Cold accumulators in air conditioning systems

Abstract

The appropriateness of using cold accumulators in air conditioning systems has been assessed. A cooling system with a storage tank is considered, in which ice is frozen on the outer surface of the evaporator heat exchange tubes. It is established that the accumulation of cold can lead to a significant reduction in cash costs. The analysis of the experience of using cold accumulators in air conditioning systems allows drawing the following conclusions: the most common solution for accumulating cold is the use of ice accumulators with ice freezing on the heat exchange surface of evaporators located in the storage tank; the melting mode of ice in ice accumulators with the chiller turned off is adopted in designing. The area of the heat exchange surface of the ice accumulator apparatus during cooling of ice water should be determined mainly depending on the conditions of ice melting; to freeze ice, it is necessary to increase the heat exchange surface area of the evaporator and lower the boiling point to minus 10...15 °C. Specific energy costs (kW of electricity per kW of cold) increase by 2 or more times, which reduces profit.