Performance analysis of ice storage tank with smooth-tube and corrugated-tube heat exchangers based on numerical simulation

The ice storage system is of great value to improve the flexibility of building cooling load. In this paper, the two-dimensional physical models of smooth-tube and corrugated-tube heat exchangers ice-storage tank is established with consideration of natural convection. The ice storage process of tubes is numerically simulated using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The effects of structural parameters on the ice storage performance are comprehensively analyzed, including the pitch and height of corrugation. The results indicate that the ice storage duration of the corrugated-tube heat exchanger is shortened by 7.1% compared with that of the traditional smooth-tube heat exchanger, which is due to the fact that corrugations disrupt the development of the boundary layer and strengthen the fluid mixing. There is the thicker ice layer outside the corrugated tube in comparison with the smooth tube at the same time. In addition, the influence of the corrugated tube structure on its ice storage performance is studied by varying the corrugation pitch and height. If the corrugation pitch is decreased by 41.7% and the corrugation height is increased by 28%, the heat transfer performance of corrugated tubes is improved by 10.3% and 29.4%, respectively.