Thermal Storage

60%

Chilled Water Return

100%

Primary Pump
TES Tank

40%

Chiller
Stratified
Chilled Water
Thermal
Storage System 60%

Secondary Pump
100%

A Thermal Energy Storage tank integrates seamlessly into any chilled water cooling system.
Because of the specially designed internal diffuser system, chilled water remains stratified
within the tank, throughout the charging and discharging process. The key Technology of
CHW Storage system is the diffuser design which ensures thermal stratification of chilled water
and warm water by density difference. CHW TES has long history of installation and widely
applied around the world including U.S.A., Japan, Korea and middle east Asia.

A
thermal storage, when implemented into the
cooling system of a building helps in reducing the
peak demand and energy consumption, particularly
when energy costs during peak periods are much
higher than those in off-peak periods. Thermal Energy storage
systems can thus contribute significantly to the overall
economy. The energy may be stored as ice or chilled water.
Thermal energy storage systems that separate warm and
chilled water by means of gravitational stratification are being
suggested in the cooling of buildings, because they can easily
be retrofitted into existing chilled-
water systems. The performance of a
stratified storage depends upon the
ability to store warm and chilled
water with little incursion of
temperatures during its storage. The
interfacial zone between the warm
and chilled water in the storage
tank, where there is a large
temperature gradient, is called the

70 Cooling India February 2015

 Thermal Storage

thermocline, and its thickness should be Dinesh Semwal, is Managing Director at Ensavior
as small as possible. The increase in Technologies Pvt Ltd, a leading comprehensive engineering
thermocline thickness with time is a solutions provider company headquartered in New Delhi.
measure of stratification decay in the Ensavior in association with FTENE, Korea provides total
chilled-water storage system and leads solution pertating to thermal energy storage system to satisfy
to the loss of cooling capacity. customers explicit and implicit needs.
Stratification in a storage tank depends
mainly on the temperature difference of
the inlet and outlet. The available
cooling capacity of the chilled water degrades owing to This system allows the TES tank to be “charged” and
disturbance to the thermocline caused by: “discharged” of chilled water on a daily basis (see below
• Heat gains from the ambient; schematic representation).
• Thermal diffusion from warm water to chilled water;
TES Charging (With Load)
• Axial conduction in the tank wall in the vertical
direction; and
• Mixing induced by charging and discharging of water.
• Stratified chilled-water storage systems have been studied.

Summary: How a TES Tank System Works!

Stratified chilled water storage tank utilitizes natural
stratification of the chilled water within the TES tank. Chilled
water is a sensible storage medium (remains as a fluid). A
naturally stratified TES tank is the main storage vessel used in
a straight forward operating strategy utilized in a chilled
water cooling system that utilizes only the sensible heat of
water for cooling energy storage in a chilled water storage
tank and discharges the stored coldness for air-conditioning The stratification of CHW TES can be performed by
during on peak time. This operation scheme reduces the total utilization of the water density difference according to the
energy consumption and operation cost. water temperature. The density of water is heaviest at 4.00C.

TES Charging (Without Load) TES Discharging (Without Chiller)

TES Discharging (With Chiller)

Cooling India February 2015 71

 Thermal Storage

water in the storage tank, where there is a large temperature

gradient, is called the thermocline, and its thickness
should be as small as possible. The increase in thermocline
thickness with time is a measure of stratification decay in
Charge cycle the chilled-water storage system and leads to the loss of
The chilled water at a desired temperature is chargedcooling capacity.
through the bottom diffuser into the tank at the same rate as
the warm water is displaced through the top of the storage CFD Analysis for the Thermocline Behaviour
tank. The thermocline forms at the bottom and slowly moves in Thermal Storage Tank
up to the top as charging is
continued. During charging, the Analysis Type CHARGING ANALYSIS DISCHARGING ANALYSIS
available cooling capacity of the
charged water degrades due to
mixing of the charge with the
Temperature
stored water. This is in addition Distribution
to the thermal diffusion, axial
wall conduction and heat gains
from the ambient. Hydrodynamic
disturbances caused by the high
jet velocity of the inlet stream
cause mixing of warm and
chilled water. The thermal
degradation due to mixing Analysis Type CHARGING ANALYSIS DISCHARGING ANALYSIS
reduces with decreasing charge
flow rate. Therefore, at very low
charge flow rates, the thermal
Temperature
degradation is mainly a result of Distribution
a combination of heat gain from
ambient, thermal diffusion and
axial wall conduction.
Discharge cycle
In a discharge cycle, the
storage tank initially filled with
chilled water is discharged
through the bottom diffuser Analysis Type CHARGING ANALYSIS DISCHARGING ANALYSIS
and returned to the tank
through the diffuser at the top,
after it is passed through the
load. The thermocline forms at Thermocline
Thickness
the top initially and slowly
moves down to the bottom at
the end of a discharge cycle.

Thermocline thickness
The interfacial zone
between the warm and chilled

72 Cooling India February 2015

 Thermal Storage

Analysis Type CHARGING ANALYSIS DISCHARGING ANALYSIS Some Key

Features of
Chilled
Water TES
System
Thermocline Naturally
Thickness
stratified chilled
water thermal
energy storage
tanks are used as
an integral part of
a facility’s air
conditioning
system, as well as
for other
Design of Stratification Diffusers applications. When used in large industrial facilities, on
Diffusers must be designed and constructed to produce university or healthcare campuses, in district energy projects,
and maintain stratification at the maximum expected flow rate or on military bases, a Chilled water TES system can save you
through storage. Two main styles are in widespread use today: millions of dollars in life cycle costs.
the octagonal pipe diffuser (see Figure 1) and the radial disk CHW - TES System will save you money by:
diffuser (Figure 2). Inlet and outlet streams must be kept at • Reducing annual energy and operational costs
sufficiently low velocities, so buoyancy predominates over • Deferring capital expenditures on equipment replacement
inertia to produce a density current across the bottom or top of of expansion projects
the tank. • Preventing downtime of mission critical operations
Radial disc type diffuser is simple in installation and due to • Improving the efficiency and power output of natural gas
the simple and strong structure, strong to the shock of the electrical power generators
water hammering and surging. While the Octagonal pipe • Acting as a negotiating tool in deregulated markets
diffuser is weak to the shock of the water hammering and Benefits
surging, has a higher pressure drop, difficult to install and takes • Lowest initial investment cost
long time to install. • 30% energy saving by utilizing conventional chillers
whose efficiency is
higher than low
temperature chillers.
• Simple System
with easy control
without additional
heat exchangers and
less equipment.
• Efficiency of
discharging coldness
is very high
• Easy to convert
conventional system
into CW TES system
by adding only
chilled water storage
tank.
• Convertible to
heating purposes.
• Environmentally
friendly system free
from brine.
• Storage water
can be utilised for fire
fighting in emergency.
• Quick response
to the cooling load 

74 Cooling India February 2015