Energies, Vol. 13, Pages 1568: Thermal Response Characteristics of Intermittently Cooled Room with Tube-Embedded Cooling Slab and Optimization of Intermittent Control (Energies)

The heat storage effect of the tube-embedded slab cooling system (TESCS) makes the intermittent operation feasible, a reasonable intermittent strategy can fully realize the energy saving effect. This paper purposes to optimize the intermittent control schemes for TESCS by simulation. The response of the thermal environment intermittently cooled by TESCS is firstly studied. Then, the intermittent control schemes of TESCS are studied. On the basis of the dual-objective optimization for thermal comfort and energy efficiency, the optimal scheme is established. The results show that the tube-embedded slab has significant heat storage and release characteristics under intermittent cooling condition. Its maximum cooling capacity appears about one hour after the stop of cooling. Reducing the cooling duration can reduce the system energy consumption, but increasing the cooling duration can reduce the system peak load. Twenty-four-hour cooling can reduce the peak load by about 70%, 67%, and 41%, respectively, compared with 6-h, 8-h, and 12-h cooling. The effect of the cooling duration on the thermal comfort and energy efficiency is much greater than the cooling time distribution. Frequent starts and stops of the pump can increase the cooling capacity obtained by the room to a certain extent. Daytime cooling provides higher comfort and energy efficiency while night cooling can reduce the chiller’s peak cooling requirement by about 25%.