• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.6
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• pp.113-123
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• 1998

The present study is to investigate the effect of experimental parameters on the heat transfer characteristics of a spherical capsule storage system using paraffins. N-Tetradecane and mixture of n-Tetradecane 40% and n-Hexadecane 60% were used as paraffins. Water with inorganic material was also tested for the comparison. The experimental parameters were varied for the Reynolds number from 8 to 16 and for the inlet temperature from -7 to 2$^{\circ}C$. Measured local temperatures of spherical capsules in the storage tank were utilized to calculate charging and discharging times, dimensionless thermal storage amount, and the average heat transfer coefficients in the tank. Local charging and discharging times in the storage tank were significantly different. The effect of inlet temperature on charging time was larger than that on discharging time, but the effect of Reynolds number on charging time was smaller than that on discharging time. Charging time of paraffins was faster by 11~72% than that of water with inorganic material, but little difference of discharging time was found among them. The effect of Reynolds number on the dimensionless thermal storage was less during charging process and more during discharging process than the effect of inlet temperature. The effect of the inlet temperature and the Reynolds number on the average heat transfer coefficient of the storage tank was stronger during discharging process than during charging process. The average heat transfer coefficients of the spherical capsule system using paraffins were larger by 40% than those using water.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.354-363
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• 1997

The purpose of the present work is to show the best thermal storage material and the sensitivity of the parameters on the thermal performance by experimentally investigating the effects of the parameters on the thermal performance of the spherical capsule system using paraffins superior to the commercial one. The paraffins were n-Tetradecane and the mixture of n-Tetradecane 40% and n-Hexadecane 60%. The experimental parameters were the Reynolds number of 8, 12, and 16 and the inlet temperature of-7, -4, -1, and $2^{\circ}C$. The charging and the discharing time, the dimensionless thermal storage amount, and the averge heat transfer coefficient in the tank were obtained by utilizing the local temperature variation in the tank. The local charging and discharging time in the tank was axially and radially different a lot. The effects of the inlet temperature on the charging and the discharging time were larger during the charging process than during the discharging process, but the effects of the Reynolds number on the charging and the discharging time were in reverse order. The paraffins were better by 11~72% than the water with the inorganic material in the charging time aspect, but no difference in the discharging time aspect. The effects of the Reynolds number on the dimensionless thermal storage amount were smaller than the effects of the inlet temperature during the charging process, but in reverse order during the discharging process within the working range of the experimental parameters. The effects of the inlet temperature and the Reynolds number on the average heat transfer coefficient were larger during the discharging process than during the charging process. The average heat transfer coefficient for the paraffins was larger by 40% maximum than that for the commercial material during the charing and the discharging process.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.2647-2656
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• 1995

The present work was performed to axially and radially investigate the local cold storage performance in the cylindrical tank with the spherical capsules inserted n-Tetradecane as a new cold storage material. The local cold storage performance of the capsules in the tank was experimentally investigated for the inlet temperature of -7, -5, -3, 0.deg. C, for the flow rate of 0.95, 1.89, 2.84, 6.00 l/min, and for the diameter ratio of 4.9, 9.0, 13.1. The local cold storage performance in the case of using water applied for the commercial ice-ball system was axially investigated by changing the flow rate only with the inlet temperature of -7.deg. C and the diameter ratio of 9.0 in order to compare with the performance in the case of using n-Tetradecane. For the case of using n-Tetradecane, the difference of cold storage period between the first and the seventh story was increased as the inlet temperature was increased and the flow rate was decreased. The capsules at the center of the tank showed the supercooling and the increased cold storage period compared with the capsules at the wall of the tank due to the small porosity and insufficient cold storage performance at the center of the tank as the diameter ratio is increased. The case using water showed worse cold storage performance due to comparatively large supercooling than the case using n-Tetradecane.