A simplified model to study the location impact of latent thermal energy storage in building cooling heating and power system

Introducing the thermal energy storage (TES) equipment into the building cooling heating and power (BCHP) system proves to be an effective way to improve the part load performance of the whole system and save the primary energy consumption. The location of TES in BCHP has a great impact on the thermal performance of the whole system. In this paper, a simplified model of TES-BCHP system composed of a gas turbine, an absorption chiller/an absorption heat pump, and TES equipment with phase change materials (PCM) is presented. In order to minimize the primary energy consumption, the performances of BCHP systems with different PCM-TES locations (upstream and downstream) are analyzed and compared, for a typical hotel and an office building respectively. Moreover, the influence of the thermal performance of PCM-TES equipment on the energy saving effect of the whole system is investigated. The results confirm that PCM-TES can improve the energy efficiency and reduce the installed capacities of energy supply equipment, and that the optimal TES location in BCHP highly depends on the thermal performance of the TES equipment and the user load characteristics. It also indicates that: 1) the primary energy saving ratio of PCM-TES-BCHP increases with increasing NTU of TES; 2) for the studied cases, downstream TES location becomes more preferable when user loads fluctuate greatly; 3) only downstream TES can reduce the installed capacities of absorption chiller/absorption heat pump. This work can provide guidance for PCM-TES-BCHP system design.