International Journal of Energy Research, Vol.42, No.9, 3091-3101, 2018
Effect of encapsulated ice thermal storage system on cooling cost for a hypermarket
Hypermarkets have high cooling load, because of high heat gains from environment and high people circulation. So the cooling cost of hypermarkets is generally so high. Cooling cost can be reduced by cold thermal energy storage systems. The aim of the present study is to determine the effect of different ice thermal storage system (ITES) utilization strategies on cooling cost for a hypermarket. Hypermarket is located in Ankara, Turkey. Daily peak cooling load of the hypermarket is 8332 kWh. To decrease to cooling cost, encapsulated ITES has been integrated to the hypermarket air conditioning system. Ice thermal storage system utilization strategies have great impact on the economic performance of the system. So, in this study, the effect of different ice storage strategies on the cooling cost was investigated. Results presented in the term of saving amount and payback period. At the end of study, it was found that the cooling cost decreased with the increasing storage capacity. Also, to increase saving amount, the stored energy should be used in electricity peak hour as much as possible. Load leveling and partial storage for peak hours strategies have shown that how the stored energy is used has as great impact as storage capacity on the economic performance of ITES, because load leveling and partial storage for peak hours strategies have performed better performance in the terms of payback period and profit amount at the end of 10 years than ordinary partial storage strategies at the same storage capacity. The highest profit at the end of 10 years is 1450000 USD and seen in full storage strategy. The lowest profit at the end of 10 years is 185000 USD and seen in 10% partial storage. Also, while the shortest payback period is seen in both load leveling and 10% partial storage strategies with about 1.5 years, the longest payback period is seen in full storage strategy with about 3.1 years.