EFFICIENCY ASSESSMENT OF GLYCOL COLD THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE

AND EFFECT OF VARYING ENVIRONMENT TEMPERATURE

Marc A. Rosen and Ibrahim Dincer

Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Ontario Institute of Technology,
2000 Simcoe Street North, Oshawa, Ontario, LlH 7K4, Canada
Email: marc.rosen@uoit.ca. tel. 905/721-8668

Received January 2009, Accepted March 2009

No. 09-CSME-15, E.Le. Accession 3101

ABSTRACT
The effect of varying environment temperature on the efficiency of glycol cold thermal
energy storage (CTES) is investigated. Several thermodynamic system parameters are analyzed,
such as change in storage temperature, storage heat load, energy and exergy efficiencies and
exergy destruction. Glycol CTES is treated as a potential application of sensible heat storage
systems. A storage tank with a capacity of 150,000 kg is considered with an ethylene glycol-
based water solution storage medium. Exergy analysis is used, which provides more useful
information than energy analysis about energy quality, efficiency, losses and irreversibilities.
Modelling results indicate that the system exergy efficiency is 46% less than energy efficiency.
The system exergy efficiencies are 40% and 20% at 50°C and WoC ambient temperatures,
respectively. The results imply that cold energy is more efficient at higher ambient temperatures,
storage heat loss depends weakly on ambient temperature, and the reference-environment
temperature affects significantly exergy destruction and efficiency.

EVALUATION DE L'EFFICACITE DU STOCKAGE D'ENERGIE THERMIQUE

FROIDE AU GLYCOL ET L'EFFET DES VARIATIONS
DE LA TEMPERATURE AMBIANTE

RESUME
L'effet des variations de la temperature ambiante sur l'efficacite du stockage d'energie thermique
froide (SETF) au glycol est examine. Plusieurs parametres de systemes thermodynamiques sont analyses,
tels que les changements de la temperature de stockage, les charges de stockage de chaleur, l'efficacite de
I' energie et de l' exergie, et la destruction de l' exergie. Le glycol (SETF) est vu comrne application
potentielle a des systemes simples de stockage de chaleur. On examine l'utilisation d'un reservoir de
stockage d'une capacite de 150,000 kg avec un medium de stockage de solution d'ethylene glycol a base
d'eau. On procede a une analyse de l'exergie, laquelle fournit des informations plus utiles qu'une analyse
de l'energie, sur la qualite de l'energie, l'efficacite, les pertes et les irreversibilites. Les resultats de la
modelisation indiquent que l'efficacite de l'exergie du systeme est de 46% moins que l'efficacite
energetique. Les resultats de l'efficacite de l'exergie du systeme sont de 40% et 20% a 500c et lOoC,
respectivement, a la temperature ambiante. Les resultats laissent supposer que l'energie froide est plus
efficace a haute temperature ambiante, la perte de chaleur au stockage depend peu de la temperature
ambiante, et la temperature de reference ambiante affecte de fa90n significative la destruction et
l' efficacite de l' exergie.

Trans. Can. Soc. Mech. Eng. Vol. 33, No.1, 2009 119
INTRODUCTION

Glycol cold thermal energy storage (CTES) is a type of sensible heat storage. In a sensible heat
storage the temperature of the storage material changes with heat interactions. When glycol thermal
storage is incorporated into a new or existing building system, a low temperature chilled-water supply
allows the use of low-temperature air distribution and consequently smaller fans and ducts. The capacity
of a chilled-water TES system is increased by storing the coldest water possible and by extracting as
much heat from the chilled water as practical when charging the storage, thus raising the temperature of
the return water used in charging.
A reduction and shift in peak electric power demand can be realized using cold storage because it
permits the use of nighttime electric power, instead of the more costly daytime power. This measure also
often reduces CO 2 emissions due to the production methods for nighttime electric power.
Air conditioning and industrial process cooling make up almost a third of the aggregate electricity
demand during the summer in many countries. Therefore, the aggregate utility demand tends to have the
same pattern as a building's cooling demand. For economic reasons, electric utilities operate their most
economic "base load" power plants as much as possible. Other power plants are somewhat less efficient.
These "intermediate" power plants see limited use dming the day. Peak-load power plants, those with the
highest operating costs, are mainly used during the few peak-load hours. The cost to produce 1 kWh of
electricity is highest during these peak hours. Two factors contribute to these high costs. First, utilities
must build enough capacity to meet the highest or peak demand. Therefore, much of the utility's capacity-
related costs are charged during these peak hours (often as peak "demand" charges). Second, because
often the least efficient power plants operate during peak hours, the costs of generating the electrical
energy are higher during those hours. Electricity consumers can reduce their electricity costs under many
rate schemes if they reduce peak electricity use. TES provides electricity users that opportunity [1].
The objective of this study is to provide more meaningful, comprehensive and useful information
on the performance glycol CTES systems so as to enable designers to develop, design, optimize and
improve such systems. This article extends previous work by the authors [2], which consider the glycol
CTES in Figure 1. In this article, exergy analysis [3] is applied to that glycol CTES system to assess the
effect of variations in environment temperature. Energy- and exergy-based efficiencies are determined for
the storage tank, the overall storage system and for the chiller unit. The effects of changes in storage
temperature, coefficient of performance (COP) of the chiller, heat losses from storage tank, and mass flow
rates are also examined for glycol CTES systems.

BACKGROUND

Many studies of CTES systems and exergy/energy analyses have been reported [4-13]. These
studies are mostly based on the experimental investigations and concerned with quantities of stored
energy or applications. To the best of the authors' knowledge, very few investigations of glycol CTES
systems using exergy methods have been reported [11, 14, 15].
An exergoeconomic analysis of the glycol CTES in Figure 1 has been reported previously by the
authors [2]. Exergoeconomics combines thermodynamics (using both the first and second laws) with
economics [3, 5]. In the exergoeconomic analysis, the ratio R of thermodynamic loss rate L to capital
cost K is utilized [6], where

R= L (1)
K

Trans. Can. Soc. Mech. Eng. Vol. 33, No.1, 2009 120
 r-----
I J
1-----, - - - ~ --I
I
I I
!
I
!

y
\leXP<lt1'll!iQI1
'Il'llIVll
COlt1PlllfSigot n"rI

,, 1

, Cl11!!il1!
I
1

I
--l-H--r - - - - -I
7

.,
f~~~~~~
,. .. .,.
I 11

pump

Heat
ClianqH
,
$tcrll@I>!:mk : i1i

Figure 1. Glycol CTES system.

The value of R depends on whether it is based on energy loss rate Ren or exergy loss rate Rex. That is,

(2)

(3)

Various results were obtained. For instance, the variation of the ratio of the exergetic thermodynamic loss
rate to capital cost for the chiller, Rchill , is illustrated in Figure 2, where capital cost is in 2005 US$. The
cost to operate the chiller increases with increasing load because more power to drive the compressor to
remove more heat. Also, the ratio of thermodynamic loss rate based on exergy to capital cost for the
storage tank, Rr, is illustrated in Figure 3, where low storage temperature leads is observed to lead to low
costs. The variation of the ratio of thermodynamic loss rate based on exergy to the capital cost for the
storage system, R,'Y,I"> is shown in Figure 4. The figure shows that R,,)'S increases during discharging and
during the initial and latter steps of discharging, due to the increase in exergy destruction associated with
increasing inlet temperature and mass flow rate values. The results suggest that an exergoeconomic
approach in designing and analyzing glycol CTES systems can help increase efficiency cost effectively,
contributing to sustainable energy use.

Trans, Can. Soc. Mech. Eng. Vol. 33, No.1, 2009 121
 0.0009

0.0008

0'
~
=.
:c(J
a:

0.0005

0.0004
0 5 10 15 20 25
t [hour]

Figure 2. Variation with time and ambient temperature of ratio of thermodynamic loss rate based on
exergy to capital cost for chiller.

0.00135 I
I
- Tamb=30 [C) I
I
0.0012 - - Tamb=25 [C) I

- - - T amb=20 [C)
, I

I
0.00105 , I
I
0.0009 ,
I

I
0' I
I
~
0.00075 I

=. 0.0006 I
J
I
~
c: ,
I
III
rE 0.00045 I
I
---------
I

!I ---
------
0.0003
/I
\
................
!I
0.00015 ./ \
//
....
",............
/

/....................
......... """""' ,\ \

~, /1
0 /~
~~"/: ~,~ ~U;

o 5 10 15 20 25
t [hour]
Figure 3. Variation with time and ambient temperature of ratio of thermodynamic loss rate based on
exergy to capital cost for the storage tank.

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

In glycol CTES systems (Figure 1), water is not exposed to the atmosphere during its flow
processes. Chilled water flows through the evaporator from the storage tank forming a closed
recirculating loop. In a chilled water system, the glycol solution is first cooled in the chiller, which is the
evaporator of a screw or centrifugal refrigeration system located in a centralized plant [16]. The glycol
solution is then pumped to the cooling-load heat exchanger, where the temperature of the fluid is
increased. Then it returns to the storage tank through the evaporator.

Trans. Can. Soc. Mech. Eng. Vol. 33, No.1, 2009 122
 0.001 I -- T am b=30 [C]
- Tamb=25 [C]
- - - T am b=20 [C]

0.0009

,
0.0008 :l

i
I

II
I'
(I) :1
>-
(I)
l'
0.0007 \ \ II
a:: l'
\\
I ' I
I \
/ \
\
--
0.0006
1\
\ \ I
/ \ '-

"\,-~~/ -----
\\
\ ///
/
.-/~

0.0005L....---'---L----''---...l...----'------l---'----'------'-----J
o 5 10 15 20 25
t [hour]

Figure 4. Variation with time and ambient temperature of ratio of thermodynamic loss rate based on
exergy to capital cost for the storage system.

A water-glycol mixture is employed as the storage medium and working fluid in glycol TES
systems. The most common antifreeze fluids are ethylene glycol and propylene glycol. A 45% ethylene
glycol concentration is used as storage medium because it has a low freezing point that enables
temperature to decrease to -30°C without freezing. This low temperature allows storage of a large
quantity of cold energy so that a large storage is not be needed. Furthermore ethylene glycol is a clear,
odorless, slightly viscous liquid with a low vapor pressure. The specific heat of antifreeze fluids decreases
with increasing antifreeze concentration.
Glycol CTES systems are relatively simple. Few accessories are needed and a conventional water chiller
is used. Glycol CTES systems cool water by circulating ethylene or propylene glycol through storage
tanks. Instead of water, a glycol solution is pumped through the chiller, coils and ice storage tanks in the
chilled water loop. Glycol storage systems present the system designer with numerous benefits, including
the ability to use a standard packaged chiller and the opportunity to reduce pump power.
The main components of glycol CTES systems include a storage tank; a chiller unit with an
evaporator, a condenser, a compressor and an expansion valve; pumps, a cooling tower and heat
exchangers (Figure 1). Glycol CTES systems are closed recirculated water systems, and air or nitrogen
has negative effect within the system. Air can exist within the system in form of free air or gas bubbles, or
as packets of air/gas, or dissolved in water. Some possible problems due to the presence of air or gas are
as follows: unstable system pressure, poor pump performance due to gas bubbles, water logging in plain
closed expansion tanks, reduction of heat transfer surface, and excessive noise.

MODELLING AND ANALYSIS

A daily load diagram is chosen between 8:00 to 18:00 o'clock as seen in Figure 5. The maximum
value of the cooling load is 1000 kW. In a TES for cooling capacity, "cold" is stored in a thermal storage
mass. A TES system linked to a conventional air-conditioning system is shown in Figure 1.

Trans. Can. Soc. Meek. Eng. Vol. 33, No.1, 2009 123
 In conventional air-conditioning systems, the chiller operates only when the building requires
cooling. In an air-conditioning system incorporating TES, the chiller also operates at other times, to
charge the storage. Here, a chiller capacity of 1000 tons (3517 kW) is used to charge a storage for 24 hrs
in a day. Ethylene glycol is used as a storage medium because of its anti-freeze property at temperatures
below O°e. To reduce the temperature difference between the transport fluid and storage medium, so as to
promote heat transfer, energy is added to the storage system by the transport of storage medium itself
(process 5-6).
The energy storing capacity of a storage system at uniform temperature operating over a finite
temperature difference is given by

(4)

During the discharge cycle (process 7-8), energy is extracted by passing a fluid through the storage tank
to meet the desired load. An energy balance of the storage tank yields

(5)

where Qchill and Q/()£/{/ are rates of addition or removal of energy from the chiller and to the load. The
cooling load (Q/IJlld ) profile can be generated using the following expression:

r0. for 0<t<8

Q/ IJlld = ~ sm( at) for 8 < t < 18 (6)
IlO for 18 < t < 24

The heat transfer relations for the condenser and chiller are given respectively as

(7)

(8)

where a and fJ respectively are parameters for the effectiveness-capacitance product of the chiller and
condenser, i.e.

a = (vnc p )chill (9)

(10)

The COP of the system is defined as follows:

COP = Qchill (11)

WCOIllP

Trans. Can. Soc. Mech. Eng. Vol. 33, No.1, 2009 124
Energy and Exergy Analyses

Exergy is the maximum work which can be produced by a system or a flow of matter or energy as
it comes to equilibrium with a reference environment. Unlike energy, exergy is not subject to a
conservation law (except for ideal, or reversible, processes). Rather exergy is consumed or destroyed, due
to irreversibilities in any real process. The exergy consumption during a process is proportional to the
entropy created due to irreversibilities. Exergy analysis is useful for increasing the efficiency of energy-
resource use and identifies the locations, types and magnitudes of wastes and losses in a system.
In TES systems, exergy analysis allows the maximum potential (in terms of quantity and quality)
associated with the incoming thermal energy to be determined. The maximum potential can be retained or
recovered if the thermal energy undergoes processes in a reversible manner. Since actual processes are
irreversible, losses in the potential of exergy recovery occur in real systems. Thus, exergy analysis both
quantitatively and qualitatively specifies practical TES limitations by providing losses in a form that
provide a direct measure of lost thermal exergy.

Energy Analysis of Overall Process

The net energy input to the storage during the charging period is

(12)

The amount of energy recovered during the discharging period is

(13)

The energy efficiency for TES system is

(14)

Exergy Analysis of Overall Process

Analogously, the net exergy input to the storage during charging and the net exergy output during
discharging are given by

(15)

(16)

The exergy efficiency for TES system is

(17)

Trans. Can. Soc. Mech. Eng. Vol. 33, No.1, 2009 125
CASE STUDY

The air-conditioning cycle with a thermal energy storage shown in Figure 1 is simulated using the
commercial software package Engineering Equation Solver. A parametric study is conducted to
investigate the effects of various parameters on the performance of the thermal energy storage. A storage
mass of 150,000 kg is considered in the simulation. The parameters varied in the simulation are ambient
temperature Tomb, condenser-side temperature Th, and cooling load Q/ood [15].

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results obtained from the simulations are presented and discussed in this section. Figure 5
shows the load diagram that is charged with the system. Discharging occurs from 8 o'clock to 18 o'clock.
The load increases steadily to its maximum value of 1000 kW at around 13:00 o'clock then it decreases to
zero at 18:00 o'clock. The initial temperature of the storage medium is taken to be equal to ambient
temperature in order to show a start up period in the first 24 operational hours.

1000

800

S 600
6
"'0
ro
.Q
400
a

200

0 4 8 12 16 20 24
t [hourl

Figure 5. Change in heat load with time.

Figures 6 and 7 illustrate the variation of the exergy destruction and exergy efficiency values for
the chiller unit and storage system with different ambient temperatures. Exergy losses in the system are
higher at lower temperatures due to the higher temperature difference. Efficiency increases as storage
temperature increases.
Figure 8 illustrates the variation of the energy efficiency of the storage system with ambient
temperatures. The energy efficiency is higher at lower ambient temperature due to lower heat loss. TES
exergy efficiencies are generally lower than the corresponding energy efficiencies due to the losses in a
TES process, which are associated with external exergy emissions and internal irreversibilities. Internal
irreversibilities often destroy a significant amount of the input exergy.

Trans. Can. Soc. Mech. Eng. Vol. 33, No.1, 2009 126
 60

305
e_e--e~ /e
e~

S
~
300 .~
_---~e
e --
Aj ,
\
e 50

40 ~
::....

----
c >-
0 295 u
t5::::l 30
C
Q)
.....
en 290
--- - ,,
u
::
0
<J)

>.
OJ
.....
\
\
,,
....... _------------ --
--- \
\
... ...
"-
--- 20
w
>-
~
<J)
285 \
\
\
, Q)
X

W
X \
\ ....... 'e. "- w
'e---_e____ ~----- '--·e- 10
280 -e- T_arrb=10 [C]
--- Efficiency -T_arrb=30 [C]
- - Destruction - 0 - T_arrb=50 [C]
0
275
0 4 8 12 16 20 24
t rhourl
Figure 6. Variation of exergy destruction and efficiency for the storage system with time for several
ambient temperatures.

180

160 70

140 68
S ~
~ 66 ::....
c >-
0 100 u
'13 64 c
Q)

2 80 u
en 62 ::
<J) w
0 60 >-
>. 60 ~
OJ
..... Q)
<J) 40 x
x 58 w
W
20
-T_arrb=10 [C] 56
--- Efficiency --<>- T_arrb=30 [C]
0
- - Destruction - 0 - T_arrb=50 [C] 54

0 4 8 12 16 20 24
t rhourl

Figure 7. Variation of exergy destruction and efficiency values for the chiller unit with time for several
ambient temperatures.

Trans. Can. Soc. Mech. Eng. Vol. 33, No.1, 2009 127
 100 --Energy - . - T_arrb=10 [C]
--- Exergy - 0 - T_arrb=30 [C]
90
-T_arrb=50 [C] ~·I
80

70
/0 ,
;g
~

>-
()
60

50
•
j o _J
c
Q)
'0
40
• -
--- ------- 'I

_--Or,
\,
, •

:E 30
---------,1 --- _...0--- _-0- I '" -----
w _-- •. _---.1-, ~
20
----0-----<>\-- _.•----- I '"
1 _.--- 1 ' .__
10 ---·-----·1- I
0 .--.,
1
I •
I 1
-10 , Discharging I Charging
Charging

0 4 8 12 16 20 24
t rhourl
Figure 8. Variation of exergy and energy efficiencies with time for several ambient temperatures.

CONCLUSIONS

A thermodynamic analysis has been applied to glycol CTES, considering quantities of exergy,
energy and mass. Exergy analysis provides more meaningful and useful information than energy analysis
about the efficiency and performance of glycol CTES systems. The main reason is that traditional analysis
is based only on mass and energy balances and only external process losses are detected. Glycol CTES
exergy efficiencies are always lower than the corresponding energy efficiencies. Irreversibilities in a
CTES process destroy a significant amount of the input exergy. The exergy efficiency is roughly 46% less
than energy efficiency due to exergy destructions. It is found for glycol CTES that the maximum energy
efficiency is around 75% and the corresponding exergy efficiency is around 40%, for a 50°C ambient air
temperature.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support provided by the Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council of Canada in Canada.

NOMENCLATURE

Cp specific heat at constant pressure (kJ/kg K)

COP coefficient of performance
K capital cost, $

Trans. Can. Soc. Mech. Eng. Vol. 33, No.1, 2009 128
L thermodynamic loss rate, kW
M mass of storage medium (kg)
m mass flow rate (kg/s)
Q heat (kJ)
Q; thermal energy input rate during charging (kW)
Qo thermal energy output rate during discharging (kW)
R ratio of thermodynamic loss rate to capital cost (kW/$)
T temperature (0C)
t time (s or hr)
VA loss coefficient-area product for a storage tank (kW;oC)
W work (kJ)

Greek Letters

a effectiveness-capacitance product of a chiller (kW;oC)

f3 effectiveness-capacitance product of a condenser (kW/°C)
c effectiveness
exergy input rate during charging (kW)
exergy output rate during discharging (kW)
1J energy efficiency
lfI exergy efficiency

Subscripts

amb ambient
c charging fluid
chill chiller
comp compressor
cond condenser
d discharging fluid
ex exergy
en energy
h hot side of condenser
s storage
sys system
t tank
0 reference environment
I compressor inlet
4 condenser exit
7 charging fluid inlet
5 charging fluid outlet
8 discharging fluid inlet
9 discharging fluid outlet

Trans. Can. Soc. Mech. Eng. Vol. 33, No.1, 2009 129
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Trans. Can. Soc. Mech. Eng. Vol. 33, No.1, 2009 130