Energy & Buildings 228 (2020) 110405

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Energy & Buildings

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Performance of a cold storage air-cooled heat pump system with phase

change materials for space cooling
Xiaoming Chen a,⇑, Quan Zhang b, Zhiqiang (John) Zhai c, Jinyou Qiu a
a
Key Laboratory of New Energy and Energy-saving in Building, Fujian Province University, and College of Ecological Environment and Urban Construction, Fujian University
of Technology, Fuzhou 350108, China
b
College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
c
Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0428, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper studies the performance of a cold storage heat pump system integrated with phase change
Received 28 April 2020 materials (PCMs) for space cooling. An air-cooled heat pump unit comprising of two constant rotation
Revised 2 August 2020 speed compressors is selected. The PCM is an organic material that is commercially available, and has
Accepted 18 August 2020
a phase change temperature of 10–12 °C. A coupled computational heat transfer model of the heat pump
Available online 14 September 2020
unit, fan coil units, and a cold storage tank filled with PCM slabs is developed. The simulations are per-
formed under the climatic condition of Fuzhou, China. The operational behaviors of the cold charging and
Keywords:
discharging processes of the system are analyzed. Furthermore, the overall electrical energy and electric-
Thermal energy storage
Phase change material (PCM)
ity charge consumptions at various indoor temperature set points are compared. The results indicate that,
Heat pump system the electrical energy consumption of the cold storage heat pump system increases as the indoor temper-
Cold charging temperature ature increases. However, there is very little difference in the electrical energy consumption of the con-
Performance ventional heat pump system and the cold storage system. While under the demand tariff, the electricity
charge saving ratio of the cold storage system over the conventional system is 9.07%-11.28%. In general,
as the indoor temperature set point reduces, the electricity charge saving ratio increases. Moreover, the
effect of cold charging temperature is also discussed. It is found that higher cold charging temperature
consumes less electrical energy, however, takes longer to store the same amount of cold, and the differ-
ences relies on the required amount of cold.
Ó 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Thermal energy storage techniques play an important role in
building energy conservation. They bridge the temporal gap
between the supply and demand of energy. Thermal energy stor-
age exists in many forms, such as sensible heat, latent heat, etc.
Over the recent years, there has been an increased emphasis on
latent heat thermal energy storage technologies using phase
change materials (PCMs). This interest is due to the obvious advan-
tages of high thermal energy storage capacity and narrow temper-
ature variation of the storage process [1–3].
PCMs can be integrated into the air-conditioning or heat pump
systems. They can be used to store the cold generated by chillers
using the off-peak electricity tariff at night, which can be released
in the following day for space cooling [4–6]. Consequently, the
electrical energy demand for cooling can be shifted from the peak
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: xmchen@fjut.edu.cn (X. Chen).
period to the off-peak period. Ice storage is one of the most widely
used thermal energy storage methods, mainly because water has
characteristics such as, high heat of fusion, affordability, wide
availability, ecofriendly, etc. Fang et al. [7] conducted an experi-
mental study on the charging and discharging performances of
an ice storage air-conditioning system with spherical capsules
packed bed. Moreover, Sehar et al. [8] performed a numerical anal-
ysis on the chiller energy consumptions of a conventional air-
conditioning system without cold storage and an ice storage air-
conditioning system for office buildings. Furthermore, Jannesari
and Abdollahi [9] compared the usages of thin rings and annual
fins around coil to improve the performance of ice-on-coil thermal
storage systems.
However, when compared with a conventional air-conditioning
system, the evaporating temperature of an ice storage air-
conditioning system is lower by 8–10 °C. Resultantly, the opera-
tional efficiency is reduced by 30%-40% [10]. Recently, PCMs with
a higher phase change temperature, that could be charged by stan-
dard chillers have shown potential to improve the operational effi-

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2020.110405
0378-7788/Ó 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
X. Chen et al.
Nomenclature
a; b1 ; b2 Coefficients
A Cross sectional area (m2)
cp Specific heat (J/kg °C)
d Water gap (m)
de Equivalent diameter (m)
e Thickness (m)
hc Convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 °C)
KP Additional coefficient of pressure
KV Additional coefficient of flow rate
l Length (m)
N Input power (kW)
P Wetted perimeter (m)
q Cooling capacity (kW) or heat transfer rate (kW)
Q Accumulated thermal energy (kWh)
t Time (s)
T Temperature (°C)
u Velocity (m/s)
V Volumetric flow rate (m3/h)
w Width (m)
x; y Space coordinates (m)
Abbreviations
COP Coefficient of performance
PCM Phase change material
ciency. Therefore, both experimental and numerical researches
have been conducted. With regards to experimental researches,
Nagano et al. [11] designed and experimentally investigated a floor
supply air-conditioning system integrated with granules contain-
ing PCMs. The phase change temperature of the PCM was approx-
imately 20 °C. It was concluded that in the simulated office space,
89% of the daily cooling load could be charged at night by a system
with a 30 mm thick packed bed of granules containing PCMs. Fur-
thermore, Nie et al. [12] designed and studied a thermal energy
storage based air-conditioning unit for transport applications.
RT18HC was utilized as the PCM, having a phase change tempera-
ture of 17–19 °C. It was concluded that, compared to the traditional
air-conditioning system, the proposed system could reduce the
room temperature fluctuations by 40.6%, reduce the ON-OFF times
of the compressor by 27%, increase the overall COP of system by
19.05%, and prolong the emergency cooling time by nearly 9 times.
Moreover, Moreno et al. [13] studied a heat pump system inte-
grated with thermal energy storage tanks. In summer conditions,
tests were conducted on a water tank and a PCM tank filled with
a salt hydrate PCM having a phase change temperature of 10 °C.
The results were compared, and following the comparison, it was
discovered that the PCM tank could provide 14.5% more cold for
space cooling than the water tank. Additionally, it was also
revealed that the indoor temperature could be maintained within
the thermal comfort range of 20.65% for a longer period. Having
said so, the PCM tank took 4.55 times longer to charge. Moreover,
Chen et al. [14] proposed a refrigeration system using PCMs. The
study constructed and tested a prototype system, which used an
inorganic PCM with a phase change temperature of 17–21 °C.
The analysis included the dynamic performances of the system
under different modes of operation. It was reported that, under
the national standard condition, the average COP for 60 min cold
charging process is 2.2. A cooling capacity of over 0.5 kW could
maintain the cold discharging process for about 93 min.
With regards to numerical studies, Yamaha and Misaki [15] car-
ried out an investigation on an air distribution system with ther-
2
Energy & Buildings 228 (2020) 110405
Greek symbols
g Efficiency
k Thermal conductivity (W/m °C)
q Density (kg/m3)
Dp Pressure loss (Pa)
DT Temperature difference (°C)
Nu Nusselt number
Subscripts
ai Inlet air
amb Ambient
char Cold charging
dischar Cold discharging
FCU Fan coil unit
HP Heat pump unit
in Inlet
init Initial state
pump Water pump
st Cold storage tank
w Water
wi Inlet water
wo Outlet water
mal energy storage using PCM. Reportedly, the suitable melting
temperature of PCM for the proposed system was about 19 °C. Fur-
thermore, Chaiyat [16] designed an air conditioner with a pack bed
thermal energy storage unit filled with PCMs. Paraffin was utilized
as the PCM, which has a melting point in the range of 19–22 °C.
When compared with an air conditioner without thermal storage
unit, the proposed air conditioner using PCMs could save electrical
energy consumption by 9% in the tropical conditions of Thailand. It
was reported that the payback period of the PCM balls was nearly
4.15 years. Moreover, Farah et al. [17] numerically investigated the
effect of adding a thermal energy storage unit using PCMs to an air
source heat pump cooling system. A salt hydrate PCM with a melt-
ing temperature of 18 °C was utilized. The thermal energy storage
unit was charged by the heat pump unit when the outdoor temper-
ature was relatively low, and discharged either whenever space
cooling was required during the day (mode M2) or during the peak
period only (mode M3). It was concluded that the heat pump unit
consumed 11% and 6% of the electrical energy for thermal energy
storage unit charging, and the thermal energy storage unit pro-
vides 25% and 13% of the cooling energy in modes M2 and M3,
respectively. Additionally, under the demand tariff, both modes
M2 and M3 resulted in reducing the total electricity cost by 14%
and 13%, respectively, when compared to the conventional heat
pump unit without thermal energy storage unit (mode M1). More-
over, Wu et al. [18] carried out a numerical analysis on the thermal
behavior of a cold storage system using spherical capsules packed
bed containing PCMs. N-tetradecane was utilized as the PCM, it has
a solidifying temperature of 2.73 °C and a melting temperature of
7.79 °C. The heat transfer fluid (HTF) is a 40% ethylene glycol solu-
tion. The study discussed the effects of inlet temperature, flow rate
of HTF, porosity of the packed bed, and diameter of the capsules on
the solidification and melting time of the PCM, cold storage rate,
and cold released rate during the charging and discharging pro-
cesses. It was found that, the inlet temperature and flow rate of
HTF have a strong impact on the thermal performance of both
charging and discharging processes. However, the study did not
X. Chen et al.
analyze the consumption of electrical energy. Additionally, Zhu
et al. [19] conducted an investigation on a ground source heat
pump system comprising of PCMs for an office building in Wuhan,
China. Hydrate sodium sulphate having a phase change tempera-
ture of 8.3 °C was utilized as the PCM. It was found that, compared
to a common ground source heat pump without cold storage, the
proposed ground source heat pump system with an optimal cool-
ing storage ratio of 40% has the potential to save up to 63.8% of
the annual operational cost. Furthermore, Rahdar et al. [20] con-
ducted an exergy, economic and environmental analysis, and a
multi-objective optimization on the ice storage air-conditioning
system and cold storage air-conditioning system using PCMs for
an office building located in Ahwaz, Iran. The study utilized PCM
(RT3HC) having a melting point of 3 °C. Reportedly, in comparison
with the conventional air-conditioning system, the ice storage and
the cold storage systems utilizing PCMs could save the annual elec-
trical energy consumption by 4.59% and 7.58%, respectively. Addi-
tionally, the payback periods was reported to be 3.16 and
5.56 years, respectively. Furthermore, Aljehani et al. [21] numeri-
cally analyzed an air-conditioning system integrated with PCMs.
Composite phase change material comprising of 78% Paraffin (n-
Tetradecane) and 22% Graphite was utilized, which has a melting
range of 4–6 °C. The results indicated that when compared to an
air conditioner without thermal energy storage, the proposed cold
storage system has the capacity to downsize the compressor by
50%, which results in reducing the electrical energy consumption
of the compressor by 30%.
In a thermal energy storage unit, a lower outlet HTF tempera-
ture of a chiller results in a lower cold charging temperature, which
is equivalent to a higher heat transfer rate between HTF and PCMs.
However, it also leads to decreasing the cooling capacity and the
coefficient of performance (COP) of a chiller. In addition, increasing
the indoor temperature set point results in improving the heat
exchange between the HTF and indoor air in the terminal unit.
Consequently, the performance of a chiller is affected. Therefore,
in order to improve the energy efficiency of a cold storage system,
it is crucial to analyze the effects of cold charging temperature and
indoor temperature set point on the system performance. How-
ever, to the best knowledge of the authors’, there has not been
any research work reported in the literature on this topic.
This paper develops a computational heat transfer model and
numerically studies the performance of a cold storage air-cooled
heat pump system using PCMs for space cooling. The simulations
are conducted under the climatic condition of Fuzhou, China. The
operational behaviors of cold charging and discharging processes
of the system are analyzed. Moreover, the electrical energy and
electricity charge consumptions between the proposed cold stor-
age heat pump system and a conventional heat pump system are
compared at various indoor temperature set points. In addition,
the impact of cold charging temperatures is also investigated.
The outcomes of the study aid in the selection of suitable parame-
ters for designing PCM-based cold storage heat pump systems.
2. System description
As indicated in Fig. 1, the proposed cold storage heat pump sys-
tem comprises of an air-cooled heat pump unit, a cold storage tank
filled with PCMs, fan coil units, three water pumps, seven electro-
magnetic valves and water pipes, etc. The operational positions of
the electromagnetic valves depend on the modes of operation
The proposed system has three operating modes, namely, cold
charging, cold discharging, and conventional air-conditioning
modes. During the cold charging mode, the water is pumped to
the heat pump unit to be cooled, and then directed to the cold stor-
age tank to cool and solidify the PCMs. During the cold discharging
3
Energy & Buildings 228 (2020) 110405
process, the water leaving the fan coil units passes through the
cold storage tank to be cooled by the PCMs, and then is directed
to the heat pump unit to be cooled further. The outlet water of
the heat pump unit is directed to the fan coil units for space cool-
ing. Lastly, during the conventional air-conditioning mode, the
water from the heat pump unit is sent directly to the fan coil units
for space cooling.
A series of PCM slabs are parallelly arranged in the cold storage
tank, which is illustrated in Fig. 2. Each slab comprises of PCMs
included in a container. The heat transfer process of such a slab
is supposed to be only conduction in an equivalent homogeneous
material. The gap between the two adjacent PCM slabs serves as
the flow channel for water, which exchanges heat with PCMs to
store and release thermal energy. The water flow direction follows
the x-axis. This geometric configuration is chosen due to the sim-
plicity in construction, high ratio of surface area to volume, and
less pressure drop in the heat transfer fluid. The heat transfer in
the PCM can be controlled by the choice of slab thickness [22,23].
The PCM utilized is an organic material (RT11HC), which is
commercially available [24]. It has a phase change temperature
of 10–12 °C. The cp-T curve of the PCM is shown in Fig. 3. The ther-
mal conductivity is 0.2 W/(m °C), and the densities for solid and
liquid states are 880 kg/m3 and 770 kg/m3, respectively.
3. Mathematical model
A computational heat transfer model is developed to predict the
performance of the cold storage heat pump system. To simplify the
analytical process, the following assumptions are made: (1) The
effect of natural convection of PCMs during the melting process
is neglected; (2) The flow of water is considered as a one-
dimensional problem in the x direction; (3) The heat transfer in
the PCM is treated as a two-dimensional problem in the (x, y)
plane; (4) The thermal resistance of the walls in the PCM container
is ignored; (5) Heat gains from the surroundings are neglected.
3.1. Model of thermal energy storage unit
The transient heat transfer equation for the PCM is



@T @ @T @ @T
qcp ¼ k þ k ð1Þ
@t @x @x @y @y
In Equation (1) above, T denotes the temperature of PCM, oC; q
denotes the density of PCM, kg/m3; cp denotes the specific heat of
PCM, J/(kgoC); k corresponds to the thermal conductivity of PCM,
W/(moC); x and y are space coordinates, m; and t is time, s.
The transient heat transfer equation for the water is:
@T w @T w @ 2 T w hc P
qw cp;w ð þ uw Þ ¼ kw þ ðT wall  T w Þ ð2Þ
@t @x @x2 Aw
In Equation (2) above, Tw corresponds to the temperature of
water, oC; qw denotes the density of water, kg/m3; cp,w denotes
the specific heat of water, J/(kgoC); uw corresponds to the water
velocity, m/s; kw denotes the thermal conductivity of water, W/
(moC); hc denotes the convective heat transfer coefficient between
water and PCM slabs, W/(m2oC); P denotes the wetted perimeter,
m; Aw corresponds to the cross sectional area, m2; and Twall is the
temperature of the PCM located at y = 0.
The initial conditions are:
T ðx; y; t ¼ 0Þ ¼ T init ð3aÞ
T w ðx; t ¼ 0Þ ¼ T init ð3bÞ
where Tint corresponds to the initial temperature.
The boundary conditions are as follows:
X. Chen et al. Energy & Buildings 228 (2020) 110405

Heat pump unit Tst, wo 6 Tst, wi V6 1. Compressor

2. Air-cooled condenser
3. Condenser fan
1 4. Thermal expansion value
7 5. Water-cooled evaporator
V7 V5
3 6. Cold storage tank with PCMs
5 ... 7. Fan coil unit
V1 8 8. Water pump 1
9. Water pump 2
2
10. Water pump 3
V2 9
V1-V7. Electromagnetic valves
THP, wo Refrigeration
4 V3 10 V4 TFCU, wi Water

Mode On Off

Mode 1 (cold charging mode) Heat pump unit, 8, V1, V5 and V6 7, 9, 10, V2, V3, V4 and V7

Mode 2 (cold discharging mode) Heat pump unit, 7, 9, V2, V4 and V6 8, 10, V1, V3, V5 and V7

Mode 3 (conventional air-conditioning mode) Heat pump unit, 7, 10, V3, V4 and V7 8, 10, V1, V2, V5 and V6

Fig. 1. Schematic of the cold storage heat pump system.

@T ðx ¼ 0; y; t Þ
¼0 ð4aÞ
@x

Flow channel
T w ðx ¼ 0; t Þ ¼ T in ð4bÞ
PCM slab

y e @T ðx ¼ l; y; tÞ
¼0 ð4cÞ
Water x d Water @x

@T ðx; y ¼ 0; t Þ
k ¼ hc ðT wall  T w Þ ð4dÞ
@y
w
l
@T ðx; y ¼ e=2; tÞ
Fig. 2. Schematic of the thermal energy storage unit. ¼0 ð4eÞ
@y

where Tin corresponds to the inlet water temperature, oC; l denotes

100
the length of PCM slabs, m; and e corresponds to the thickness of
PCM slabs, m.
Heat
The convective heat transfer coefficient between the water and
80 Cool
the PCMs can be obtained by [25]:

kw Nu
hc ¼ ð5Þ
cp (kJ/kg C)

60 de
o

In Equation (5) above, Nu signifies the Nusselt number; and de

is the equivalent diameter, m.
40
The above energy equations are discretized by the finite volume
method (FVM), with a fully implicit scheme [26]. The finite differ-
ence equations are solved iteratively at each time step.
20
The heat transfer model which was developed is validated using
the experimental results from Vakilaltojjar [27,28]. The PCM in the
0
experiment is CaCl26H2O, which has a phase change temperature
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 of 28 °C. It was found that, the mean relative errors of air temper-
o ature in the outlet of thermal energy storage unit between the sim-
T ( C)
ulated and measured data for the melting and solidifying processes
Fig. 3. cp-T curve of the PCM [24]. were 1.7% and 3.1%, respectively, which is plotted in Fig. 4. The
good agreeance between the simulated and measured data indi-
4
X. Chen et al. Energy & Buildings 228 (2020) 110405

(a) Furthermore, a fan coil unit with an air flow rate of 595 m3/h
40 and an input power of 30 W is selected, and its cooling capacity
(qFCU, W) curve under the water flow rate of 6 l/min can be defined
as follows:
37
qFCU ¼ a þ b1 T FCU;wi þ b2 T FCU;ai ð8Þ
Temperature ( C)
o

In Equation (8) above, TFCU, wi and TFCU, ai denotes the inlet

34 Inlet temperature water and air temperatures of fan coil unit, respectively, oC. The
Experimental results fitted coefficients of a, b1 and b2 are listed in Table 1.
Present results
31 Halawa et al.'s results 3.3. Performance parameters
number of PCM slabs = 28
28 In order to evaluate the performance, the cold storage rate, cold
air gap = 5 mm
-1 released rate, stored cold, supplied cold, and COP of the cold stor-
air flow rate = 96 l s age heat pump system are calculated.
25 The cold storage rate (qchar, kW) of the cold storage tank during
0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 the charging process can be obtained by:
Time (h) Vw   1
qchar ¼ qw cp;w T st;wo  T st;wi ð9Þ
3600 1000
(b) In Equation (9) above, Tst,wi and Tst,wo denotes the inlet and out-
35
Inlet temperature let water temperatures of the cold storage tank, respectively, °C;
Experimental results and Vw corresponds to the water flow rate, m3/h.
30 Present results The cold released rate (qdischar, kW) of the cold storage tank dur-
Halawa et al.'s results ing discharging process is:
Temperature ( C)

Vw   1
o

25 number of PCM slabs = 28 qdischar ¼ qw cp;w T st;wi  T st;wo ð10Þ

3600 1000
air gap = 5 mm
-1 The amount of stored cold (Qchar, kWh) in the cold storage tank
air flow rate = 66 l s
20 during the charging process can be obtained by integrating Eq. (9)
with respect to the time, as follows:
Z
dt
15 Q char ¼ qchar ð11Þ
3600
The amount of supplied cold (Qdischar, kWh) by the cold storage
10 tank during discharging process is:
0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25
Z
dt
Time (h) Q dischar ¼ qdischar ð12Þ
3600
Fig. 4. Comparison of outlet air temperature of thermal energy storage unit during
the melting process (a) and solidifying process (b).
The COP of the system during the cold charging process
(COPchar) can be obtained by considering the ratio of cold storage
cate that the heat transfer model which was developed is accurate rate to the input power:
and reliable. qchar
COP char ¼ ð13Þ
N
3.2. Model of heat pump unit and fan coil unit In Equation (13) above, N denotes the total input power of the
system, kW.
In order to simplify the numerical solution, the characteristics The COP of the system during cold discharging process (COPdis-
of the heat pump unit and fan coil unit are modeled with the curve
char) is:
fitting method using the performance data from the
manufacturers. qdischar
COP dischar ¼ ð14Þ
An air-cooled heat pump unit with a nominal water flow rate of N
11.5 m3/h is chosen for this study. The heat pump unit comprises The total input power of the system during the cold charging
of two constant rotation speed compressors, and therefore has two process includes the input power of heat pump unit and water
series of energy regulation. The cooling capacity (qHP, kW) and pump, during the cold discharging process, the total power
input power (NHP, kW) curves of the heat pump unit with 100% includes the input power of heat pump unit, water pump, and
cooling (operating with two compressors) and 50% cooling (operat- fan coil units.
ing with one compressor) can be represented as follows: The input power of water pump (Npump, kW) can be determined
by [29]
qHP ¼ a þ b1 T HP;wi þ b2 T amb ð6Þ
K p K V Dppump V w 1
Npump ¼ ð15Þ
NHP ¼ a þ b1 T HP;wi þ b2 T amb ð7Þ 3600gpump 1000

In above relationships, THP, wi denotes the inlet water temper-
ature of the heat pump unit, °C; Tamb denotes the ambient tem-
perature, °C; and a, b1 and b2 are fitted coefficients, as listed in
Table 1.
5
where 4ppump denotes the pressure loss of water pump, Pa; gpump
denotes the efficiency of water pump; Kp corresponds to the addi-
tional coefficient of pressure; and KV corresponds to the additional
coefficient of flow rate. In the present study, the values of gpump, Kp
X. Chen et al. Energy & Buildings 228 (2020) 110405

Table 1
Coefficients for the performance curves of heat pump unit and fan coil unit.

Items Coefficient a Coefficient b1 Coefficient b2 R-square

qHP (100% cooling) 62.37 1.852 0.5662 0.9728
NHP (100% cooling) 9.363 0.1372 0.3088 0.9913
qHP (50% cooling) 36.43 1.067 0.3659 0.9939
NHP (50% cooling) 4.521 0.03096 0.1565 0.9880
QFCU 1505 190.1 201 0.9887

and KV are set at 60%, 1.15, and 1.1, respectively. Using the perfor-
mance data from the manufacturers, the water pressure losses of
the heat pump unit and fan coil unit are 67 kPa and 5.3 kPa, respec-
tively. During cold charging process, the overall water pressure loss
of the cold storage heat pump system is assumed to be 117 kPa,
which includes the pressure losses of the heat pump unit, cold stor-
age tank, water pipes, water filters, and water values. In the mean-
time, during the cold discharging process, the overall pressure is set
to be 182.3 kPa, which comprises of the pressure losses of heat
pump unit, cold storage tank, fan coil units, water pipes, water fil-
ters, and water values.
The temperature rise of the water (4Tw, oC) when it passes
through the pump is considered, and it can be calculated by [30]
K p K V Dppump
DT w ¼
qw cp;w gpump
4. Results and discussions
The simulations were conducted under the outdoor design
hourly meteorological data for summer air-conditioning of Fuzhou,
China. Fig. 5 presents the meteorological information [31].
The cold storage heat pump system starts to store cold at 1:00
am. Firstly, during the charging process, two compressors of the
heat pump unit are switched on. When the outlet water tempera-
ture of the heat pump unit (THP, wo) reaches a set point (Tchar), one
of the compressors is switched off. Following this, the heat pump
unit operates with one compressor. Additionally, the heat pump
unit is switched off when THP, wo reaches Tchar, and again it starts
with one compressor if THP, wo runs up to Tchar+4T. In other words,
the cold charging temperature is in the range from Tchar to Tchar+-
4T. However, the water pump is kept on running during the charg-
ing process. Moreover, the minimum running and shut-off periods
38
36
34
Temperature ( C)
for the heat pump unit are both set at 3 min. The cold charging is
completed when the outlet water temperature of the cold storage
tank (Tst, wo) is decreased to Tchar+4T. Fig. 6 illustrates the control
flow of the cold storage heat pump system.
The cold discharging process is carried out from 8:00 am to
18:00 pm. During the discharging process, if the inlet water tem-
perature of the fan coil units (TFCU, wi) is increased to the set point
Tdischar, the heat pump unit is switched on with one compressor.
Else, the heat pump unit is not switched on, and only the cold stor-
age tank provides cold for space cooling. Besides, the other com-
pressor is switched on when TFCU, wi is again equal to Tdischar. In
the present study, Tdischar is set at 10 °C.
For each case, the initial temperatures of the cold charging pro-
cess is 15 °C. In order to make the total water flow rates of the fan
ð16Þ coil units equal to the nominal water flow rate of the heat pump
unit, a total of 32 fan coil units are in operation during the cold dis-
charging process. The geometric design of the PCM slabs has a
length of 1 m, width of 0.5 m, thickness of 20 mm, and a gap of
10 mm between two adjacent PCM slabs. The number of PCM slabs
is assumed to be 300.
4.1. Operating behavior of the cold charging process
Firstly, the operational behavior of the cold storage heat pump
system during the cold charging process under the charging tem-
perature of 7–9 °C is studied.
As time elapses, the temperature of PCMs decreases. Addition-
ally, the thermal energy charged by PCMs initially is mainly in
the form of sensible heat. So, it is initially observed that both the
inlet and outlet water temperatures of the cold storage tank decli-
nes rapidly, which is illustrated in Fig. 7. At 15 min, the outlet
water temperature of the heat pump unit is decreased to its mini-
mum set point (7 °C), as a result, one compressor is switched off.
This lowers the cooling capacity of the heat pump unit. Resultantly,
a sudden rise of the inlet water temperature of the cold storage
tank is followed, with a range of 2.25 °C. Next, since thermal
energy charged by PCMs is primarily in the form of latent heat,
the inlet and outlet water temperatures of the cold storage tank
both decrease at a slower rate. At 1.8 h, the outlet water tempera-
ture of the heat pump unit reaches the minimum set point (7 °C)
again. So, the heat pump unit is switched off. At 1.85 h, the heat

pump unit is switched on with one compressor because its outlet

o

32 water temperature rises to the maximum set point (9 °C), and its
shut-off period satisfies the minimum demand (3 min). This ON-
30 OFF operation of the heat pump unit is repeated until 4.14 h when
the outlet water temperature of the cold storage tank is decreased
28 to the set point for completing the cold charging (9 °C). The ON-
OFF operation causes oscillations in the inlet and outlet water tem-
26 peratures of the cold storage tank. In addition, during the shut-off
period, the inlet water temperature of the cold storage tank is
found to be higher than the outlet water temperature, as indicated
24
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 in Fig. 7. This is due to the heat gains from the pump which is kept
on running during the charging process [13,14].
Time (h)
Fig. 8 illustrates the cooling capacity provided by the heat pump
Fig. 5. Outdoor design hourly temperature for summer air-conditioning in Fuzhou, unit versus time during the cold charging process. It is evident
China [31]. from the figure that two compressors of the heat pump unit are
6
X. Chen et al. Energy & Buildings 228 (2020) 110405

(a) Cold charging mode (b) Cold discharging mode

Start Start

Turn on water pump

Turn on water pump
and fan coil units

Turn on heat pump unit with two No

TFUC, wi ≥ Tdischar ?
compressors
Yes
No Turn on heat pump unit with one
THP, wo ≤ Tchar ?
compressor
Yes
No
Turn off one compressor TFUC, wi ≥ Tdischar ?

Yes
Yes
Tst, wo ≤ Tchar ? Turn on the other compressor

No
No No
THP, wo ≤ Tchar ? 18:00 pm?

Yes Yes
No End
Running period ≥ 3 min?

Yes

Turn off heat pump unit

Yes
Tst, wo ≤ Tchar ?

No
No
THP, wo ≥ Tchar+ T?

Yes
No
Shut-off period ≥ 3 min?

Yes
Turn on heat pump unit with one
compressor

End

Fig. 6. Control flow of the cold storage heat pump system.

operating simultaneously in the region filled with sparse, while
only one compressor is operating in the other region. In addition,
the results from Fig. 8, indicate that the cooling capacity of the heat
pump unit reduces rapidly from 74.98 kW to 69.81 kW during the
period of 0–15 min. Since one compressor is switched off, a sudden
drop of the cooling capacity is followed, with a variation of
30.17 kW. During the period from 15 min to 1.8 h, the cooling
capacity gradually decreases from 39.65 kW to 37.2 kW. It fluctu-
ates during the period of 1.8–4.14 h due to the ON-OFF operation of
the heat pump unit.
Fig. 9 illustrates the variations of cold storage rate and stored
cold in the cold storage tank versus time during the cold charging
process. Since the cold storage rate of the cold storage tank is con-
stricted to the cooling capacity of the heat pump unit, the change

7
X. Chen et al. Energy & Buildings 228 (2020) 110405

15 of the cooling capacity versus time is similar to that of the heat

Inlet water temperature of cold storage tank pump unit. It is observed that during the period of 0–15 min, the
Outlet water temperature of cold storage tank cold storage rate decreases rapidly from 74.09 kW to 68.83 kW.
13 An abrupt drop of the cold storage rate is followed, with a variation
of 30.16 kW. During the period from 15 min to 1.8 h, the cold stor-
age rate decreases gradually from 38.68 kW to 36.31 kW, and it
Temperature ( C)

11 presents an oscillation during the period of 1.8–4.14 h.

o

The amount of cold stored by the system increases to 17.87

kWh at 15 min, rises to 75.64 kWh at 1.8 h, and then to 118.88
9 kWh at 4.14 h. Accordingly, 63.6% of the cold is stored during the
first 1.8 h, while only 36.4% is stored during the remaining
2.34 h. More specifically, the system takes 43.5% of time to store
7 63.6% cold, and the remaining 56.5% of the time is used to store
the remaining 36.4% cold. Moreover, due to the ON-OFF operation
of the heat pump unit, a stepped shaped curve of the stored cold is
5 observed during the period of 1.8–4.14 h.
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 Fig. 10 illustrates the plots of the variations of input power and
Time (h) COP of the system versus time during the cold charging process. It
is observed that, during the period of 0–15 min, the input power
Fig. 7. Water temperatures versus time during cold charging process. decreases rapidly from 20.56 kW to 20.17 kW, a sudden drop with
a change of 10.22 kW is followed. During the period from 15 min to
1.8 h, there is a slow variation of the input power from 9.95 kW to
9.81 kW, with an oscillation within the range of 0.86–9.82 kW dur-
ing the period of 1.8–4.14 h.
75 The COP of system ranges from 3.60 to 3.41 during the period of
0–15 min. An abrupt rise of the COP of system is followed, with a
variation of 0.47. This can be attributed to the fact that one com-
60 one compressor operating pressor is switched off, and the COP of the heat pump unit is higher
Cooling capacity (kW)

with one compressor operating than when there are two compres-
sors operating. During the period from 15 min to 1.8 h, the COP of
45 the system gradually reduces from 3.89 to 3.7, and it fluctuates
during the period of 1.8–4.14 h due to the ON-OFF operation of
the heat pump unit.
30 Based on the analysis above, there are three distinct stages dur-
ing the cold charging process for the cold storage heat pump sys-
Two compressors tem. The first stage starts from the beginning to the time when
15 one of the two compressors is switched off (the period of 0–
operating
15 min). Simultaneously, the second stage begins, and it ends
when the heat pump unit is switched off for the first time (period
0 from 15 min to 1.8 h). Finally, during the third stage of the cold
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5
charging process, the heat pump unit repeats ON-OFF operation
Time (h) (period of 1.8–4.14 h).
Fig. 8. Cooling capacity of heat pump unit versus time during cold charging process.

75 125 25 5
Cold storage rate Input power
Stored cold COP
60 100 20 4
Cold storage rate (kW)

Input power (kW)

Stored cold (kWh)

45 75 15 3
COP

30 50 10 2

15 25 5 1

0 0 0 0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5
Time (h) Time (h)

Fig. 9. Cold storage rate and stored cold versus time during cold charging process. Fig. 10. Input power and COP versus time during cold charging process.

8
X. Chen et al. Energy & Buildings 228 (2020) 110405

4.2. Operational behavior of cold discharging process

Cold released rate / cooling capacity (kW)

100 1000
Cold storage tank
Heat pump unit
This section analyzes the operational behavior of the cold stor- Cooling capacity
80 Fan coil units 800
age heat pump system during the cold discharging process with a
charging temperature of 7–9 °C.

Supplied cold (kWh)

As illustrated in Fig. 11, the inlet and outlet water temperatures
of the cold storage tank as well as the inlet water temperature of
the fan coil units increase sharply at first. When the heat pump
unit is switched off, the inlet water temperature of the fan coil
units is found to be approximately equal to the outlet water tem-
perature of the cold storage tank. At 10 min, the heat pump unit is
switched on with one compressor because the inlet water temper-
ature of the fan coil units rises up to its set point (10 °C). Therefore,
sudden drops of the inlet water temperatures of the cold storage
tank and fan coil units is observed, with the changes of 1.45 °C
and 2.66 °C, respectively. Then, the inlet and outlet temperatures
of the cold storage tank as well as the inlet temperature of the
fan coil units gradually increase until 2.72 h, where the inlet water
temperature of the fan coil units meets its set point (10 °C) again,
with the variations of 12.88–14.33 °C, 9.92–12.71 °C, and 7.34–
10 °C, respectively. Due to the switching on of the other compres-
sor, sudden declines of the inlet water temperatures of the cold
storage tank and fan coil units are observed again, with the ranges
of 1.19 °C and 2.18 °C, respectively. Finally, the inlet and outlet
water temperatures of the cold storage tank and the inlet temper-
ature of the fan coil units gradually rise until the end, with the
ranges of 13.14–13.49 °C, 12.71–13.45 °C, and 7.82–8.45 °C,
respectively. The inlet and outlet water temperatures of the cold
storage tank are found to be equal in the end, in other words, the
cold discharging process is completed.
Fig. 12 illustrates the variations of the cooling capacities of the
heat pump unit and fan coil units, the cold released rate of the cold
storage tank, and the amount of cold supplied for space cooling
versus time during the cold discharging process. The present study
found that, during the period of 0–10 min, the cold released rate of
the cold storage tank decreases rapidly from 64.91 kW to
59.14 kW. Since the heat pump unit is switched on with one com-
pressor, a sudden drop of the cold released rate is followed, with
the range of 19.63 kW. During the period from 10 min to 2.72 h,
the cold released rate of the cold storage tank reduces gradually
from 39.51 kW to 21.67 kW, simultaneously, the cooling capacity
of the heat pump unit slowly increases from 35.66 kW to
37.66 kW. Next, an abrupt drop of the cold released rate by
15.97 kW in the cold storage tank and a sudden increase of the
60 600
Cold released rate
40 400
20 Supplied cold 200
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Time (h)
Fig. 12. Cold released rate, cooling capacity and supplied cold during cold
discharging process.
cooling capacity of the heat pump unit by 29.17 kW are seen, this
can be attributed to the switching on of the other compressor. In
general, during the period of 2.72–10 h, the cold released rate of
the cold storage tank initially increases before gradually decreas-
ing, with the change of 0.46–8.43 kWh. In the meantime, the cool-
ing capacity of the heat pump unit declines at first and then it
gradually increases, with the range of 65.16–68.26 kW.
The amount of cold supplied by the cold storage tank for space
cooling reaches 10.47 kWh at 10 min, before increasing to 79.2
kWh at 2.72 h, and again increasing to 119.72 kWh at 10 h. The
output provided by the heat pump unit increases to 95.38 kWh
at 2.72 h, and ultimately reaches 577.42 kWh. The results suggest
that 17.2% of the cold for space cooling during the 10 h cold dis-
charging process is provided by the cold storage tank, while
82.8% is provided by the heat pump unit.
Fig. 13 shows the plots of the variations of input power and COP
of the system versus time during the cold discharging process. Dur-
ing the period of 0–10 min, only the water pump and fan coil units
are operating, as a result, the input power is maintained at 2.3 kW.
The COP is high, with the range of 27.88–25.36. Since the heat
pump unit is switched on with only one compressor, a sudden rise
of the input power by 9.68 kW and an abrupt drop of the COP of
system by 19.15 is observed. During the period from 10 min to
2.72 h, the input power gradually increases from 11.98 kW to
12.49 kW, while the COP of the system slowly decreases from

15
30 30

13
25 25
Temperature ( C)

Input power (kW)

o

11 20 20

Input power
COP

15 15
9 COP

10 10

7 Inlet water temperature of cold storage tank

Outlet water temperature of cold storage tank 5
5
Inlet water temperature of fan coil units
5 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10
Time (h) Time (h)

Fig. 11. Water temperatures versus time during cold discharging process. Fig. 13. Input power and COP versus time during cold discharging process.

9
X. Chen et al. Energy & Buildings 228 (2020) 110405

6.21 to 4.66. Since the other compressor is switched on, and also pump system has the capability to save the overall electrical
because the COP of the heat pump unit with two compressors energy consumption by 1.17%-2.47%. More specifically, this means
operating is lower than the one with one compressor operating, that there is very little difference in the overall electrical energy
an abrupt rise of the input power by 11.33 kW and a sudden drop consumption of the two systems.
of the COP of system by 1.66 are observed once more. In general, The electricity profile for commercial buildings in Fuzhou, China
during the period from 2.72 to 10 h, the input power reduces ini- is as follows: The electricity tariff during the mid-peak hours (7:00
tially before gradually increasing in the range of 23.78–24.51 kW, am–8:30 am, 11:30 am–14:30 pm, 17:30 pm–19:00 pm, 21:00 p
on the other hand, the COP of system increases initially before m–23:00 pm) is 0.5959 CNY/kWh [32]. In comparison with the
decreasing gradually in the range of 3.06–2.83. electricity tariff during the mid-peak hours, the value during the
The above analyzes indicate that three distinct stages also exist peak hours (8:30 am–11:30 am, 14:30 pm–17:30 pm, 19:00 pm–
during the cold discharging process. The first stage starts at the 21:00 pm) is 50% higher, during the off-peak hours (23:00 pm–
beginning and ends at the time when the heat pump unit is 7:00 am) it is decreased by 50% [33]. As presented in Fig. 14, it is
switched on with one compressor (period of 0–10 min). Simultane- observed that during the comparison of the conventional heat
ously, the second stage commences, and it concludes when the pump system and the cold storage heat pump system, the latter
other compressor is switched on (period from 10 min to 2.72 h). can save the electricity charge by 9.07%-11.28%. In general, a lower
Finally, the cold discharging process enters the third stage. During the indoor temperature set point results in a higher electricity
the third stage, the heat pump unit keeps operating with two charge saving ratio.
compressors.
4.4. Effect of cold charging temperature
4.3. Electrical energy and electricity charge consumptions
The cold storage heat pump system under the charging temper-
The overall electrical energy consumption of the cold storage atures of 5–7 °C, 6–8 °C, and 7–9 °C are simulated and compared to
heat pump system during the period of cold charge and discharge study the impact of cold charging temperature on its charging
at various indoor temperature set points is determined, the results performance.
are presented in Fig. 14. It is found that when the indoor temper- Fig. 15 illustrates the variation of the average COP versus the
ature set point is increased from 24 °C to 30 °C, the overall electri- stored cold during the cold charging process for the cold storage
cal energy consumption of the system increases from 197.8 kWh to system under various charging temperatures. As the stored cold
264.8 kWh, which is an increase of 33.87%. This can be attributed increases, the average COP of all systems decreases initially. How-
to the fact that increasing indoor temperature, the temperature dif- ever, this is followed by an increase, before decreasing again. This
ference between the chilled water and indoor air in the fan coil behavior could be explained as follows: as time elapses, the tem-
units increases, which in turn increases the cooling capacity of perature of PCMs decreases, and therefore the inlet water temper-
the fan coil units. Resultantly, additional cold should be supplied ature of the heat pump unit reduces, which in turn lowers the COP
by the heat pump unit. In particularly, the cold supplied by the of the heat pump unit. Resultantly, the average COP initially
heat pump unit increases from 461.86 kWh to 684.37 kWh when decreases as the cold stored increases. When the cold charging pro-
the indoor temperature set points is increased from 24 °C to cess enters the second stage, only one compressor is operating.
30 °C. Hence, the electrical energy consumption of the system Since the COP of the heat pump unit with one compressor operat-
increases as the indoor temperature increases. ing is higher than that with two compressors operating, a rise of
Furthermore, the overall electrical energy consumption and the average COP with the increase of the stored cold is followed.
electricity charge to supply the same amount of cold for space As the cold charging process enters the third stage, the water pump
cooling during the daytime from 8:00 am to 18:00 pm is compared keeps operating. So, even if the heat pump unit is switched off, the
for a conventional heat pump system and the cold storage heat electrical energy consumed by the water pump continually
pump system. For the conventional heat pump system, the water increases, however, the increase of the stored cold is very small
from the heat pump unit is sent directly to the fan coil units for or 0. More specifically, the cold storage system is operating with
space cooling. The results in Fig. 14 indicate that, when compared low energy-efficiency when the heat pump is switched off during
with the conventional heat pump system, the cold storage heat

4.2
o
400 16 Tchar = 5~7 C
Electrical energy consumption by cold storage system
o
Electrical energy consumption by conventional system Tchar = 6~8 C
Electrical energy consumption (kWh)

350 14 4.0
Electrical energy saving ratio by cold storage system o
Electricity charge saving ratio by cold storage system Tchar = 7~9 C
300 12

3.8
Saving ratio (%)

250 10
COP

200 8
3.6
150 6

100 4
3.4
50 2

0 0 3.2
24 25 26 27 28 30 0 30 60 90 120 150
o
Indoor temeprature set point C Stored cold (kWh)

Fig. 14. Overall electrical energy and electricity charge consumptions under various Fig. 15. Average COP versus stored cold during charging process under various cold
indoor temperature set points. charging temperatures.

10
X. Chen et al.
the ON-OFF operation period. Therefore, as a result of the continu-
ously increasing stored cold, the average COP decreases once more.
The results suggest that heat pump units with a digital scroll com-
pressor or ones with an inverter compressor could be ideal for cold
storage systems, mainly because they can decrease or eliminate
the ON-OFF operation period of heat pump units.
Furthermore, it is found that the cold storage heat pump system
with a higher cold charging temperature has a higher average COP
to store the same amount of cold than the system with a lower cold
charging temperature. Increasing the stored cold is initially benefi-
cial before becoming less beneficial. According to the results, a
higher cold charging temperature has a positive impact on the sys-
tem performance, in particularly in the partial cold storage. Most
notably, the greatest difference between the systems with cold
charging temperatures of 5–7 °C and 7–9 °C is observed at a stored
cold of 58.46 kWh. The overall electrical energy consumption for
the case of 5–7 °C is 17.27 kWh, with an average COP of 3.39.
The overall electrical energy consumption for the case of 7–9 °C
is 15.76 kWh, with an average COP of 3.71. The result suggest that
the system with a charging temperature of 5–7 °C to store 58.46
kWh cold consumes 9.58% more electrical energy than with 7–
9 °C. However, a higher cold charging temperature requires longer
to store the same amount of cold, which is presented in Fig. 16. In
particularly, the time required for the cases of 5–7 °C and 7–9 °C to
store 58.46 kWh cold is 0.86 h and 1.33 h, respectively, this pro-
vides evidence that, the former charges 35.34% faster than the
latter.
The results from Fig. 16 show that, the cold storage heat pump
system with a lower cold charging temperature ultimately has a
higher amount of cold stored, with the values of 142.09 kWh,
132.99 kWh, and 118.88 kWh for the cases of 5–7 °C, 6–8 °C and
7–9 °C, respectively. This means that when compared with the case
of 7–9 °C, the cases of 5–7 °C and 6–8 °C is capable of increasing the
overall stored cold by 19.5% and 11.9%, respectively. Moreover,
during the charging process, decreasing the cold charging temper-
ature can reduce the ON-OFF times of the heat pump unit. In par-
ticularly, the ON-OFF times of the heat pump unit during the third
stage for the systems with charging temperatures of 7–9 °C, 6–8 °C
and 5–7 °C are observed to be 22, 14, and 9, respectively. The result
suggest that when compared with the case of 7–9 °C, the cases of
6–8 °C and 5–7 °C can effectively reduce the ON-OFF times of the
heat pump unit by 36.4% and 59.1%, respectively. This can be
attributed to the fact that, lowering the cold charging temperature
can delay the time taken for the outlet water temperature of the
heat pump unit to reach its minimum set point, thereby reducing
the ON-OFF times of the heat pump unit.
80
o
Tchar = 5~7 C
70 o 140
Tchar = 6~8 C
o respectively, and reduces the ON-OFF times of the heat
Cold storgae rate (kW)
60 Tchar = 7~9 C
Cold storage rate
50
40
30
20
10 Stored cold
0 0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5
Time (h)
Fig. 16. Cold storage rate and stored cold versus time during charging process
under various cold charging temperatures.
Energy & Buildings 228 (2020) 110405
5. Conclusions
The performance of a cold storage heat pump system with PCMs
under various cold charging temperatures and indoor temperature
set points was investigated using the computational heat transfer
model developed in this paper. The heat pump unit is air-cooled
with two constant rotation speed compressors. The main conclu-
sions of the study can be listed as follows:
(1) Three distinct stages can be observed during the cold charg-
ing process. The first stage starts from the beginning and
ends when one of the two compressors is switched off.
Simultaneously, the second stage commences, and it con-
cludes when the heat pump unit is switched off for the first
time. Finally, the cold charging process enters the third
stage. During the third stage, the heat pump unit repeats
ON-OFF operation with one compressor.
(2) Three distinct stages exist during the cold discharging pro-
cess. The first stage starts at the beginning and concludes
when the heat pump unit is switched on with one compres-
sor. Simultaneously, the second stage begins, and it ends
when the other compressor is switched on. Finally, the cold
discharging process enters the third stage and continues in
this stage till the end. During the third stage, the heat pump
unit keeps operating with two compressors.
(3) The overall electrical energy consumption of the cold storage
heat pump system increases as the indoor temperature
increases. In the studied conditions, when the indoor tem-
perature set point is increased from 24 °C to 30 °C, the over-
all electrical energy consumption of the system increases
from 197.8 kWh to 264.8 kWh, which is an increase of
33.87%.
(4) There is very little difference in the overall electrical energy
consumption of the conventional heat pump system and the
cold storage system. While under the demand tariff, the
electricity charge saving ratio of the cold storage system
over the conventional system is 9.07%-11.28%. In general,
as the indoor temperature set point reduces, the electricity
charge saving ratio increases.
(5) A higher charging temperature has a positive effect on the
energy-efficiency of cold charging process, and the benefit
is dependent on the cold required (the cooling demand on
the following day), however, it takes longer. In particularly,
a system with a charging temperature of 5–7 °C consumes
9.58% more electrical energy to store 58.46 kWh cold when
compared to the case with a charging temperature of 7–9 °C,
however, it charges 35.34% faster.
160 (6) In comparison with a system using a charging temperature
of 7–9 °C, the cases of 5–7 °C and 6–8 °C increase the overall
amount of cold which can be stored by 19.5% and 11.9%,
120
pump unit by 59.1% and 36.4%, respectively.
Stored cold (kWh)
100
Heat pump units with a digital scroll compressor or ones with
80 an inverter compressor could be ideal for cold storage systems
integrated with PCMs, mainly because they can reduce or eliminate
60
the ON-OFF times of heat pump units, which will be taken into
40 account in future studies.
20
CRediT authorship contribution statement
4.0 4.5
Xiaoming Chen: Conceptualization, Software, Formal analysis,
Writing - original draft. Quan Zhang: Methodology, Writing -
review & editing. Zhiqiang (John) Zhai: Writing - review & editing,
Supervision. Jinyou Qiu: Software, Data curation, Visualization.
11
X. Chen et al.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
The research work of this paper was supported by the Interna-
tional Science and Technology Cooperation Program of China
(2017YFE0105800), National Natural Science Foundation of China
(No. 51878254), Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province,
China (No. 2019J01776), and Research Foundation of Education
Bureau of Fujian Province, China (JT180319).
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