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Source: HVAC Pump Handbook

Chapter

17
Pumps for Closed
Energy Storage Systems

17.1 Introduction
Closed energy storage systems consist of pressure tanks for both hot
and chilled water as well as ice systems with open tanks that are
described as ice-on-tube systems. The growth of energy-conservation
efforts has resulted in the use of a number of different procedures for
storing energy. Closed energy storage systems differ from the open
storage systems of Chap. 13 in the storage of the energy at system
operating pressures; this results in the ability to maintain system
pressure throughout the energy storage system.
17.2 Pressure Tanks for Energy Storage
Pressure tanks have not been popular because of the cost of the tanks
themselves. Of course, it is the responsibility of the water system
designer to determine the most economical means of storage of energy
on a specific installation.
Closed tanks offer the specific advantage of operating at system
pressure. All the pressure-control devices needed in open storage
tanks are not required for these systems. The tank can be located in
the system at the point most advantageous for the operation of the
equipment and the storage of energy.
For example, on chilled water systems, the pressure tank can be
installed in the chiller bypass, as shown in Fig. 17.1. With this
arrangement, the chillers can be operated at peak efficiency and,
therefore, at the lowest kilowatts per ton. On very light loads, the

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Pumps for Closed HVAC Cooling Systems

Figure 17.1 Pressurized chilled water storage.

chiller shuts down, and chilled water is drawn from the tank; this
eliminates chiller operation at loads less than 50 percent of design
capacity, where the overall kilowatts per ton are high. This arrangement provides a very simple but effective means of storing chilled
water without control valves, storage pumps, and all the other appurtenances required with open tank systems.
When pressurized chilled water is used for energy storage, the volume
of the chilled water piping system must be addressed, since some chilled
water systems have many tons of cooling stored in the normal piping.
On older systems that may have been oversized in terms of piping, a
sizable tonnage of cooling could exist in the piping itself. The volume
of water per foot of pipe in gallons has been included in Table 2.7 to
assist in this evaluation. The tonnage stored is calculated by Eq. 17.1,
where the specific heat of water is assumed to be 1 Btu per pound per
degree F.
Vs  8.34  (T2  T1)
ton  h stored  
12,000
Vs  (T2  T1)


1439

(17.1)

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where Vs  volume of the system, gal

T2  system return water temperature, F
T1  system supply water temperature, F
There have been some unusual installations such as airports where
the total gallons of water in the distribution system provided enough
storage that there was no need for additional chilled water storage for
energy curtailment.
Eutectic salts can be used to reduce the volume of the pressurized
storage tanks. The eutectic salt tanks can be as much as one-third to
one-half the size of those for straight water storage.
17.3 Closed Energy Storage Systems
with Open Tanks
On chilled water systems that cannot justify pressure tanks for
energy storage, the closed water circuit that uses open ice tanks provides an economical option for many systems. This type of system
passes glycol through tubes in an open tank and either creates or
melts ice on the external surfaces of the tubes as required by the system demands. A storage tank for this system is shown in Fig. 17.2.
The storage tanks can be single, large tanks or modular systems comprised of a number of small tanks. Larger systems use rectangular
tanks, as shown in Fig. 17.3.

Figure 17.2 Modular internal melt ice

storage tank.

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Tank valve
Glycol
chiller
Cooling system
temperature
control valve

Open tank
with glycol coils

Heat exchanger
Glycol pumps

T
Chilled water system

Variable-speed
chilled water pumps
Figure 17.3 Closed glycolsystem for large ice storage facilities.

Such a system is called an internal melt ice-on-coil system because

the glycol passes through the pressurized coils in the tank and ice
forms on the outside of these coils. The design of this system offers
some general advantages over the other types of ice storage systems
that were described in Chap. 13. For example,
1. Chiller cost is much the same as for chilled water and the other
forms of ice storage other than the ice harvester system, which has
a much higher chiller cost.
2. Tank volume is equivalent to that of most of the other forms of
ice storage except the ice harvester system, which requires 10 to
20 percent more storage volume.
3. Storage cost is similar to that for external ice melt and encapsulated ice; it is greater than for the ice harvester system and much less
than for the eutectic salt system.
4. Power costs per ton-hour are comparable with those for all the
other ice storage systems; they are much higher than for chilled
water storage or for the eutectic salt system.
5. A great advantage of this system is the ability to run the chillers
at normal chilled water system temperatures such as 44F leaving
water and 56F return water when ice is not being used or generated. This brings the power costs down to close to that of ordinary
chilled water operation.

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The arrangement of the piping and pumping in this method of energy

storage is very important in order to achieve efficient and trouble-free
operation. All the different phases of operation for the chilled water
and storage systems must be recognized and evaluated to achieve the
desired results from this energy system. These phases are:
1. Operate the chilled water system without the ice storage system.
2. Serve the chilled water system and generate ice.
3. Serve the chilled water system with the chillers and from the ice
storage.
4. Serve the chilled water system from only the ice storage.
5. Generate ice only.
Not all systems will require all five of these phases. It is up to the
designer to develop the phases or cycles required for a particular
application.
17.4 Circuiting Internal Ice Melt Systems
There are a number of different methods of circuiting these energy
storage systems; one of these is shown in Fig. 17.4. Figure 17.4a
describes a system with the chiller upstream from the ice storage
tanks, while Fig. 17.4b provides the arrangement with the chillers
downstream from the ice storage tanks. A variation of this latter
hookup is shown in Fig. 17.4c with two chillers in parallel operation. In
the first two designs, a three-way valve is shown for varying the supply
temperature to the chilled water system. The system of Fig. 17.4c is
designed to receive either a constant low-temperature glycol under all
loads or a higher temperature when the stored ice is not being used.
Installing the chiller upstream from the storage reduces the power
consumption in kilowatts per ton because the water in the evaporator
is higher in temperature; the total storage may be reduced because of
the temperatures of the system. Installing the chiller downstream
from the storage may increase the overall kilowatts per ton as a
result of the lower temperatures in the evaporator. The total system
storage may be improved because of the colder temperatures leaving
the ice storage tanks. In any of these variations, the total kilowatts
per ton of the chilled water plant must be run under all loads to verify
the total cost of energy for each system.
Figure 17.4c is a variation of the downstream chiller arrangement
that provides flexibility in system operation. Either chiller can make
ice simultaneously with the other chiller providing the system water
temperature as required. The chiller making ice could be operating at

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Figure 17.4 Chiller location with respect to ice storage.

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leaving water temperatures of 26F and at around 0.90 kW/ton, while

the other chiller could be making chilled water for the system at 44F
and at 0.60 kW/ton. Another advantage of this arrangement is the
ability of the chillers to operate at any desired load and maintain a
constant leaving temperature as the ice is depleted.
Like other water systems containing glycol, these internal ice melt
systems must be equipped with heat exchangers if it is desired to
keep the glycol out of the chilled water system. Figure 17.4a includes
such a heat exchanger, while Figs. 17.4b and c do not. This is a decision for the designer and the client. Generally, chilled water systems
utilizing large air-handling systems do not require the heat
exchanger, while systems with a number of small terminal units such
as fan coil do require them.

17.5 Pumping Internal Ice Melt Systems

The variable-speed pump offers some appreciable advantages in
pumping internal ice melt systems because of the sizable changes in
viscosity of the glycol solution as it varies from 26 to 55F. The
variable-speed pump can be controlled by any desirable parameter
such as flow through the chiller evaporator. The flowmeter for this
circuit provides a 4- to 20-mA signal to the pump controller that
varies the pump speed and maintains the desired flow as the glycol
temperature changes.
The friction loss in the various loops for this ice system varies as to
whether ice is being used or bypassed. The variable-speed pump automatically adjusts its speed to accommodate these variations caused
by the control valves that determine the phase of operation for the
energy storage system.
Further, as indicated in Fig. 17.4b, the use of variable-speed pumps
on the chiller circuit eliminates other pumps that might be required
with heat exchangers or the ice storage itself.
17.5.1 Pumps for internal ice melt systems

This type of ice storage system requires a minimum of special provisions and controls for the pumping system, since it is a closed system
where system pressures are easily controlled. There should be no concern for cavitation in the pumps other than the usual precautions
that should be taken for any system.
Most of the pumps for these systems are either single- or doublesuction volute-type pumps. Standard bronze-fitted construction is
very adequate for these applications.

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Many of the standard pumping and distribution systems for ordinary chilled water systems are usable with internal melt ice storage
systems.
17.6 Bibliography
ASHRAE Handbook Fundamentals, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and
Air-Conditioning Engineers, Atlanta, Ga., 1993.
Design Guide for Cool Thermal Storage, ASHRAE, Atlanta, Ga., 1993.

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