Improving Thermal and Flow Properties of Chilled Water-Part 2: Facility Construction and Flow Tests

• Published in: ASHRAE Transactions. no. -212. 1997 Vol. 103; no. 212; pp. 198 - 212
• Main Authors: Lorsch, Harold G, Chandratre, Kaustubh, Murali, Kris, Cho, Young I
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Atlanta American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers, Inc 01.01.1997; American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc., Atlanta, GA (United States)
• Subjects: ADDITIVES; ALKANES; BUILDINGS; Calibration; Cold; ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION; Flow measuring instruments; Flow of fluids; Heat exchangers; HEAT TRANSFER FLUIDS; Materials selection; MIXTURES; Paraffin wax; Paraffins; PHASE CHANGE MATERIALS; Phase transitions; Pressure drop; SPACE HVAC SYSTEMS; Specific heat; Surface active agents; SURFACTANTS; Temperature; TEST FACILITIES; THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES; WATER; Water supply systems; Water temperature
• ISSN: 0001-2505

Building on previous work (Choi 1993), a mixture of two n-alkanes (paraffin waxes) was developed that has a phasechange temperature between the usual supply and return temperatures of chilled-water systems. Adding such a phasechange material (PCM) to water significantly increases its volumetric thermal capacity (Lorsch 1995). This paper describes (1) the construction of an experimental facility and (2) experiments that evaluated the behavior of water-PCM-surfactant mixtures under conditions encountered in building chilledwater systems. Increases in volumetric thermal capacity of such mixtures up to 20% over water were demonstrated accompanied by pressure drop increases of less than 5%. Material selection, preliminary bench tests, and instrument calibration are described in a companion paper (Lorsch et al. 1997).