Experimental Study of Stratified Chilled Water Storage Plant: District Cooling Systems

Due to unfavourable weather circumstances, the need for cooling is growing tremendously worldwide, necessitating the development of more energy-efficient solutions for both commercial and residential applications. The District Cooling System (DCS) is an affordable way to improve the efficiency of dependable solutions in densely populated regions by delivering comfort to customers from a central plant via a distribution network. A DCS system for a 0.5 TR refrigeration system was designed, developed, and constructed as part of the research project to understand thermal stratification in terms of thermocline thickness, figure of merit, and equivalent loss tank height for various water volume flow rates. To investigate district cooling systems, the system can conduct experiments for charging and discharging operations. The system is divided into three parts: stratification, heating, and chiller. Ten temperature sensors are positioned in the centre of the stratification tank to gauge the degree of mixing by measuring the temperature difference between the cold and warm water.