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Simplified Modeling of Thermal Storage Tank for Distributed Energy Heat

Recovery Applications

Conference Paper · June 2015

DOI: 10.1115/ES2015-49170

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 Proceedings of the ASME 2015 Power and Energy Conversion Conference
ASME Power and Energy 2015
June 28 - July 2, 2015, San Diego, USA

PowerEnergy2015-49170

SIMPLIFIED MODELING OF THERMAL STORAGE TANK FOR DISTRIBUTED

ENERGY HEAT RECOVERY APPLICATIONS

Aowabin Rahman Nelson Fumo Amanda D. Smith⇤

Site-Specific Energy Systems Lab Department of Mechanical Engineering Site-Specific Energy Systems Lab
Department of Mechanical Engineering The University of Texas at Tyler Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Utah Tyler, Texas, USA 75799 University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA 84112 Email: nfumo@uttyler.edu Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, 84112
Email: aowabin.rahman@utah.edu Email: amanda.d.smith@utah.edu

ABSTRACT mout mass of stored water leaving node i.

A simplified mathematical model was developed to analyze min mass of stored water entering node i.
a storage tank containing a stationary fluid with hot and cold Ti Temperature of stored water in node i.
heat exchanger coils. The model is to be used as a screening tool Th,i Temperature of hot water in node i.
for determining tank size and configurations for operation with a Tc,i Temperature of cold water in node i.
given power generation unit in a combined cooling, heating and T• Ambient temperature.
power (CCHP) system. As such, the model was formulated so t time
that it requires minimal information about the thermo-physical N Total number of nodes
properties of the fluids and design parameters in order to de- Dx Length of each node.
termine the temperature profiles of the stored fluid and the heat Ac Cross-sectional area of each node
transfer fluid for turbulent flow inside the heat exchangers. The As Surface area of each node
presented model is implemented computationally with varying k Thermal conductivity of water.
number of nodes, before comparing it with a more detailed model cp Specific Heat Capacity of water.
that take into account the variation of thermo-physical proper- µ Dynamic viscosity of water
ties, as well as the effects of thermal de-stratification and heat k Density.
loss to the ambient. The simplified model provided accurate tem- kmat Thermal conductivity of heat exchanger material.
perature predictions that could subsequently be used to design a kdest De-stratification conductivity.
stratified tank system for a given CCHP application. UA Overall heat transfer coefficient of heat exchanger.
hi Inner heat transfer coefficient.
ho Outer heat transfer coefficient.
NOMENCLATURE Uloss Heat loss coefficient.
mi mass of stored water in node i. Nu Nusselt Number.
mh,i mass of water in hot heat exchanger in node i. Ra Rayleigh Number
mc,i mass of water in cold heat exchanger in node i. Re Reynold’s number.
Nu Friction factor.
Pr Prandtl number.
⇤ Address all correspondence to this author.
1 Copyright c 2015 by ASME
 di Inner diameter of heat exchanger.
do Outer diameter of heat exchanger.
Dcoil Coil Diameter of heat exchanger.
Lcoil Total length of heat exchanger coil.
d Curvature ratio, defined as d = di /Dcoil
t Non-Dimensionalized computational time
econv Convergence error
Est Differential in storage density
Vtank Volume of storage water inside tank
INTRODUCTION
A thermal storage tank can be used in conjunction with on-
site generation systems which produce heat in order to recover
excess thermal energy for later use. The potential benefits of
adding such a system to account for temporal variations in ther-
mal demand has been documented by several authors [1] [2].
Combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) systems
provide electric and thermal energy from a single source, which
is the power generation unit (PGU), thereby improving the over-
all fuel efficiency of the system. The exhaust heat recovered
from the PGU can be used to satisfy heating and cooling loads
in a building, thereby improving the efficiency of PGU. Using a
CCHP system lowers the energy consumption for the grid and
reduces the amount of pollutant emissions.
The thermal storage tank allows heat to be recovered from
the power generation unit (PGU). The water that cools the PGU
passes through the thermal storage tank, transferring the gained
heat to the storage medium in the process. The heat gained by
the thermal storage tank is then passed to the cold heat exchanger,
which can then be used to meet heating loads, or passed on to an
absorption chiller.
The purpose of the work presented in this paper is to analyze
a thermal storage system that consists of a hot water tank with
two internal heat exchangers. The water tank contains a fixed
amount of water with no flow into or out of the tank. This anal-
ysis will provide a simple methodology towards producing dif-
ferential equations that govern the heat transfer that takes place
inside the tank, allowing for temperature predictions for stored
water and water in the heat exchangers as functions of inlet tem-
peratures and flow rates. Several assumptions are made to sim-
plify this model, since its application is focused on screening
tools for CCHP systems. The simplified model is later compared
with a more detailed model [3] in this analysis.
The stratified water storage tank is an inexpensive sensible
storage medium that can be easily integrated as part of a build-
ing’s energy system [4] .Due to its high heat capacity, water
is a suitable storage medium for low-temperature (300 375 K)
applications. For a temperature differential of 60 K, water can
achieve a storage density of 0.25 GJ/m3 [4]. In this analysis,
the water pressure in the heat exchangers and in the storage tank
was assumed to be sufficiently high (greater than 0.5 MPa), so
2 Copyright c 2015 by ASME
that phase change of water is avoided at 400 K or below. As
such, the storage tank can be effectively coupled with an exhaust
heat recovery system in a residential CHP unit driven by an in-
ternal combustion engine [5]. The only key cost considerations
for installing such a storage tank would be the costs of insulation
and construction of a high-pressure storage vessel [4].
One of the applications of this model would be in screen-
ing tools that performance energy/exergy analysis of building de-
signs during preliminary design stages. The screening tools are
aimed at generating performance assessment results with mini-
mum input parameters [6], so as to support early-stage decision
making using rough estimates. As such, high-accuracy data is
usually not necessary for such screening tools.
Most models that have been derived were done so with re-
spect to a thermal storage tank with a single heat exchanger and
net mass in and out of the tank. EnergyPlus [7] uses a model
that can be used for a single or dual heat exchanger tank that
has water flowing to and from the tank directly. EnergyPlus de-
rives model equations that govern the tank and heat exchanger
using a differential equation approach, stepping through each of
the components in the thermal storage tank along with each of
the heat transfer modes associated with those components. How-
ever, the software does not provide a stand-alone simulation for
thermal storage tanks.
Nakahara et al. [1] used a numerical one-dimensional model
to show how stratified chilled water behaved in thermal storage
tanks. They split the tank into two pieces. The top piece was
a region where the flow into the tank is considered to act like a
piston. The bottom piece was a fully mixed region that had a
uniform temperature distribution.
A similar one-dimensional model was derived by Kleinbach
et al. [8], which was developed in TRNSYS and is based on a
residential hot water tank. Similar to the model presented in
this paper, Kleinbach’s model allows for a variable number of
nodes as input. Atabaki et al. [9] developed a semi-empirical
method that divides the tank in two regions such that the temper-
ature distribution in one region is calculated using a quasi-one-
dimensional model and the other is based on an experimentally
determined correlation. The purpose for their model was to de-
termine whether or not the mixing that occurs within a tank can
be neglected. Their study used a residential thermal storage tank
that had a single heat exchanger coil with flow through the tank.
The study helped to conclude that the mixing effects that occur
between nodes is not negligible for the system they had devel-
oped. Therefore, we investigate these effects as they pertain to
our model in the initial investigation.
Newton [10] developed a tank model in TRNSYS that incor-
porated internal heat exchangers, non-uniform cross-sections and
net mass flow into and out of the tank. The author used several
solution techniques (including Cranck-Nicholson and Euler) for
solving the energy balance equation, before comparing the rel-
ative accuracy and computational speed of each method. Buck-
ley [11] proposed a similar model for a storage tank to be used TABLE 1. HEAT EXCHANGER SPECIFICATIONS
in conjunction with a solar collector and an absorption chiller,
and used an implicit finite difference scheme to solve the energy Material Conductivity (kmat ) 30 (W/m K)
equation. Vaivudh et al. [12] proposed a model for a fully-mixed
storage device to be used with a solar trough. Coil pitch (p) 36.2 mm
Angrisani et al. [3] used a 1-D model (available in TRN- Coil Diameter (Dcoil ) 0.49 m
SYS) to predict the temperature profile inside a stratified tank
with multiple heat exchangers, and compared the model with ex- Inner tube diameter (di ) 21.6 mm
perimental results. The 1-D model includes the effects of mass Outer tube diameter (do ) 26.9 mm
transfer within the tank, as well as mass flow into and out of the
tank, thermal de-stratification and heat loss to the ambient. Their Length of coil (Lcoil ) 85.10 mm
model served as one of the validation tools for this analysis.
The sections that follow describe the development of a sim-
ple model that could determine the temperature profile of the
fluid inside the storage tank, as well as the temperature profile
of the heat transfer fluid in the hot and cold heat exchangers.
The energy equations were solved using an implicit scheme, val-
idated with existing models and analyzed to observe the effect of
varying flow-rates of water in each heat exchanger.

DESCRIPTION OF SYSTEM
The thermal storage tank chosen for this analysis was one
with dual heat exchangers and no flow into or out of the tank.
Therefore, the water which serves as a thermal storage medium
FIGURE 1. Schematic used to develop mathematical model of strati-
remains in the tank, where thermal energy is added by the hot
fied storage tank
stream and is removed from the tank by the cold stream (as
shown in Figure 1). The heat exchanger coils were assumed to
extend throughout the entire height of the tank, such that they
provide the maximum heat transfer area. The dual heat ex- fluids were considered incompressible and at a sufficiently high
changer configuration with no mass flow through the tank also pressure such that no change in phase occurs. Finally, the mix-
has the advantage of being completely sealed with flow only oc- ing between the stratified layers due to buoyancy was neglected.
curring through each of the heat exchangers. This leads to less Some of these assumptions would be tested later using a valida-
maintenance on the tank and eliminates the chance of leakage. tion model.
The model presented in this paper considers a 2200 L cylin- By applying the first law of thermodynamics, the energy bal-
drical storage tank with diameter of 1.25 m and a height of 2 ance equation for stored water in a generic node ”i” can be de-
m. The dimensions of the storage tank considered are consistent rived as follows:
with those provided by SolarBayer [13] . The heat exchangers
were similar to the ones used in experimental analysis by Logie
et al. [14] . Identical heat exchangers made of crude steel (enam-
dTi kAc (Ti 1 Ti ) kAc (Ti+1 Ti )
eled) were considered as both hot and cold heat exchangers, the mi c p = UAh (Th,i Ti ) + +
specifications of which are detailed in Table 1. Figure 1 shows dt Dx Dx
the schematic used to develop the one-dimensional mathematical +UAc (Tc,i Ti )
model of the aforementioned system. (1)

MATHEMATICAL MODELING For the heat transfer fluid (i.e. water inside the heat exchang-
The model equations for the storage tank was derived by ers), the energy equations can be expressed as:
performing an energy balance of the given system. Several as-
sumptions were made in order to simplify the model. The tank
was assumed to be adiabatic over the time period of interest, with dTh,i
no mass flow of stored water entering and leaving the tank. The mh,i c p,h = ṁh c p,h (Th,i 1 Th,i ) UAh (Th,i Ti ) (2)
dt

3 Copyright c 2015 by ASME

 TABLE 2. THERMO-PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF STORED WA-
TER AND WATER IN THE HEAT EXCHANGERS
dTc,i
mc,i c p,c = ṁc c p,c (Tc,i Tc,i+1 ) +UAc (Ti Tc,i ) (3)
dt
Stored Water Hot water Cold Water
The boundary values at the inlet of hot and cold heat ex- k(W /mK) 0.6118 0.68 0.6118
changers can be incorporated as follows:
c p (J/kgK) 4180 4260 4180
µ (microPa.s) 851 218 851
dTh,1
mh,1 c p,h = ṁh c p,h (Th,in Th,1 ) UAh (Th,1 T1 ) (4) r(kg/m3 ) 996 937 996
dt

The differential equations were solved for the stored wa-

dTc,N
mc,N c p,c = ṁc c p,c (Tc,N Tc,in ) +UAc (TN Tc,N ) (5) ter temperature (Ti ), the temperature of water in the hot heat
dt exchanger (Th,i ), and temperature of water in the cold heat ex-
changer (Tc,i ) using an implicit scheme in MATLAB environ-
The overall heat transfer coefficient (UA) for either heat ex- ment. The initial temperatures for the tank are considered to be
changer can be calculated as: homogenous at 300 K, as are the temperatures for the water in
the heat exchangers. The incoming hot water for the hot heat
exchanger enters the top at 400 K, and the incoming water for
1 the cold heat exchanger enters the bottom at 300 K. The water
UA =
1
ln do
di 1
(6) flowing through the heat exchangers is assumed to be at 0.5 MPa
hi Ai + 2pkmat Dx + ho Ao or above, such that it remains in the liquid phase. The reference
flow rates for hot and cold water are taken to be 10 gpm and
For fully developed, internal, turbulent flow the inner heat 4 gpm respectively. A 10-node tank is considered as reference.
transfer coefficient can be calculated using the Nusselt number The temperatures in the tank and at the outlet of each heat ex-
evaluated using the Pethukov correlation, along with Itos correla- changer are computed increments of 10 s over a time interval of
tion for determining the friction factor in helical pipes [15]. The 4 hours.
Pethukov correlation is often used for turbulent flow in straight Constant values of thermo-physical properties of stored, hot
pipes; however, based on the results of their CFD model, Castig- and cold water were assumed for this analysis, the values of
ila et al.concluded that when the friction factor has been adjusted which are given in Table 2. As the variation of thermo-physical
for, the Pethukov correlation can be accurately used for helical properties with temperature was not accounted for, the outer heat
pipes as well. The correlation is given as [15]: transfer coefficient for either heat exchanger was evaluated us-
ing the average of the thermo-physical properties of stored water
and the water in the respective heat exchangers at t = 0. For in-
PrReD ( 8f ) stance, the dynamic viscosity at the ”film temperature” (µ f ) was
NuD = (7) determined as follows:
1.07 + 12.7( L8 )0.5 (Pr0.667 1)

This is supplemented by Ito’s correlation [15]: µ[T = THX,i (t = 0)] + µ[T = Ti (t = 0)]
µf = (10)
2
0.25
f = 0.304ReD + 0.029d 0.5 (8)

Finally, the outer heat transfer coefficient is calculated using
the correlation for free convection, as suggested by Ali [16]:
NuL = 0.106RaL 0.335
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Figure 2 shows the temperature profile of stored water at
various axial locations in the storage tank (x = 0 corresponds to
water level). For the reference flow-rates, the stored water tem-
peratures reach a steady state after about 2 hours of operation.
(9) The difference between the top and the bottom node is 42.2 K,

4 Copyright c 2015 by ASME

 400 400
Tc(x = 0.10 m)
Tc(x = 1.10 m)
380 380 Tc(x = 1.90 m)
Temperature (K)

Temperature (K)
360 360

340 340

320 T(x = 0.10 m) 320

T(x = 1.10 m)
T(x = 1.90 m)
300 300
0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4
time (hours) time (hours)

FIGURE 2. Temperature profile of stored water at various vertical lo- FIGURE 4. Temperature profile of water at various locations at cold
cations heat exchanger

400 al. [3], is given as:

380
dT (k + kdest )Ac (Ti+1 Ti ) (k + kdest )Ac (Ti 1 Ti )
mi c p
Temperature (K)

360
340
Th(x = 0.10 m)
320
Th(x = 1.10 m)
Th(x = 1.90 m)
300
0 1 2 3
time (hours)
FIGURE 3. Temperature profile of water at various locations at hot
heat exchanger
which indicates that the tank is considerably stratified. Figures
3 and 4 show the corresponding plots of temperature profiles of
water inside the hot and cold heat exchangers respectively. The
temperature of hot water inside the heat exchanger decreases,
while that of cold water increases with their respective flow di-
rections.
Figures 5 compares the temperature profiles at the top and
bottom nodes with those obtained using a validation model. The
validation model accounted for the variation of thermo-physical
properties (i.e. density, dynamic viscosity, thermal conductivity
and specific heat capacity), as well as the effects of buoyancy-
induced mixing, thermal de-stratification and heat loss to the am-
bient. The energy balance equation for stored water in the vali-
dation model, which is identical to the one used by Angrisani et
= +
dt Dx Dx
Uloss As (T• Ti ) Â ṁout cTout + Â ṁin cTin +
+UAh (Th,i Ti ) +UAc (Tc,i Ti )
(11)
The validation model, which was used by Angrisani et al. [3]
has been validated with experimental results, the details of which
4 are available in other literature [3]. For the validation model, the
temperature-dependent thermo-physical properties were curve-
fit to algebraic functions. Consistent with the experimental work
of Angrisani et al. [3] the de-stratification conductivity and the
heat loss coefficient were taken to be 0.285 (W /mK) and 1.37
W/m2 K .
Figure 5 shows that the difference in temperature of stored
water predicted by the simplified model and that predicted by the
validation model is relatively higher for top node compared to
the bottom node. Figure 6 shows the temperature distributions
of stored water at steady-state as predicted by the two models. It
can be seen that for the given system, the simplified model can
determine the stored water temperature profile fairly accurately
and that the only significant deviation from the validation model
occurs at the top node, where the simplified model over-predicts
the stored water temperature. This is because at the top node, the
mass transfer due to buoyancy is likely to be maximum, and as
a result, buoyancy-driven mixing effect would be relatively more
significant.
Taking the corresponding temperature obtained using the
validation model as base, the relative errors in stored water tem-

5 Copyright c 2015 by ASME

 400 380

370 Validation Model

Validation Model
380
360
Presented Model

Temperature (K)
Temperature (K)

350
360 Presented Model
340

340 330

320
320 310
Top node
Bottom node 300
300 0 1 2 3
0 1 2 3 time (hours)
time (hours)

FIGURE 7. Temperature of water at cold heat exchanger outlet - com-

FIGURE 5. Temperature profiles of stored water at top and bottom parison with validation model
nodes - comparison with validation model

convergence error can be determined using the differential in

390 stored energy:
Presented Model
380
|Est,n=100 Est,n=N |
Temperature (K)

econv = (13)
370 Est,n=100
Validation Model

360 As mentioned previously, one of the advantages of using the

simplified model is the significant reduction in computational
350 time, which is largely dependent on the number of nodes con-
sidered. Figure 8 shows how the solution for cold water outlet
340 temperature converges to a finite value with increasing number of
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
x/H
nodes, while Figure 9 presents how the relative convergence er-
ror compares with non-dimensional computational time for vary-
ing number of nodes. The computational time (t) taken using the
FIGURE 6. Temperature distribution at steady-state - comparison presented simplified model for a given number of nodes was non-
with validation model dimensionalised with respect to the computational time taken by
the validation model with identical number of nodes. For a 10-
perature at top node and the root-mean-square (RMS) of stored node tank, the computational time taken by the presented model
water temperature in the tank are 1.21% and 0.06%. Figure 7 is 35.6% of that taken by the validation time with a convergence
shows the temperature profiles of water at cold heat exchanger error of 0.817%
outlet, as obtained by the two models. The temperature profiles Figure 10 shows the cold water outlet temperature profiles
are closely matched, and the percent error in cold water outlet at different flow-rates of water (in gpm) at cold heat exchanger
temperature is 0.85%. inlet, while figure 11 presents the corresponding temperature dis-
The performance of the model can be determined by calcu- tribution of stored water at steady-state. As expected, the stored
lating the differential in stored energy density as steady-state: water temperatures, as well as the cold water outlet temperatures
decrease with increasing flow-rate of cold water; however, the
temperature changes are less significant when the increments are
N in the high flow-rate range.
 mi c p (Ti,t Ti,t=0 ) Figures 12 and 13 show the corresponding effects of vary-
i=1 (12)
Est = ing flow-rate of water at hot heat exchanger inlet on cold water
Vtank outlet temperature and stored water temperatures at steady-state.
With increasing flow-rate, both these parameters increase; how-
For a 10-node tank Est = 0.278GJ/m3 at steady state. The ever with increasing flow-rate of hot water, the gain in corre-

6 Copyright c 2015 by ASME

 Outlet temperature of water in cold HX (K)
374
380

372 370
Qc = 4
360
370

Temperature (K)
Qc = 6
350
368 Qc = 8
340
Q = 10
c
366 330
Qc = 15
320
364
310
362
0 50 100 300
Number of Nodes 0 1 2 3
time (hours)

FIGURE 8. Temperature of water at cold heat exchanger outlet - con-

FIGURE 10. Temperature of water at cold heat exchanger outlet -
vergence of solution with increasing number of nodes
effect of varying cold water flow-rates

3 0.6
Non−dimensional computational time

390
Relative Convergence error (%)

380
2 εconv 0.4
370

Temperature (K)
τ

360
1 0.2
350 Qc = 4
Qc = 6
340
Qc = 8
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 Qc = 10
330
Number of nodes Qc = 15
320
0 0.5 1
FIGURE 9. Relative convergence error and non-dimensional compu- x/H
tational time vs. number of nodes

FIGURE 11. Temperature distribution of stored water at steady-state

sponding temperatures appeared to be diminishing. Figure 12 - effect of varying cold water flow rates
also shows that the degree of stratification appears to decrease
with increasing flow-rate of hot water. This is probably because
with increasing flow-rate of hot water, there is a decrease in time CONCLUSIONS
available for heat transfer between the stored water and the water A model of a stratified sensible thermal storage tank con-
in hot heat exchanger. Consequently, the water in hot heat ex- taining stationary fluid and two heat exchangers was developed.
changer would remain at a high temperature even when it reaches Compared with modeling methods for water storage tanks in the
the bottom node. literature, this model provides similar results with simple equa-
Figure 14 presents the plot of cold water outlet temperatures tions and can be implemented without specialized software. The
at steady-state as a function of hot and cold water flow-rates in- performance of a thermal storage tank of specified size can be es-
side the heat exchangers. Lowering the flow-rate of cold wa- timated for use with heat recovery applications. The temperature
ter would improve the cold-water outlet temperature; however, behavior of the water in the tank, and the exiting water streams
the cold water flow-rate is often constrained by the flow require- from the heat exchangers, can be predicted when the temperature
ments. Increasing the hot water flow rate increases the cold water of incoming hot water and the temperature of cold water avail-
outlet temperature, but beyond a flow-rate of approximately 10 able are known.
gpm, the gain in temperature is fairly small. For the given arrangement of heat exhangers within an insu-

7 Copyright c 2015 by ASME

 Outlet temperature of water in cold HX (K)
380
380
Qh = 15
370 370

360 Qh = 6 360
Temperature (K)

350 Qh = 4
350
340

330 340

320 330 Qh
Qc
310
320
300 5 10 15
0 1 2 3 4 Flow rate in heat exchanger (m3/s)
time (hours)

FIGURE 14. Steady-state temperature of water at cold heat exchanger

FIGURE 12. Temperature of water at cold heat exchanger outlet -
outlet vs. flow-rate of water inside the heat exchangers
effect of varying hot water flow-rates

390 Plus, where it would be imperative for the model to run on a low
computational time.
380

370
Temperature (K)

360
350
Qc = 4
Qc = 6
340
Qc = 8
Qc = 10
330
Qc = 15
320
0 0.5
x/H
FIGURE 13. Temperature distribution of stored water at steady-state
- effect of varying cold water flow rates
lated cylindrical storage tank, the effects of buoyancy-induced
mixing and thermal de-stratification can be neglected without
significant changes to the accuracy of the solution. For a 10-
node tank, the presented model can predict differentials in stored
energy with 98% accuracy with respect to the validation model,
while taking about 35% of its computational time.
The simplified model presented can predict temperature pro-
files with reduced problem complexity and computational time,
compared with other methods. It may be used as a screening
tool to quickly evaluate the response of a thermal storage tank
used for heat recovery in a distributed power generation appli-
cation. This model can also be integrated as a module with a
more comprehensive energy modeling software, such as Energy-
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