TBAB hydrate slurry based latent heat thermal storage system.

Latent heat thermal storage (LHTS) systems can be applied to minimize the discrepancy between energy supply and demand in cold applications. Combining this system with night time generation of TBAB hydrate slurry can significantly reduce the investment cost of systems for cooling purposes. TBAB hydrate slurry generation requires temperature around 12 °C, operates at atmospheric pressure and, from an energetic point of view, application of this slurry can contribute to significant energy savings. In this paper, a numerical model of a LHTS system is coupled with a hydrate crystal growth model, which has been validated with experimental data collected with a coil heat exchanger for TBAB hydrate generation. The model has been used for the estimation of the production of TBAB hydrate slurry in an air-conditioning system. Results indicate that with a certain volume of the LHTS system, it is possible to fulfil the considered 3 kW peak cooling demand for a specified office building without extra external energy input during the day. The presented work provides guidelines for the thermal performance and design optimization of a TBAB hydrate slurry based LHTS system for an air-conditioning system.