The energy demand of cooling and air-conditioning systems is usually distributed rather unevenly throughout the day. While comparatively high cooling capacities have to be provided around midday, the cooling power requirement is reduced during the night hours. However, the lowest energy consumption for a cooling machine would result if it could run day and night at a constantly low output.
This can be achieved by storing the cold e.g. during the night. This cooling energy is then also available on the following day and now enables the use of smaller, energy-saving cooling units.
One way to store cold is to freeze some substance to thaw it later. Such substances are called phase change materials (PCMs).
As part of the cooperation project “Energy efficiency through the use of cold storage”, work was carried out on the characterization and optimization of such storage systems.
Project partners: EUT GmbH, Celsius Technologie GmbH, Fa. Petz
For more information, please get in touch with:
Aldo Giovannini Senior Lecturer Department Environmental, Process & Energy Engineering +43 512 2070 – 3231 aldo.giovannini@mci.edu
Experimental setup. Photo: MCI-Giovannini.
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