ments were performed almost under similar ambient conditions
with minimum deviations. The free cooling experiments conducted
Fig. 3. DSC Analysis of paraffin (RT 28 HC). without and with the operation of DEC unit are hereafter referred
as ‘case I’ and ‘case II’ respectively in this article.

A perforated circular stainless-steel mesh positioned at a dis-

tance of 800 mm from the top of the tank is used to hold the PCM
3. Data reduction and uncertainty analysis
balls. The porosity of the TES tank after packing the spherically
encapsulated PCM balls was found to be 39%. The TES tank was
The heat transfer coefficient ‘h’ between the PCM balls and HTF
insulated with 9 mm polyurethane foam sheets (k ¼ 0.03 W m1.
in the storage tank was calculated using the Nusselt number cor-
K1) to minimize heat exchange between the storage tank and the
relation proposed by Felix et al. [35] and the same is presented in
ambient. An axial fan (9-inch diameter) with a capacity of 300 CFM
equation (1). The 0 h0 for the experiments performed under ‘case I’
driven by 60 W motor was placed over the top of TES tank to
was calculated by considering the properties of inlet HTF tem-
circulate the night time ambient air into the TES tank. The HTF
perature at every time step, whereas for ‘case II’ experiments, 0 h0
velocity/mass flow rate is controlled by using a voltage regulator.
was calculated by considering the HTF properties in correspon-
The nozzles spray the water as a fine mist to completely saturate
dence to inlet temperature and relative humidity at every time
the air with respect to the local relative humidity (RH). For the
step.
given air flow rates, it is estimated that water flow rate of ~0.25
Gallons per hour (GPH) is required to saturate the air to ~80% RH. A h*Dp
centrifugal pump with the pressure regulator was used to pump Nu ¼ ¼ 2:0 þ 1:1½6ð1  εÞ0:6 *Re0:6 *Pr 0:33 (1)
kHTF
water from the water tank. In order to produce fine mists, water is
pressurized up to 6 bar (cut-off pressure) and discharged through where,
the spray nozzles. When the water pressure reaches 6 bar, pump
operation shuts off and starts again once the pressure reaches Dp ¼ 6=S
1.2 bar (cut in pressure). The pump was ‘ON’ only for 8 s in the 86 s v
ON - OFF cycle duration thereby avoiding the continuous operation
and the consequent increase in water temperature. Area of spherical ball
Sv ¼
The PCM temperature at each row, HTF inlet/outlet temperature, Volume of spherical ball
water and ambient air temperature were measured using 11 PT 100
RTDs (3 wire, accuracy ±0.1
C) and the locations of RTDs are shown Dp *vs *r
in Fig. 1. The HP-Agilent 34970A, Data Acquisition System (DAS) Re ¼
m
was used to record the temperatures, at a scanning rate of 1 min
throughout the experiment. The RTD transducer temperature
conversion accuracy of the data logger is ±0.02
C. Digital vane cp; HTF *m
Pr ¼
anemometer (Work Zone, AVM-03 model) with ±3.0% accuracy and kHTF
· 0
0.1 m s1 resolution was used to measure the HTF velocities. At the The instantaneous heat transfer 0 Qins for the free cooling ex-
beginning of each experiment, required flow rate of the HTF was periments conducted without and with DEC unit at every ‘ith’ time
attained by adjusting the fan regulator. The relative humidity of the step was evaluated using equations (2) and (3) respectively.
HTF (both ambient and inside the TES) was measured using the
h   i
digital hygro-thermometer with an accuracy of ±3%.
Q_ ins ¼ m_ f  cp;HTF  THTF;out
i i
 THTF;in i
 Qloss (2)

2.2. Experimental procedure h  i

Q_ ins ¼ m_ f  H2i  H1i i
 Qloss (3)
The charging experiments were conducted under two experi-
mental configurations; with and without the operation of water The heat loss 0 Qloss
i between the air in the TES tank and ambient
spray nozzles at three different HTF velocities or mass flow rates is evaluated using equation (4).
 K. Panchabikesan et al. / Energy 144 (2018) 443e455 447

Table 2 Since inlet HTF temperature is one of the key factors influencing the
Uncertainty in measured and derived parameters. charging process of PCM, its impact on the thermal performance of
Measured Parameters TES tank under different velocities is also discussed in detail.
Temperature ±0.46%
Among the various experimental trails, experiments conducted
Mass flow rate ±3.72% with 2 and 1.5 m/s HTF velocities under case II exhibited better
Time measurement ±0.27% thermal performance.
Derived parameters

Convective heat transfer coefficient ±4.34% 4.1. Variations in HTF inlet temperature
Instantaneous heat transfer (case I) ±3.76%
Instantaneous heat transfer (case II) ±4.61% In the present study, charging experiments were carried out
Cumulative energy stored (case I) ±3.77%
Cumulative energy stored (case II) ±4.68%
under the ambient conditions as shown in Table 3. The average
Heat loss ±0.87% ambient temperature and relative humidity recorded during the
HTF temperature at respective row ±4.93% experimentation varied between 23.8
Ce24.7
C and 80.8%e85.6%
respectively. It is seen from Table 3 that the HTF temperature at the
inlet of TES tank was 1.06
C, 1.29
C, 1.40
C higher than the
  i  ambient temperature for case I experiments whereas it was 2.25
C,
i T þT i 2.35
C, 1.36
C lesser than the ambient temperature in the case II
kinsulation  ATES section  Tambient  HTF;in 2 HTF;out
i experiments at the HTF velocities of 2, 1.5 and 1 m/s respectively.
Qloss ¼
x The increase in HTF temperature for the case I experiments is due to
(4) the heat generated by the continuous operation of the fan. Whereas
0Q i
in case II, spray of water particles into the TES tank resulted in
The cumulative energy stored c during the experiments is
evaporative cooling and reduced the inlet HTF temperature up to its
calculated using equation (5).
wet-bulb temperature depending on the local relative humidity. It
X
n is seen from Fig. 4 that during the experiments conducted as in the
Qci ¼ Q_ ins  dt (5) case I the HTF temperature at the inlet of TES tank varied from
i¼0 27.6
C to 23.5
C in accordance with the ambient temperature.
However, for the case II experiments, the HTF temperature at the
During the experimentation, only the inlet and outlet temper-
inlet of TES tank remained in the near constant range of
ature of the HTF were measured. In order to find the HTF temper-
23.7
Ce21.8
C for all the three HTF velocities irrespective of the
ature after each row of the TES tank, equation (6) is formulated.
ambient temperature. The reduction in HTF temperature for the
8  9 case II experiments was due to the effect of evaporative cooling. The
<h 1000*Apcm *n* Tpcm
= i  Tj;i HTF =
i temperature difference between ambient and HTF critically influ-
Tjþ1; HTF ¼ þ Tj;i HTF (6)
: m_ f *cp;HTF ; enced the charging process in terms of total charging duration and
heat transfer rate between the two cases. In Fig. 4, it is also to be
This temperature was used to calculate the percentage of total noted that different trend in inlet HTF temperature is observed
heat transfer rate at every row of the TES tank. during the initial duration (50e100 min) of case II experiment
conducted at 1 m/s HTF velocity. This is because, during the initial
3.1. Uncertainty analysis period of the case II experiment conducted at 1 m/s HTF velocity,
inherent relative humidity of the ambient air increased from 80% to
The error propagation method proposed by Strupstad [36] was 87% compared to the other cases. Therefore, the potential for the
used to estimate the uncertainty and the same are presented in temperature drop through evaporative cooling got reduced and this
Table 2. The errors involved in the measured and derived param- was reflected in the initial period of the experiment (50e100 min)
eters were calculated based on the sensitivity/accuracy of the as the inlet HTF temperature rise.
measuring instruments used in the present study and the mini-
mum value of the measured parameters. 4.2. PCM charging characteristics

4. Results and discussion The temperature history of the PCM along with the height of
TES tank with respect to time during the charging experiments
In this section, results obtained from the charging experiments conducted in the case I and case II experimental configurations at
conducted with and without DEC unit under various HTF inlet air various air velocities are shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 respectively.
velocities are presented in terms of PCM solidification behavior, The PCM located in the 1st row of TES tank is nearer to the entry
charging duration, instantaneous and cumulative heat transfer. of HTF and the 7th row PCM is farther from the entry of HTF. It is

Table 3
Comparison of inlet HTF conditions for different experimental trials.

Experimental HTF Relative Ambient Inlet air Outlet air Temperature Convective heat transfer
configuration velocity Humidity temperature temperature temperature driving potential coefficient (W.m2.
C1)
(m/s) (average) (%) (average) (
C) (average) (
C) (average) (
C) (
C)

Case I 2 85.6 23.82 24.88 25.40 2.12 16.34

1.5 83.72 23.75 25.04 25.64 1.96 13.83
1 85.54 23.86 25.26 25.71 1.74 10.96
Case II 2 81.3 24.54 22.29 23.28 4.71 18.89
1.5 80.8 24.81 22.46 23.58 4.54 16.00
1 81.3 24.51 23.15 23.88 3.85 12.69
448 K. Panchabikesan et al. / Energy 144 (2018) 443e455

28.0
Case I - 2 m/s HTF velocity
27.5 Case I - 1.5 m/s HTF velocity
Case I - 1 m/s HTF velocity
27.0
Case II - 2 m/s HTF velocity
26.5 Case II - 1.5 m/s HTF velocity
HTF Temperature ( C) Case II - 1 m/s HTF velocity
26.0
o

25.5

25.0

24.5

24.0

23.5

23.0

22.5

22.0

21.5
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650
Time (Minutes)
Fig. 4. Variation in HTF inlet temperature at various HTF velocities.

seen from Figs. 5 and 6 that PCM in all the rows of TES tank II as shown in Fig. 7. The possible reasons for this discrepancy
reached the solidification temperature (25.6
C obtained from between DSC and experimentation are; the start of freezing in the
DSC analysis) except in the case I experiment conducted at 1 m/s case of DSC analysis was much lower than the melting of the PCM
HTF velocity. This is because of the lower heat transfer rate at that as seen in Fig. 3. This is due to the absence of nucleating agents
particular experimental condition. In the case I experiments during the solidification process of DSC analysis. However, during
conducted at 1 m/s HTF velocity, after 612 min, the ambient the experimentations, surface roughness of the container itself
temperature got increased as time progresses in the morning acted as the nucleating agent and initiated the solidification of
(after 06.15 a.m.). This increase in ambient temperature will be PCM. Thus, the freezing of the chosen PCM was initiated at near
directly reflected in the inlet HTF temperature and subsequently melting temperature of ~29
C during the experimentation.
the temperature of PCM in the TES tank will get increased. Hence Further, there is a noticeable shift in the start of solidification
continuing the experiment beyond 06.15 a.m. will lead to dis- process between the case I and case II experiments and also in the
charging of cool energy stored in the PCM. Therefore, the PCM along the height of TES tank in both the cases. This is because
charging experiments were not extended further though the PCM the PCM located at the top of the TES tank was subjected to faster
placed in the 7 t h row of the TES tank was not completely cooling rate and hence there is a marginal subcooling of PCM
charged. It is also observed that in case II experiments, the PCM compared to the PCM located in the bottom of TES tank which is
reached its solidification temperature for all HTF velocities at a subjected to lower cooling rate. Also, a small difference in tem-
faster rate due to higher heat transfer rate compared to the case I perature observed at the start of phase change process between
experiments. Further, it is seen from Fig. 6 that in case II exper- the case I and case II experiments were also due to the higher
iments conducted at 1.5 m/s HTF velocity, PCM placed in the cooling rate in the case II experiments compared to the case I
initial six rows of TES tank reached its end freezing temperature experiments.
at a faster rate compared to case II experiments conducted at 2 m/
s HTF velocity. The possible reason for this could be the better air- 4.3. Charging duration
water mixture ratio existed during the case II experiments at 2 m/
s air velocity. It is construed from the results obtained that it is The TES system is considered to be completely charged when
possible to achieve enhancement in PCM charging rate at a lower all the encapsulated PCM placed in the last row of the storage tank
HTF velocities through the proposed hybrid system compared to reaches its end freezing temperature (25.6
C). Though the actual
the conventional free cooling system. phase change of the chosen PCM initiated and completed much
Few significant variations in the phase change temperature of earlier during the experimentations compared to the DSC analysis,
chosen PCM were observed during the experimentation compared the end solidification temperature of the PCM obtained from DSC
to the DSC results. It is observed from the DSC results that the results was considered in the present study. This consideration
major phase change of the PCM was between 27.1
C and 25.6
C, ensures the complete solidification of PCM and will be very useful
whereas during the experimentation, major phase change of the to compare the performance of the case I and case II experiments.
PCM occurred between the temperature range of ~29.5
C and The charging duration of the PCM located at the last row of TES
~28.1
C (solidification onset and end temperature) in case I and tank in both the cases is shown in Fig. 8. Since the PCM located at
between the temperature range of ~29.3
C and ~27.8
C in the case the 7th row of TES tank did not reach its end freezing temperature
 K. Panchabikesan et al. / Energy 144 (2018) 443e455 449

33 33

7th row (b) 7th row

32 32
(a) 6th row 6th row
5th row 5th row
31 4th row 31 4th row
PCM Temperature ( C)

PCM Temperature ( C)
3rd row 3rd row
o

o
30 2nd row 30 2nd row
1st row 1st row
29 29

28 28

27 27

26 26
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600
Time (Minutes) Time (Minutes)

33

7th row
32 (c) 6th row
5th row
31 4th row
PCM Temperature ( C)

3rd row
o

30 2nd row
1st row
29

28

27

26

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650
Time (Minutes)
Fig. 5. Temperature-time history of PCM for the free cooling experiments conducted without the operation of DEC unit (a) 2 m/s velocity, (b) 1.5 m/s velocity, (c) 1 m/s velocity.

in the case I experiment at 1 m/s HTF velocity even after 10 h of increasing the HTF velocity from 1.5 to 2 m/s was found to be in the
experimentation, its charging duration is not shown in Fig. 8. It is range of 15% for both the cases. Though this enhancement in ‘h’
seen from the figure that charging duration in case II experiments was similar in both the cases, increase in HTF velocity in the case II
was found to be 28.7% and 34.8% lower than the case I experiments experiments showed only a marginal reduction of 5.5% in charging
at 2 and 1.5 m/s HTF velocities respectively. This is due to the duration compared to the case I experiments wherein the reduc-
appreciable drop in the inlet HTF temperature in the case II ex- tion in charging duration of 13.3% was observed. This is because
periments as shown in Table 3. It is also observed from the table the increase in ‘h’ value as in the case II experiments have only
that enhancement in convective heat transfer coefficient after minimal effect on the overall enhancement in the heat transfer
450 K. Panchabikesan et al. / Energy 144 (2018) 443e455

33 33

(a) (b) 7th row

32 7th row 32
6th row
6th row
5th row
5th row 31 4th row
31
4th row

PCM Temperature ( C)
3rd row
PCM Temperature ( C)

3rd row

o
2nd row
o

30 2nd row 30 1st row

1st row
29 29

28 28

27 27

26 26

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

Time (Minutes) Time (Minutes)

33

7th row
32 (c)
6th row
5th row
31
4th row
PCM Temperature ( C)

3rd row
o

30 2nd row
1st row
29

28

27

26

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450

Time (Minutes)
Fig. 6. Temperature-time history of PCM for the free cooling experiments conducted with the operation of DEC unit (a) 2 m/s velocity, (b) 1.5 m/s velocity, (c) 1 m/s velocity.

rate. However, it is to be noted that whenever the surface 4.4. Instantaneous heat transfer (Q_ ins )
convective resistance is dominant than the internal conductive
resistance, increasing the HTF velocity has an appreciable effect for The instantaneous heat transfer is an important parameter that
a longer duration during the initial period of charging. Thus, it is directly depicts the thermal performance of the latent heat storage
construed from the present results that reduction in the HTF system with respect to thermophysical properties of the inlet HTF
temperature has a significant impact on the PCM solidification and PCM. Fig. 9 (a) and (b) show the variation in the instantaneous
behavior than increasing the HTF velocity and convective heat heat transfer rate evaluated using Eqs. (2) and (3) for the case I and
transfer coefficient. case II experiments respectively. In the case II experiments, inlet air
 K. Panchabikesan et al. / Energy 144 (2018) 443e455 451

becomes fully saturated and therefore its thermophysical proper-

ties varied compared to the ambient air. Hence Qins in case II ex-
periments was calculated by considering the HTF inlet and outlet
enthalpies at every ith time step. The average instantaneous heat
transfer rate for the case I and case II experiments conducted at the
HTF velocities of 2, 1.5, and 1 m/s were found to be 0.06 kW,
0.05 kW, 0.03 kW and 0.10 kW, 0.09 kW, 0.07 kW respectively. It is
seen from Fig. 9 that there are continuous fluctuations in instan-
taneous heat transfer in the case II experiments. This is due to the
fluctuations in the HTF temperature caused by the intermittent
discharge of water particles from the spray nozzles. Though the air
flow rate at the entry of TES tanks was maintained at a constant rate
throughout the experiment, discharge of water as fine mists from
the water spray nozzles kept varying based on the pump pressure.
Initially, when the pump was operated at 6 bar pressure (cut in
pressure) there was a complete discharge of water mists from the
spray nozzles. Once the pump pressure tends to reach 1.2 bar (cut in
Fig. 7. Onset (Tl) and solidification (Ts) temperature of the chosen PCM obtained pressure) the quantity of water sprayed was minimal and hence the
during the case I and II experimentations at 2, 1.5 and 1 m/s inlet HTF velocities.
inlet HTF temperature kept varying marginally during each cycle of
pump operation. This variation in HTF temperature was reflected in
the instantaneous heat transfer in the case II experiments.
It is also seen from the figure that during the initial period of
charging, instantaneous heat transfer decreased at a faster rate in
both the experimental cases. This period denotes the sensible
cooling process before the initiation of the charging of PCM. Once
the latent cooling process was initiated, Qins remained in a near-
constant range for a longer duration. In the case I experiments,
only the increase in HTF velocity aided to improve the instanta-
neous heat transfer, whereas in case II experiments, the appre-
ciable variation in thermophysical properties of air due to
saturation that increased the temperature driving potential be-
tween PCM and HTF contributed predominantly in enhancing the
instantaneous heat transfer along with the increase in HTF
velocity.

4.5. Cumulative energy stored

Fig. 10 shows the cumulative thermal energy stored during the

Fig. 8. Charging duration of the PCM placed at the last row of TES tank.
experiments conducted in both the cases at various inlet HTF

0.20 0.6

(b)
(a)
0.5

0.15
Case II (2m/s)
Case I (2m/s) 0.4 Case II (1.5 m/s)
Case I (1.5 m/s)
Qinstantaneous (kW)

Qinstantaneous (kW)

Case II (1 m/s)
Case I (1 m/s)
0.3

0.10

0.2

0.1
0.05

0.0

0.00 -0.1
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
Time (Minutes) Time (Minutes)

Fig. 9. Instantaneous heat transfer at various HTF velocities for (a) case I experiments (b) case II experiments.
452 K. Panchabikesan et al. / Energy 144 (2018) 443e455

2400

2200

2000

Cumulative Energy stored (kJ) 1800

1600

1400

1200

1000

800 Case I (2m/s)

Case I (1.5 m/s)
600
Case I (1 m/s)
400 Case II (2m/s)
Case II (1.5 m/s)
200 Case II (1 m/s)

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650
Time (Minutes)
Fig. 10. Cumulative energy stored.

velocities. Considering the quantity of PCM encapsulated in 49 completely charged which is also ensured from Fig. 5 (c), where the
spherical balls packed in the storage tank, the maximum heat en- PCM placed at the last row of the TES tank does not reach the end
ergy that can be accounted in the TES tank is ~1700 kJ. It is seen solidification temperature. The cumulative energy stored in the
from the figure that for the case I experiment conducted at the inlet case I experiment conducted at the HTF velocities of 2 m/s and
HTF velocity of 1 m/s, the cumulative energy stored at the end of 1.5 m/s was found to be 1820 kJ and 1900 kJ respectively. During the
610 min was only 1200 kJ. This shows that the tank is not case I experimentations, the HTF temperature inside the TES tank is

28.5
Measured outet HTF Temperature (Case - I, 2 m/s)
28.0 Derived outet HTF Temperature (Case - I, 2 m/s)
27.5 Measured outet HTF Temperature (Case - II, 2 m/s)
Derived outet HTF Temperature (Case - II, 2 m/s)
27.0
26.5
Temperature ( C)

26.0
o

25.5
25.0
24.5
24.0
23.5
23.0
22.5
22.0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600
Time (Minutes)
Fig. 11. Validation of derived HTF outlet temperature.
 K. Panchabikesan et al. / Energy 144 (2018) 443e455 453

0.40 0.30
% Heat transfer (1st row) % Heat transfer (1st row)
% Heat transfer (2nd row) (a) % Heat transfer (2nd row) (b)
0.35 % Heat transfer (3rd row) % Heat transfer (3rd row)
% Heat transfer (4th row) 0.25 % Heat transfer (4th row)
% Heat transfer (5th row) % Heat transfer (5th row)
% Heat transfer (6th row) % Heat transfer (6th row)

Fraction of total heat transfer

0.30
% Heat transfer (7th row) % Heat transfer (7th row)
Fraction of total heat transfer

0.20
0.25

0.20 0.15

0.15
0.10

0.10

0.05
0.05

0.00 0.00
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 100 200 300 400
Time (Minutes) Time (Minutes)
Fig. 12. Fraction of total heat energy transferred to the PCM placed at various location of TES tank at 2 m/s HTF velocity for (a) case 1 experiment (b) case II experiment.

slightly higher than the ambient temperature because of the heat experimentation until the PCM placed in the initial rows of the TES
generated by the continuous operation of the fan. Hence, some heat tank gets completely charged. This difference is due to the appre-
energy from the TES tank was lost to the ambient. However, in case ciable drop in the HTF temperature along the height of the storage
II experiments the figure indicates that cumulative energy stored is tank. After the solidification of PCM placed in the initial rows, the
much greater than the storage capacity of the TES tank, particularly fraction of heat transfer showed a similar trend as of the case I
with the higher inlet velocities. This could be due to the fraction of experiments.
cool energy carried away by the sprayed water particles, which is
accounted as energy transferred to the PCM during the evaluation 5. Conclusion
of instantaneous heat transfer.
In the present work, solidification behavior of PCM-based free
4.6. Fraction of total heat transfer cooling system integrated with and without direct evaporative
cooling (DEC) unit was studied experimentally under real time
During the experimentation, only the inlet and outlet temper- moderate climatic conditions. The results obtained for the two
ature of HTF at every ‘ith’ time step was measured. In the present cases are compared and the enhancement achieved in thermal
work, equation (6) was developed to find the HTF temperature after performance of the storage tank through the hybrid concept is
each row of the TES tank. The developed equation was used to presented. One main advantage observed in the modified system is
analyze the temperature distribution of the HTF across the TES tank the increase in the potential of PCM-based free cooling system
and the heat transferred by the HTF to the PCM at each row of the through the integration of evaporative cooling unit. An appreciable
TES tank. The temperature of the HTF evaluated after the 7th row reduction in the charging duration was observed at all HTF veloc-
was compared with the outlet temperature of the HTF measured ities for the experiments conducted with modified free cooling
during the experiments. The derived and measured HTF tempera- system due to the reduction in inlet HTF temperature depending on
ture at 2 m/s HTF velocity for both the cases are plotted in Fig. 11 the local relative humidity. It is construed from the results that the
and they are in good agreement. increase in HTF velocity has considerable effect in the conventional
Fig. 12 (a) and (b) shows the fraction of heat energy transferred free cooling, whereas it has only a marginal effect in the integrated
to the PCM at various rows of the TES tank for the case I and case II system. The instantaneous heat transfer during the sensible cooling
experiments respectively at the inlet HTF velocity of 2 m/s. It is seen process is high for both the cases and it dropped at a faster rate
from Fig. 12 (a) that the heat transferred to all the rows of TES tank within a shorter duration. Once the phase change of the PCM is
is nearly equal until the PCM in the 1st row is completely charged. initiated, a near uniform heat transfer rate is observed. However,
Once the PCM in the 1st row got completely charged, it was not able the instantaneous heat transfer is uniformly higher for the exper-
to absorb further energy from the HTF and hence the fraction of iments conducted with the integrated system. The experimental
heat transferred to the 1st row started to decline at a faster rate and results obtained for the integrated system over predicts the cu-
this fraction of energy was transferred to the successive rows of the mulative energy stored particularly at the experiments conducted
TES tank. Hence, a higher fraction of heat energy transferred was at the inlet HTF velocities of 2 and 1.5 m/s. This could be due to
observed in the subsequent rows. However, in case II experiments fraction of the cool energy carried away by the sprayed water
there is an observable difference from the beginning of the particles, which is accounted as energy transferred to the PCM
454 K. Panchabikesan et al. / Energy 144 (2018) 443e455

during the evaluation of instantaneous heat transfer. The fraction of HTF,out HTF at the exit of TES tank
total heat transferred to the various rows of PCM placed in the TES j, HTF HTF at the jth location of the TES tank
tank is used to illustrate the shift in the magnitude of heat transfer
along the height of the storage tank with respect to time. Superscripts
In continuation to the present work, there are further scope for i time step
the research to conduct various parametric analysis such as
analyzing the effect of nozzle diameter, water droplets size, effect of Greek symbols
geometry and material of the PCM encapsulations. This will give ε porosity of TES tank
further insights to the research work and will optimize the thermal m dynamic viscosity of the HTF (kg.m1. s1)
performance of the proposed modified cooling system. The results r density of HTF (kg.m3)
reported in the present work will be very useful for the building
design engineers, architects towards adopting free cooling concept Abbreviations
in buildings and designing energy efficient buildings. The modified CFM Cubic feet per minute
free cooling system can be operated as a single stand-alone cooling DEC Direct evaporative cooling
system to meet the cooling demand of the buildings or it can be DSC Differential scanning calorimetry
integrated with the mechanically operated HVAC systems to ach- GPH Gallon per hour (U.S. equivalent)
ieve energy efficiency in the overall cooling system. HDPE High-density polyethylene
HP Horse power
Acknowledgement HTF Heat transfer fluid
HVAC Heating ventilation and air conditioning
The authors sincerely thank Inspire Fellowship program division MT DSC Mettler Toledo differential scanning calorimetry
(Fellowship no. DST/INSPIRE Fellowship/2013/568), Department of OD Outer diameter
Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, for providing PCM Phase change material
the necessary financial support through “Innovation in Science RH Relative humidity; RT Rubitherm
Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) fellowship” for the Ph.D. RTD Resistance temperature detector
program. The authors also express their heartful thanks to Indo-US TES Thermal energy storage
Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) towards the funding
rendered through Building Energy Efficiency in Higher & Advanced References
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