TOWARDS ZERO - ENERGY COMMERCIAL OFFICES BY

UTILIZING PHASE-CHANGE ENERGY STORAGE HEAT

EXCHANGER TO REPLACE CONVENTIONAL AIR
CONDITIONING SYSTEM

CHE ENGKU MOHD KHAIRI BIN CHE ENGKU CHIK

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI PETRONAS

SEPTEMBER 2016
Towards Zero - Energy Commercial Offices by Utilizing Phase-Change Energy
Storage Heat Exchanger to Replace Conventional Air Conditioning System

By

Che Engku Mohd Khairi bin Che Engku Chik

17486

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of

the requirements for the
Bachelor of Engineering (Hons)
(Mechanical Engineering)

SEPTEMBER 2016

Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS,

32610, Bandar Seri Iskandar,
Perak Darul Ridzuan
 CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL

Towards Zero - Energy Commercial Offices by Utilizing Phase-Change Energy

Storage Heat Exchanger to Replace Conventional Air Conditioning System

by

Che Engku Mohd Khairi bin Che Engku Chik

17486

A dissertation submitted to the

Mechanical Engineering Programme
Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the
BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING (Hons)
(MECHANICAL ENGINEERING)

Approved by,

_____________________
(Dr Mohammad Shakir Nasif)

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI PETRONAS

BANDAR SERI ISKANDAR, PERAK
SEPTEMBER 2016
ii
 CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY

This is to certify that I am responsible for the work submitted in this project, that the
original work is my own except as specified in the references and acknowledgements,
and that the original work contained herein have not been undertaken or done by
unspecified sources or persons.

________________
CHE ENGKU MOHD KHAIRI BIN CHE ENGKU CHIK

iii
 ABSTRACT

In most part of the world, building sector is the main contributor for the rising
energy demand and most of the energy are used in Heating, Ventilation and Air
Conditioning (HVAC) system. Thus, new technologies of HVAC are given attention.
In this paper, it is proposed that conventional air conditioning system is replaced with
phase-change energy storage heat exchanger. This paper will discuss the effect of
phase-change energy storage heat exchanger cooling system in hot climate. A model
of flat plat heat exchanger embedded with phase change materials is developed and
ANSYS Fluent is used to simulate the melting of phase change material and the outlet
temperature the heat exchanger. An office space model with multiple heat sources is
developed and thermal comfort provided by heat exchanger is investigated using
Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD). The temperature contour of the simulation is
analyzed to determine whether the heat exchanger can provide the thermal comfort (20
25 C).

iv
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, Alhamdulillah, praise be to God who mercifully granted

me the knowledge, time and motivation in completing this study. My special gratitude
to my supervisor, Dr Mohammad Shakir Nasif for his experience, advises and
guidance towards the completion of the study. My warm thanks to colleagues for their
aspiring and invaluable criticism during the study work. Finally, my love towards my
family who is always supporting me. May this study nurture the fact that knowledge
is for everyone.

v
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL ii
CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY iii
ABSTRACT iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v
LIST OF FIGURES vii
LIST OF TABLES ix

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background Study 1
1.2 Problem Statement 2
1.1 Objectives 2
1.2 Scope of Study 2

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage 4
2.2 Phase Change Materials 5
2.2 Underflow Air Distribution 7
2.3 Summary of Literature 8

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 9
3.1 Research Methodology 9
3.1.1 Information Gathering 10
3.1.2 Information Analysis 10
3.1.3 Procedure Development 10
3.1.4 Project Implementation 10
3.1.5 Report Writing 11
3.2 PCM Properties 11
3.3 Heat Exchanger Model and Setup 12
3.4 Office Space Model and Setup 14
3.5 Gantt Chart and Key Milestone 17

vi
CHAPTER 4: RESULT AND DISCUSSION 18
4.1 Melting Time of PCM 18
4.2 Outlet Temperature Profile of Heat Exchanger 19
4.3 Temperature Contour Analysis 20
4.4 Velocity Contour Analysis 24
4.5 Energy Saving Analysis 26

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 27

5.1 Conclusion 27
5.2 Recommendation 27

REFERENCES 28
APPENDICES 30

vii
LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 Types of phase change materials 6

Figure 3.1 Methodology chart 9
Figure 3.2 Procedure in completing the study 11
Figure 3.3 Heat exchanger model 13
Figure 3.4 Mesh of heat exchanger model 14
Figure 3.5 Office space model 15
Figure 3.6 Cross section of mesh in YZ plane 15
Figure 4.1 Liquid fraction versus flow time graph 19
Figure 4.2 Air outlet temperature versus flow time graph 19
Figure 4.3 Rooms temperature contour for 0.15 m/s air inlet 20
velocity in YZ plane
Figure 4.4 Rooms temperature contour for 0.20 m/s air inlet 21
velocity in YZ plane
Figure 4.5 Rooms temperature contour for 0.25 m/s air inlet 21
velocity in YZ plane
Figure 4.6 Temperature contour around human for 0.15 m/s air inlet 22
velocity
Figure 4.7 Temperature contour around human for 0.20 m/s air inlet 23
velocity
Figure 4.8 Temperature contour around human for 0.25 m/s air inlet 23
velocity
Figure 4.9 Velocity contour for 0.15 m/s air inlet velocity in XY 24
plane
Figure 4.10 Velocity contour for 0.20 m/s air inlet velocity in XY 25
plane
Figure 4.11 Velocity contour for 0.25 m/s air inlet velocity in XY 25
plane

viii
LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Summary of literature on phase change energy storage 8

Table 3.1 Properties of KF.4H2O 12
Table 3.2 Setup used for heat exchanger simulation 13
Table 3.3 Setup for office space simulation 16

ix
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background Study

Most of the energy sector in the world are relying on fossil fuels to sustain the
increasing demand and is estimated will grow by one third in 2040 [1]. Due to the
uncontrolled usage of fossil fuels and its finite reserves, it has raised a global concern
in all economic sector to reduce their consumption and more sustainable fuel sources
are given attention. About 30 40% of the world primary energy is consumed by the
building sector and is responsible for one-third of greenhouse gas emissions and it lead
to global warming that are occurring around the world [2]. According to a review,
around 10 20% of energy is used by HVAC equipment in order to operate a building
[3]. If no alternative methods are used to cope with the energy demand, the
environment would suffer a great deal of climate change and global warming due to
excessive greenhouse gas emission.

One of the method that are introduced reduce the energy used for cooling is
passive cooling. Passive cooling is a technique of cooling building interior with
minimum electricity or no electricity. According to some studies, passive cooling also
refers to cooling techniques that improve the performance of cooling system with or
without the use of fan or pump [4]. Passive cooling is a cooling technique that utilized
the natural cooling energy sources like ambient air, under surface soil, upper
atmosphere or phase changing materials. Thus, passive cooling is categorized based
on the sources of the cooling energy extracted [5].

1
1.2 Problem Statement

Based on past study, building sector is the main cause that trigger the rising
demand of energy. Most of the energy are used in the HVAC system of a building.
Currently, most of commercial offices are using water-cooled or air-cooled HVAC
system. For water-cooled system, most of the energy is consumed by the chillers
whereas for air-cooled system most of the energy is consumed by the compressor.
Even though water-cooled system is more desired for commercial office because they
can deliver higher cooling capacity with lower consumption, but a district cooling
plant is needed and this will increase the initial cost. So, a new technology which can
provide thermal comfort with almost no energy consumption is desired for hot and
humid climate like Malaysia.

1.3 Objectives

The objectives of building zero-energy commercial offices by utilizing phase-

change energy storage heat exchanger to replace conventional air conditioning system
shall be outlined as below:
To design and simulate a phase change material energy storage heat exchanger
that operate in hot climate using CFD.
To investigate the thermal comfort produce by the energy storage heat
exchanger using CFD.

1.4 Scope of Study

The aim of this study is to construct an air conditioning system that utilizing
phase change material (PCM) as the storage material. This system also known as latent
heat thermal energy storage (LHTES). To make sure that the LHTES can provide the
output temperature within the thermal comfort, a proper selection of PCM and LHTES
design must be done. Then, the model of LHTES will be constructed using ANSYS
Designmodeler. After that, LHTES model will be simulated using ANSYS Fluent to
2
determine the time needed for the PCM to completely melt and the temperature profile
at the outlet of the LHTES.

As the LHTES simulation is finished, an office space model will be developed

using ANSYS Designmodeler. The office space model will be having two heat sources
namely a human and a computer. The office space model will be designed in such that
the air will enter through an inlet located at the floor. This system is called underfloor
air distribution (UFAD) system. It is used because air leaving the heat exchanger unit
are slightly higher compared to conventional air conditioning system. Thus, a better
air distribution system must be used to make sure that thermal comfort can be achieved.

To couple the heat exchanger model and the office space model, a User Define
Function Code using C++ programing is generated and transient simulation is
performed to investigate the level of comfort within the office space. The velocity of
the air inlet will be varied so that the optimum air velocity to deliver the cooled air
without creating strong draft can be determined. The temperature contour of the office
space and around the human will be studied to determine the level of thermal comfort.

3
 CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage (LHTES)

This section will discuss the findings of previous studies regarding latent heat
thermal energy storage that use phase change materials (PCMs) as the storage medium.
Both theoretical and experimental studies will be discussed in this section. The main
function of LHTES is to store the ambient cold at night and extracted during the day
[5]. The working principle of PCMs will be further explained in the next section.

The example of this system can be seen in Turnpenny et al. [6] experiment
where he used heat pipes and embedded it with PCM storage unit. In this experiment,
the PCM used is salt hydrates (Na2SO4.10H2O) with the melting point of 21 C. It takes
9 hours to melt the PCM completely with the heat transfer rate of 40 W and the
temperature different between the PCM and ambient air is 5 C. It will provide 8 hours
of cooling with the capacity of 240 Wh. It is also found out that higher temperature
difference between the PCM and ambient air at night is useful because it will help
freeze the PCM more quickly or otherwise a higher air flowrate is needed to achieve
the same purpose.

Later, Marin et al. [7] has designed a laboratory scale experiment to study the
application of PCM in LHTES. He uses flat plat heat exchanger and filled it with
encapsulated PCM (RT25). Based on the experiment, the main factor in the
solidification of the PCM are the thickness of the encapsulated PCM, the inlet
temperature of ambient air, the air flowrate and the interaction between thickness and

4
temperature. For the melting process the main factors are the same as the solidification
but the most significant one is the temperature of the inlet air.

The analysis and modelling of LHTES for air conditioning system has been
develop by Vakilaltojjar et al. [8] and he proposed three mathematical models to
calculate the outlet temperature of the system. Each model uses different assumption
and the result from each model are compared. The results from the analysis show that
better performance can be achieved smaller air gaps and thinner PCM slabs but it will
increase the total volume of the system thus will cause higher pressure drop across the
system.

Sattari et al. [9] has studied the melting properties of PCM in spherical
container using CFD. The study found that the initial temperature of the PCM will not
affect the melting rate. The melting rate will increase if the exterior temperature of the
container is increased and if the diameter of the sphere is reduced. To conclude the
study, the most significant parameter that will affect the heat flux and melting rate of
the PCM is surface temperature.

2.1 Phase Change Material (PCM)

Phase change material (PCM) is used as the storage element because of its
unique property to store large amount of energy in latent form [10]. When the ambient
temperature is high at daytime, the material will absorb heat causing the chemical
bonds between the particle to break and change phase from solid to liquid [10]. At
night, the ambient temperature will drop and heat will transfer from PCM to ambient
air thus turning it into solid again [10].

PCMs can be divided into three categories; organic PCM, inorganic PCM and
eutectic [5]. Figure 2.1 will show the types of PCMs. The selection of PCM will be
based on its thermos-physical properties, chemical properties and kinetic properties
[5]. The main thermos-physical property is that it must have high latent heat per unit
volume so that smaller storage design can be used for given amount of energy. It also

5
must possess the chemical properties such as non-corrosive, non-toxic, non-
flammable, non-explosive and chemically stable for prolong use.

Another important parameter in selecting PCM for energy storage heat

exchanger is the melting temperature. The PCM used must have melting temperature
close to the desired room temperature to ensure that the thermal comfort can be
achieved [11]. Medved and Ankar argues that in warmer climates, PCM used must
have higher melting temperature so that the cooling potential of the PCM can be
optimized [12]. To summarize the discussion regarding the selection of PCM
according its melting temperature, it will be chosen depending on the designed room
temperature and average ambient temperature.

Based on previous studies, most of the researcher are using paraffinic PCM
because the does not react with the encapsulation and corrosion problem can be
avoided [5]. The main problem of using paraffinic PCM is the thermal conductivity is
very low and will cause the heat transfer to be decrease. One of the way to counter this
problem is to use salt hydrates but they also some drawbacks such as they are corrosive
and undergo super cooling.

Phase Change
Materials

Organic Inorganic Eutectic

Paraffin Salt Hydrates Organic

Non-paraffin Inorganic

Figure 2.1: Types of phase change materials

6
2.3 Underfloor Air Distribution System (UFAD)

UFAD is a system that supply cooled air into a building at floor level using
raised floor to replace the ducting in conventional air conditioning system [13]. The
space between the concrete slab and the raised floor is called floor plenum and diffuser
will be install at the raised floor to allow the cooled air to enter a room. In this system,
cool air will be directly supplied to the occupied zone and will absorb the heat load
generated by the occupant and the hot air will raise upwards to the upper zone to be
discharge [14]. Using this system, a room will achieve thermal stratification because
it is divided into two zone which are occupied zone and upper zone. Compared to
conventional air conditioning system, this system can supply higher temperature air
(20 22 C), thus will lower energy needed in the cooling system [13].

The main advantages of UFAD is it will reduce the energy consumption

because only the occupied zone is air conditioned. By using this system, the
temperature of supplied and return air will be higher than in convention air condition.
Moreover, the airflow rate and the pressure for air distribution is lowered thus reduce
the energy consumption. The next advantages are the internal thermal comfort and
indoor air quality can be increase because the air-to-ceiling airflow pattern will keep
the occupied zone cool and bring the heat and containments from the upper zone
outside of the system [15]. This flow also provides better temperature and airflow
distribution due to the better ventilation and improvement of indoor air quality [16].

In a study done by Nagano et al. [17], they proposed an UFAD system that
incorporate with PCM to improve the system. They have construct a scale model that
use granule PCM with the melting temperature of 20 C that are made of foamed glass
bed and paraffin waxes and the PCM was designed in as 30 mm thick packed bed. By
simulating the air conditioning program of an office building in 24-hour period, they
found that 89% of daytime cooling load can be remove using this system.

7
2.4 Summary of Literature on Phase Change Energy Storage

Table 2.1: Summary of Literature on Phase Change Energy Storage

Reference PCM Properties Heat Results and Findings

Type Melting Exchanger
Point Design
(C)
[6] Na2SO4.10H2O 22.0 Heat pipes High temperature difference
salt hydrates in PCM between the PCM and
energy ambient air at night is useful
storage because it will help freeze
the PCM more quickly or
otherwise a higher air
flowrate is needed to
achieve the same purpose.

[7] RT25 paraffin 25.0 Flat plate For the melting process, the
main factor is the
temperature of the inlet air.

[8] KF.4H2O salt 18.0 Flat plate The heat exchanger will
hydrates have better efficiency with
smaller air gaps and thinner
PCM slabs.

[9] n-octadecane 28.2 Spherical The most significant

container parameter that will affect the
heat flux and melting rate of
the PCM is surface
temperature.

8
 CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Methodology

The chart below will show the methodology used in completing this paper and
it involves five comprehensive steps. The description of each step will be explained in
the next section.

Information Gathering

Information Analysis

Procedure Development

Project Implementation

Report Writing

Figure 3.1: Methodology Chart

9
3.1.1 Information Gathering

In the first step of the methodology which is information gathering, the method
used was to gather information from various sources such as books and journals that
related to this study. This step is very important because previous studies will help to
clarify the validity of the information that are needed in this paper. Guidance and
consultation from lecturer and colleagues is another of the source of information in
order to have complete understanding regarding the study hence will help in achieving
the objectives of this paper.

3.1.2 Information Analysis

In this step, the information gathered will be analyzed thoroughly and

important point will be adapted in this study. All the important highlight and result
from the previous studies will be included in the literature review of this study.
Because of this study will be based on two separate systems as mentioned earlier, each
system must be analyzed separately.

3.1.3 Procedure Development

This step is the most crucial one in the development of this paper because it
will affect the result of this study. The methodology used to complete this project will
be illustrated in Figure 3.2.

3.1.4 Project Implementation

In this phase of the project, the project is executed and it is based on the
information analyzed and follows the methodology developed earlier.

10
3.1.5 Report Writing

In this phase of the project, all the finding and results of this paper will be
presented in a proper documentation.

Heat exchanger design

PCM selection
selection

Simulate the heat

exchanger using ANSYS
Modelling heat
Fluent to obtain
exchanger using ANSYS
temperature profile
Designmodeler
and melting time of
PCM

Couple the heat

Modelling the office exchanger model with
space using ANSYS office space model and
Designmodeler run transient
simulation

Investigate the level of

Calculate the enery
comfort within the
saving
office space

Figure 3.2: Procedure in completing the study

3.2 PCM Properties

The PCM that will be used as the storage material is KF.4H2O because it has
high thermal energy storage capacity, no supercooling effect, chemically inert and heat
storage and release take place at relatively constant temperature. The properties of the
PCM are shown in Table 3.1.

11
 Table 3.1: Properties of KF.4H2O

Parameters Value
Density (kg/m3) 1455
Specific heat (J/kgK) 1840
Thermal conductivity (W/mK) 0.53
Melting temperature 18
Heat of fusion (J/kg) 231 000
Viscosity (kg/m.s) 0.03

3.2 Heat Exchanger Model and Setup

The design of heat exchanger used in this study is flat plate heat exchanger
because it will provide the highest energy storage density compared to other design.
To investigate the cooling effect of KF.4H2O, a model was built using ANSYS
Designmodeler. Figure 3.3 will illustrate the model that has been build. The model will
consist of two materials; the upper and lower part is PCM and the middle part is air.
Both air and PCM will be having the same length and width, (1 x 1 m) but different
height, 0.02 m for air and 0.01 m for PCM. The height used for PCM is 0.01 m because
it is considered symmetry wall. The overall height of the model is 0.04 m.

Next, after the model has been built, mesh is generated. The mesh is generated
using ANSYS Meshing tool. Curvature sizing method is used with fine relevance
center and high smoothing. Body sizing is added to the mesh to make it finer and
lowered the skewness. The number of elements for the mesh is 16 000 and the
maximum skewness is 0.024 and it is near to zero which indicate that it is a good
quality mesh. The mesh is shown in Figure 3.4.

As the mesh is generated, the boundary condition for the heat exchanger model
is set up. The left and right side wall of the PCM is named adiabatic. The upper and
lower wall of the PCM is named symmetry. At the interface of PCM and air region the
wall is named interface. The front wall of the air is named velocity inlet and the back
is named pressure outlet. The inlet air velocity used is 0.25 m/s. The solver will be
12
using laminar model because the Reynolds number calculated is 670. The initial
temperature for the PCM and air interface is remained at 25 C. As all the boundary
condition is defined, the mesh file is imported into ANSYS Fluent. The setup for the
solver is displayed in Table 3.2.

Table 3.2: Setup used for heat exchanger simulation

Setup Parameter Setup

Dimension 3D
Solver type Pressure-based
Solver time Transient
Gravitational acceleration -9.81 m/s2 in Y direction
Models Energy, laminar, solidification &
melting
Pressure-velocity coupling scheme SIMPLE
Spatial discretion gradient Least squares cell based
Spatial discretion pressure Second order
Spatial discretion momentum Second order upwind
Spatial discretion energy Second order upwind
Solution initialization Hybrid

PCM Air

Velocity Pressure
inlet outlet

Figure 3.3: Heat exchanger model

13
 Figure 3.4: Mesh of heat exchanger model

3.3 Office Space Model and Setup

As the outlet temperature of the heat exchanger is obtained, the office space
model is built using ANSYS Designmodeler. The first step of building the model is to
build the geometry inside the office space. There are four geometry is the office space
model which are a desk, a chair, a computer and a human. All the geometry is in frozen
mode. Then, enclosure of air will be added to the model with the dimension of 3 m
width, 2.5 m length and 2.5 m height. There are two circular velocity inlets located at
the bottom of the model with the dimension of 0.2 m. At the top of the model there is
a circular pressure outlet with the diameter of 0.5 m. Boolean function is used to
subtract the air from the inner geometry of the model. The model is shown in Figure
3.5.

The next step is to generate the mesh of the model and it is generated using
ANSYS Meshing tool. Curvature sizing method is used with fine relevance center and
high smoothing. Body sizing is added to the mesh to make it finer and lowered the
skewness. The desk and chair geometry is suppressed in the meshing tool because they
are not considered as heat sources and they will not be effecting the solver. The number
of elements for the mesh is 328 798 and the maximum skewness is 0.75 and it is lower
than 1 which indicate that it is a good quality mesh. The cross section of the models
mesh in YZ plane is shown in Figure 3.6.

14
 Pressure
outlet
Human

Air
domain
Computer

Chair

Desk Velocity
inlet

Figure 3.5: Office space model

Figure 3.6: Cross section of mesh in YZ plane

15
 As the mesh is generated, the boundary condition for the office space model is
set up. The wall of the enclosure is named air-wall. There are two interface in the
system which are air to computer interface and air to human interface. The interface at
computer side is named pc-interface and at air side it is named as air-pc-interface. For
the interface at human side it is named human-interface and the interface at air side is
air-human-interface. The interface is treated as coupled wall in the solver. The velocity
inlet is named as inlet and the pressure outlet is named as outlet. Heat flux value is
entered for human and computer geometry. For computer, the heat flux is 134 W/m2
and for human the heat flux is 58.2 W/m2. The simulation is run for three time with
different velocity which are 0.25 m/s, 0.20 m/s, and 0.15 m/s. As all the boundary
condition is defined, the mesh file is imported into ANSYS Fluent. The setup for the
solver is displayed in Table 3.3.

Table 3.3: Setup for office space simulation

Setup Parameter Setup

Dimension 3D
Solver type Pressure-based
Solver time Transient
Gravitational acceleration -9.81 m/s2 in Y direction
Models Energy, viscous (standard k-e, standard
wall fin, full buoyancy effect)
Pressure-velocity coupling scheme SIMPLE
Spatial discretion gradient Least squares cell based
Spatial discretion pressure Second order
Spatial discretion momentum Second order upwind
Spatial discretion turbulence kinetic First order upwind
energy
Spatial discretion turbulence dissipation First order upwind
rate
Spatial discretion energy Second order upwind
Solution initialization Hybrid

16
3.3 Gantt Chart and Key Milestone

Progress
Key Milestone

17
 CHAPTER 4

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Melting Time of PCM

The result of the heat exchanger simulation will be discussed in this section.
The objectives are to investigate the outlet temperature of the air flown into the PCM
slab and to find out the time for the PCM to melt completely. To find out the melting
time the liquid fraction of the PCM is simulated. The Solidification/Melting model
was used in Ansys Fluent 16.2 to simulate the liquid fraction. The operational
condition for the model at the beginning of the experiment are: PCM temperature is
25 C, the inlet air temperature is 30 C and the inlet air velocity is 0.25 m/s.

Figure 4.1 shows the liquid fraction versus flow time of air into the heat
exchanger. The graph shows that liquid fraction is directly proportional with flow time.
Based on the graph shown in Figure 4.1, the melting rate of PCM at early stage is high
and the phase interface migration rate at early stage is also high. At the end of melting
(300 500 minutes), the melting rate is decrease and the gradient of the curve also
decrease. There melting rate is high at initial phase because there only small fraction
of PCM in liquid phase existed. In this state, the main heat transfer mode is through
conduction of solid PCM and natural convection through liquid PCM can be ignored.
As the melting continues, the amount of liquid PCM increase and heat will be transfer
through natural convection. This will cause the temperature of PCM near airgap to
increase and decreasing the PCM density. The effect of buoyancy lift will take over
causing the hot liquid PCM to move towards surface and speed up the melting. At the
end of melting process the rate decrease because of low temperature difference.
Complete melting of PCM occurs at 500 min.

18
 1
0.9
0.8

LIQUID FRACTION 0.7

0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
FLOW TIME (MINUTES)

Figure 4.1: Liquid fraction versus flow time graph

4.2 Outlet Temperature Profile of Heat Exchanger

The temperature profile of at the outlet of the heat exchanger is shown in Figure
4.2. Based on the graph the lowest temperature is 287 K and the highest is 308 K.
Based on previous graph the melting time of PCM is 500 minutes. For this study, the
highest temperature that can be considered for the transient simulation of the office
space in only up to 298 K and it is equivalent to 320 minutes of flowtime.

310
OUTLET TEMPERATURE (K)

305
y = 0.036x + 286.35

300

295

290

285
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
FLOW TIME (min)

Figure 4.2: Air outlet temperature versus flow time graph

19
4.3 Temperature Contour Analysis

Figure 4.3, Figure 4.4 and Figure 4.5 illustrates the temperature contour for YZ
plane with the three different inlet velocity namely 0.15, 0.20, and 0.25 m/s. The plane
was chosen to be in the middle of human and it intersect the outlet for this system.
Based on the contours, the highest temperature zone is spotted around human, as
human is a source of heat. With the increase of inlet air velocity, the temperature
around human is lowered but the average temperature of the room will increase. For
example, in Figure 4.3 almost 75% of the room have the temperature of 291 K but in
Figure 4.5 only 40% of the room will have the temperature of 291 K. This is because
heat transfer will occur faster with the increase of air velocity. In this study, it is
important for the air around human is cool in shorter time to ensure the thermal comfort
can be achieved. Thus, the air velocity of 0.25 m/s is most suitable.

Figure 4.3: Rooms temperature contour for 0.15 m/s air inlet velocity in YZ plane

20
Figure 4.4: Rooms temperature contour for 0.20 m/s air inlet velocity in YZ plane

Figure 4.5: Rooms temperature contour for 0.25 m/s air inlet velocity in YZ plane

21
 Figure 4.6, Figure 4.7 and Figure 4.8 illustrates the temperature contour for air
at human interface with the three different air inlet velocity namely 0.15, 0.20, and
0.25 m/s. Based on the temperature contour of the different air inlet velocity, it can be
seen that with higher air inlet velocity, the air temperature around human is decreased.
From the contour, the human is experiencing best thermal comfort when the air inlet
velocity is 0.25 m/s where the average temperature around human is 295 K. From the
contour, the human is experiencing thermal comfort although the hotter region portray
in Figure 4.5 could be seen clearly where it explains that human emit heat as well.
Nonetheless, the heat does not affect human comfort significantly.

Figure 4.6: Temperature contour around human for 0.15 m/s air inlet velocity

22
Figure 4.7: Temperature contour around human for 0.20 m/s air inlet velocity

Figure 4.8: Temperature contour around human for 0.25 m/s air inlet velocity

23
4.4 Velocity Contour Analysis

Figure 4.9, Figure 4.10 and Figure 4.11 illustrate velocity contour, showing the
air velocity distribution in YZ plane. As mention earlier, the YZ plane intersect the
system at its outlet. In Figure 4.9 the air velocity distribution is more even because air
inlet velocity is lower compared to Figure 4.10 and 4.11. As the air inlet velocity
increase for Figure 4.10 and Figure 4.11 the air velocity distribution become more
uneven and it can be seen some area is having zero velocity. The cool air flow enters
the space on the inlet and due to convection by hot surface such as human and
computer, the cold air becomes less dense and forming upward flow before finding its
way out towards the outlet. This can be seen in all three simulation where the air
velocity is increased when it approaching the outlet. Another important factor that can
be observed by studying the velocity contour is the air velocity distribution around
human is zero. This indicate that human will not be affected by the high velocity of
the inlet.

Figure 4.9: Velocity contour for 0.15 m/s air inlet velocity in XY plane

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Figure 4.10: Velocity contour for 0.20 m/s air inlet velocity in XY plane

Figure 4.11: Velocity contour for 0.25 m/s air inlet velocity in XY plane

25
4.5 Energy Saving Analysis

Based on the result of above simulation the duration of cooling the heat
exchanger can provide is 320 minutes. The energy saved by turning off conventional
air conditioning for the duration is shown below. The annual saving by having the
system installed also is shown below. The calculation below will be based on 1 hp air
conditioner according to the office space model volume. The tariff used for the
calculation is RM 0.435/kWh based on low voltage commercial tariff in Malaysia
(Appendix 1.0).

=
= (1 0.746)(5.3 365)
= 1 443 Wh

=
= 1 4430.234
= 337

Based on the annual saving calculation, RM 337 can be saved annually for a
room with the dimension of (3.0 x 2.5 x 2.5 m).

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 CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Conclusion

In a nutshell, the objectives of the study were successfully achieved. The model
of phase change material energy storage heat exchanger is constructed and CFD was
done using ANSYS Fluent. The heat exchanger uses KF.4H2O as the phase change
material and uses plat flat design. The cooling time provided by the heat exchanger is
320 minutes. Then, by using UDF, the heat exchanger model is coupled with office
space model and the thermal comfort of the office space model is investigated by
varying the air inlet velocity. The result of thermal comfort analysis found that with
the air inlet velocity of 0.25 m/s, heat transfer between heat sources and cool air is
faster and strong draft will not be created.

5.2 Recommendation

The study should be extended and it is recommended that for analysis purposes,
the variation of heat exchanger design and phase change material should be taken into
consideration because the cooling time provided by the energy storage depends on
those parameters. A dehumidifier unit also can be added to the system considering the
climate is very humid in Malaysia. For the thermal comfort analysis, variation of air
inlet location should take into consideration because thermal comfort provided also
depends significantly on it.

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