Proceedings of the 7

th
Asian Conference on Refrigeration and Air Conditioning
ACRA2014
May 18-21, 2014, Jeju, KOREA

ACRA2014-281

Experimental Investigation On The Characteristics of The Partitioned Tank
Applied To The Solar Air Conditioning


Jin Su-min , Wang Ai-huiSun Shu-hua
Department of Energy, Nanjing University of TechnologyNo.30 Puzhu Nanlu Road Nanjing 211816P.R.China


ABSTRACT: A experimental investigation of partitioned heat storage tank used in solar air conditioning is
discussed, and the characteristics are analyzed, the results show that the partitioned tank using in solar air
conditioning system can significantly improve the property of the system, which causes the hot water
maintain in the optimal temperature for a long time, as a result, the refrigeration system can maintain the
COP in the high range for a long time. Although there have been some deviation in the test, the solution of
these problems of the partitioned tank provide a feasible reference for the practical application. In general, it
is feasible that the partitioned tank using in the solar air conditioning system, and it can reduce the heat
consumption of the generator in refrigerating machine, improve energy efficiency.


1. INTRODUCTION

With the development of society, how to use the
new energy sources have became a extremely urgent
problem, and solar energy as one kinds of natural
pollution-free clean energy, more and more people has
get attention to it. In our country, the building energy
consumption take a significant proportion of total energy
consumption, if the solar energy using in air conditioning
system, it will achieve a good energy saving effect,
which can also avoid the ozone depletion compared to
common air conditioning. But the solar energy exist
some problems like low energy flux density,
inhomogeneity, intermittent, and so on. so the heat
storage device can make the solar energy air
conditioning system maintained more stable, more
efficient.
At present, the thermal storage of the solar energy
air conditioning system is studied by more and more
people, the study of the Solar Heat Pump Systems with
Seasonal Storage
[1]
points out, if there is no short-term
heat storage, assurance factor of solar energy will fell
sharply; The double cistern system used in the solar
energy water heater
[2]
can improve the solar energy
efficiency; the study of the phase change materials used
for heat storage
[3-5]
said that, the joined of phase change
materials in tank can improve the thermal efficiency of
heat storage system, but it is complicated; Also some
scholars study the water tank of temperature
stratification under the solar energy air conditioning
system
[6]
, the later study improved it
[7]
, but the tank of
temperature stratification demand a high running
condition, it is unstable, and the time of achieving high
temperature is long. This paper puts forward a kind of
partition tank to heat storage for solar air conditioning,
which can rapidly reach the high temperature to run, and
keep a long time, that can improve the performance of
the system.
2. SYSTEM CHARACTERISTICS

The solar air conditioning using partitioned tank
for heat storage can fast achieve the best temperature of
heat source to work, and the temperature can keep for a
long time. We know, for single effect LiBr- H
2
O
absorption refrigeration system, there is a high sensitivity
of temperature of heat source, and the best temperature is
88 ~94 , if under this value, the COP will reduce
violently, so, to maintain the best temperature for a long
time can improve the COP of system, which can also
make full use of heat source.

2.1 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
PARTITIONED TANK

The design of the partitioned tank, show as the F
ig. 1, is to divide the tank into operation area and storage
area. Its working principle is showed in figure 1, the left
Fig. 1 The schematic diagram of the partitioned tank
i
Drain pipe Drain pipe
Water supply pipe
Outlet of the
hot water
Inlet of the hot
water
Inlet of the
circulating
water
Outlet of the circulating water
side is the operation area, and the right is storage area.
Operation area is small, and is linked together with the
heat source; the solar heat collection is used to satisfy the
requirement of this area in the daytime, that cause the
temperature reaches a higher value to take charge of the
load first, when the temperature is higher than a set value,
the heat reaches the storage area through the heat
exchanger; the storage area is linked together with the
operation area by heat exchanger, in the daytime, it is
responsible for accumulation of the redundant heat from
the operation area. Because the operation area is small,
the temperature reduces fast at night, at this time, the
temperature of the storage area will be higher than the
operation area, it will improve the temperature of the
operation area through heat transfer, which makes the
operation area work on.

2.2 The Characteristics of solar air conditioning
with partitioned tank

Compared with the typical solar air conditioning,
this new kind of system has the following characteristics:
(1)In the initial condition, all of the heat used to heat
up the operation area first, making the water temperature
of the operation area lift quickly to achieve the operating
requirements of the system, so as to form the fast effect
of startup.
(2)When the temperature of the operation area
arrived the best value, the solar heat collection is used to
meet the heat consumption of the load first, and then
keep the temperature of the operation area, at the same
time, transfer the excess heat to the storage area through
the heat exchanger, achieve the purpose of heat
accumulation; the temperature of the operation area
maintaining a high value as the heat source of the
refrigerating system cooling system, make the
refrigeration unit running in a high COP for a long time,
which improve the average COP of the system.
(3)The increase of the COP reduced the heat
consumption of the system, and so, in a sunny summer
day, the system can need not auxiliary energy, as a result,
reduce the consumption of the auxiliary heat.

3. EXPERIMENT SYSTEM

The proposed water tank was tested, including heat
source system, heat storage system and cooling system,
the whole device as shown in figure 2.



3.1 HEAT SOURCE SYSTEM

The electric heating was used as heat source, while
the hot water through the heater, its temperature was ris
en, and flowed into the operation area, heated the water;
as the cooling load was existed in this area, the temperat
ure will be reduced, the backflow in the bottom of the tan
k makes the low temperature water flow to the heater hea
ting again, so the cycle. In order to installing thermal resi
stance Pt100, the special process was used in the import
and export of the water tank, which used for measuring t
he temperature of the operation area, at the same time, th
e flow regulator and flow meter were installed, for achie
ving the measurement and control of the energy.

3.2 HEAT STORAGE SYSTEM

In the test, the operation area 40 L, storage area
100 L, the heat exchanger was decorated in the tank for
the heat transfer. In order to compare with the integral
tank, two tubes were designed in the outside of the tank,
so as to meet the effect of the integral tank; the two tubes
were distributed in the top and bottom of the tank.
The heat exchanger can transmit the redundant hea
t to the storage area in the daytime; the temperature of th
e operation area will reduce in the night, the heat will tra
nsfer from storage area to operation area, which result th
e temperature of the operation area rise, the system can c
ontinue to work.

3.3 COOLING SYSTEM

In practice, the generator was driven by hot water
in summer, the water was exothermic, and the
temperature decreased. The heat was considered in test,
and the condensing device was used to consume this part
of heat, so as to realize the system simulation; heating
power was 800W, the cooling load was simulated as the
form of heat dissipation, which power was controlled in
400W or so. With 75 for initial temperature the test
was began; Heating and cooling for 5.5 hours, and then
the test was done only for cooling.

4. OPERATION CHARATERISTICS EXPERIME
NT AND ANALYSIS

When the heating power was 800 W, and cooling
load was 400 W, the variation of temperature of hot
water tank was showed in figure 3. For the partitioned
water tank, when the temperature of operation area was
higher than 90 , the electromagnetic valve should open,
heat exchange tube started to work, but it was showed in
figure 3 that, if the temperature of operation area reach
85 , the heat transfer was appeared, this was mainly
because that the electromagnetic valve was in the end of
heat pipe, which can't control the flow of the thermal
steam; When the water temperature of the operation area
reached 90 , and the electromagnetic valve has been
open, the temperature of upper water of storage area was
continue to up, at the same time, the temperature of
bottom water also started to up, this was because the heat
transfer medium realized the circulation flow through
opening the electromagnetic valve, heat transfer was
consummate, and in the next period, the increase of the
temperature of operation area was slower, and the
increase of the temperature of storage area was
intensified.
Fig. 2 Experimental device of the partitioned tank.

In the heat dissipation test, the data of the end of
the heating section has been used as the initial value, and
the results were shown in figure 4. When the figure was
taken as a whole, the cooling load was 380 W, the
temperature of hot water in operation area was reduced
from 95 to 71 in 5.5 hours, and the temperature of
upper water in storage area was reduced from 88 to
80 , while the temperature of bottom water only
dropped 3 , to 77 . Theoretically, for the heat
exchange tube in storage area was decorated uniformly,
the temperature stratification shouldn't appear seriously,
it was appeared in the test mainly because the difference
of the temperature in the beginning in the test; but we
also can see, the layered different of temperature of the
hot water was also reduced gradually in the period of
heat dissipation.
In order to comparison, the test of integral water ta
nk was done in the same working conditions, and the exp
erimental results were shown in figure 5. From the result
s, it can be seen that the operation area of partition water
tank would reach a higher temperature more easily than
the integral water tank. With the same condition of heatin
g power and dissipation power, when the temperature of
hot water of operation area in partition tank reached 90
, the integral water tank can only reach 80 , as the h
eat sources of one effect LiBr absorption chiller, the influ
ence of the temperature difference on the COP of the syst
em was considerable, and after 4.7 hours, the temperatur
e of the integral water tank arrived 90 , the effect of re
frigeration is not as good as the partition of the water tan
k. But there was also a obvious problem: because of the
heat transfer was not full, the heating time is too long, an
d it made the temperature of operation area higher than c
ritical value of 95 .
For the partitioned water tank, in the same
conditions of test, the temperature of theoretical analysis
Fig. 3 The temperature distribution of the hot water
in heating phases
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
75
80
85
90
95
T
h
e

t
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

o
f

t
h
e

h
o
t

w
a
t
e
r
(

)
Time(h)




Theupper temperatureof thestoragearea
Theaveragetemperature
of theoperation area
Thebottomtemperatureof thestoragearea
Fig. 4 The temperature distribution of the hot
water in cooling phases
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
70
75
80
85
90
95
T
h
e

t
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

o
f

t
h
e

h
o
t

w
a
t
e
r
(

)
Time(h)
The upper temperatureof thestoragearea
Theaveragetemperatureof the operation area
Thebottomtemperature of thestoragearea
Fig. 5 The temperature and heat gain power of the
hot water
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
74
76
78
80
82
84
86
88
90
92
Time(h)
T
h
e

a
v
e
r
a
g
e

t
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

o
f

t
h
e

h
o
t

w
a
t
e
r
(

)

Fig. 6 The distribution of the theoretical
temperature
10 12 14 16 18 20 22
72
76
80
84
88
92
T
h
e

t
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

o
f

t
h
e

h
o
t

w
a
t
e
r
(

)
Time(h)

Thetemperatureof the
operation area
Thetemperatureof the
storagearea
Fig. 7 The distribution of the average temperature
of the test
10 12 14 16 18 20 22
70
75
80
85
90
95
T
h
e

t
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

o
f

t
h
e

h
o
t

w
a
t
e
r
(

)
Time (h)


The temperature of the
operation area
The temperature of the
storagearea
were shown in the figure 6, it can be seen that, the trend
of the theoretical value and the test value was consistent,
but there were some deviation. Theoretically, the
temperature stratification shouldn't appear in storage
area; the heat transfer did not exist when the
electromagnetic valve was closed; in the period of heat
dissipation, the temperature difference of the two areas
was 2.8 and the highest temperature of the storage
area was 88 . From the result of the test, the
temperature stratification existed in the storage area, and
the temperature of upper water was 90.6 , the
temperature of bottom water was only 80.7 ; in the
period of heat dissipation, the decrease of temperature of
the operation area was faster than storage area, if it was
researched as the average temperature, the results were
shown in figure 7. For the reason of the circumstance, it
was due to the inappropriate position of the
electromagnetic valve, the overlarge liquid-filled ratio,
the poor technology of welding and so on.


5. CONCLUSION

(1) Using partitioned tank in the solar energy air
conditioning, the system can more quickly achieve the
best working temperature. Under the condition of the test,
this temperature can be reached early 4.7 hours than the
whole water tank system, and the temperature can be
maintained to the end of heating, this can significantly
improve the performance of the LiBr absorption chiller.
(2) The test results showed that the heat exchange tube,
which designed for heat transfer, cannot reach the best
effect. Because of the insufficiency of the heat, there is a
tendency of the temperature to higher than 95 in
operation tank, while the temperature of the storage tank
is just 85.6 , the difference is large .
(3) For the whole, the test results conformed to the
theoretical analysis, but there were still some problems:
the installation of the electromagnetic valve was
improper, the filling liquid rate of the heat exchange tube
was too large, and the defects of the processing
technology, the solution of these problems will provide
feasible reference for the actual application of the
partitioned water tank.


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