Energy Reports 10 (2023) 850–863

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Energy Reports
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/egyr

Research paper

Experimental evaluation of a vapor compression cycle integrated with

a phase change material storage tank based on two strategies
∗
Alireza Riahi a,b , Hosein Jafari Mosleh b , Mohammad Behshad Shafii a,b ,
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
b
Sharif Energy, Water and Environment Institute (SEWEI), Tehran, Iran

article info a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this survey, the integration of a vapor compression cycle with a phase change material (PCM) storage
Received 9 February 2023 tank has been evaluated experimentally during the hottest days of five cities with different weather
Received in revised form 22 March 2023 conditions: Tehran, Ramsar Hamedan, Bushehr, and Ahvaz. The temperature conditions for outdoor
Accepted 16 July 2023
(condenser, compressor, etc.) and indoor (evaporator) air conditioning units are provided with the help
Available online xxxx
of two separated test chambers and a controller system. The desired system has been examined based
Keywords: on two scenarios. In each scenario, the system is assessed for the conventional air conditioning (AC)
PCM system (with no PCM involved) and the AC plus PCM unit. Based on scenario 1 operating strategy, the
Peak shaving results indicate that adding the PCM tank decreases the total daily COP compared to the conventional
Vapor compression cycle AC unit, which varies from 32.07% for Bushehr city to 17.23% for Tehran city. Whereas the AC plus PCM
system’s performance enhances during on-peak hours compared to the conventional AC system, which
varies from 65.99% for Hamedan city to 12.84% for Bushehr city. Based on scenario 2 operating strategy,
adding the PCM storage tank to the conventional AC unit increases total electric energy consumption
over 24 h, which varies from 29.35% for Bushehr city to 5.49% for Tehran city. While it leads to shaving
the electric peak load from 45.11% to 67.02% in which the highest peak load shaving belongs to Tehran
and the least is related to Bushehr city.
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction
Nowadays, boosts in the world’s population and increasing
living standards have led to rising energy consumption (Mir-
javadi et al., 2022; Pourmoghadam et al., 2021). Based on the
IEA report, buildings, both commercial and residential, account
for about 30% of energy use. They are also responsible for 55% of
the world’s electricity consumption, where 8.5% of which belong
to space cooling. There are currently 2 billion air conditioner
units in operation worldwide, which is predicted to get to 3.3
billion by 2030 given to the rising average temperature of the
earth (IEA, 2021; Said and Hassan, 2021). The buildings are also
responsible for 40% of direct and indirect global CO2 emissions
which a remarkable part of it is related to providing cooling
energy (Zeinelabdein et al., 2020). Consequently, supplying this
amount of energy, especially on hot days of the year and during
on-peak hours, is one of the significant challenges ahead. One
of the solutions to manage the proposed issue is to shave the
peak during on-peak hours and shift it to off-peak hours (Erdemir
et al., 2021; Imafidon and Ting, 2022). In this regard, the cooling
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: behshad@sharif.edu (M.B. Shafii).
system stores cooling energy during off-peak hours and uses it
at on-peak hours (Wijesuriya and Tabares-Velasco, 2020). This
benefits both consumers and the government. Consumers pay less
electricity price because the electricity tariff is higher at on-peak
hours and lower at off-peak hours. Moreover, the government
no longer needs to construct a new power plant to supply elec-
tricity demands at on-peak times and prevents blackout (Packer
and Glicksman, 1979; Aponte and McConky, 2022). Owing to
this Chaichana et al. (2001) claimed that the electricity cost of a
building in Thailand, which used an ice storage tank, was reduced
up to 55% per month. Yau and Lee (2010) indicated that although
the use of an ice-slurry increased the total energy consumption
up to 20%, it diminishes the total cost by about 24%. Mazzoni
et al. (2021) concluded that using latent thermal energy units
can significantly improve the efficiency of district cooling systems
and reduce their operating costs. However, the feasibility of such
systems depends on several factors such as the cost of energy,
the size of the system, and the availability of suitable storage
materials. It was found that the net present value of this system
was about 200,000 $ after 20 years.
Thermal energy storage (TES) systems are divided into three
categories in terms of their operation, which are sensible, latent,
and thermochemical (Afsharpanah et al., 2022). The sensible TES
units are uncomplicated and cheapest among the proposed TES

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2023.07.031
2352-4847/© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).
A. Riahi, H.J. Mosleh and M.B. Shafii
Nomenclature
Abbreviations
AC Air conditioning
PCM Phase Change Material
PLC Programmable Logic Controller
TCES Thermochemical Energy Storage
TES Thermal Energy Storage
Symbols
Q Cooling Load
W Work
Subscripts
comp Compressor
Heater Electrical Heaters
Hex Heat Exchanger
types. On the other hand, their volume and size are bigger com-
pared to other types due to their low energy density. The latent
TES units utilize solid to liquid or liquid to gas phase change
material (PCM) to store energy. Their tank’s volume is less than
sensible ones due to their higher energy density compared to
them. The major weakness of these systems is their low thermal
conductivity. The thermochemical energy storage units (TCES)
have the highest energy density compared to other types of TES;
however, they are still in the laboratory stage and are not com-
mercialized (Habibi et al., 2021; Pourmoghadam and Mehrpooya,
2021; Pourmoghadam et al., 2022).
Using PCM as the medium of the latent TES has received a
huge interest over the years. During the past 15 years, exam-
ination on PCM applications was mostly allocated to building
applications. They have also been used to improve the perfor-
mance of the cooling systems. In this regard, Wang et al. (2007a)
experimentally conducted the possible location of the shell and
tube PCM heat exchanger in the refrigeration system. The pro-
posed locations are after the compressor, after the condenser,
and after the evaporator, which lead to a reduction in condenser
pressure, an increase in evaporator capacity, and reducing super-
heat degree, respectively. The COP was boosted 6% and 8% for
the first and second cases, respectively, compared to the system
without the PCM storage tank. No enhancement was found in
COP for the third case. Moreover, the numerical optimization
of the proposed systems indicated that the maximum improve-
ment in COP occurred in the second case with 8% (Wang et al.,
2007c,b). In a similar work, Korth et al. (2020) experimentally
investigated the use of a PCM storage tank after the condenser
of vapor compression refrigeration cycle to improve the sub-
cooling temperature. It was shown that by using paraffin with the
melting temperature of 18 ◦ C as the PCM, the cooling capacity
was enhanced about 18%. In another study, Riahi et al. (2021b)
numerically assessed the performance of the refrigeration cycle
dynamically by using a PCM storage tank before the condenser. It
was illustrated that the proposed system diminishes the electrical
consumption and increases the accessible cooling load during
peak load hours. Moreover, it was found that although the overall
COP decreases, the COP during peak hours enhances, which leads
to reducing peak load. They also examined the effect of various
PCMs in which SP224 A achieved the maximum peak load shaving
with 76.3% (Riahi et al., 2021a). Selvnes et al. (2021) used a latent
storage tank with water as a medium, which is integrated to
a refrigeration system to shave the electrical peak-load. It was
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Energy Reports 10 (2023) 850–863
reported that the maximum discharged energy was about 35.29
kWh, which was occurred in 4.5 h.
Furthermore, the PCM storage tanks are used as the second
evaporator to increase the refrigeration system capacity during
peak load hours. In this regard, Yang et al. (2017) presented a
system in which the PCMs were implemented in the warehouse’s
walls and ceiling. The PCMs charged during compressor ON pe-
riods and cooled the room (discharged) during compressor OFF
periods. It led to a decrease in the electrical bill by shifting the
cooling load to off-peak hours. The payback period of the pro-
posed system was calculated at about 2.6 years based on China’s
economic conditions. Torregrosa-Jaime et al. (2013) experimen-
tally investigated the performance of the PCM tank in which the
paraffin was used as the PCM. It was found that the highest
COP during the charging was obtained for the lowest refrigerant
temperature, which was provided by the 8-kW chiller. Mosaffa
et al. (2014) evaluated the performance of the air conditioning
system of the building by using the PCM storage in its ventilation
air duct system. The numerical analysis showed that the COP
of the proposed system was 3.07. Hoseini Rahdar et al. (2016)
compared three different cases of an air conditioning chiller
for a building, which are without TES, combined with the ice
TES, and combined with the PCM TES. It was reported that the
annual energy consumption of the proposed units for the second
and third cases was reduced by 4.59% and 7.58 %, respectively,
in comparison with the first case. Also, the economic analysis
revealed that the second case had the best results with the
3.16 years payback period. In another work, Erdemir and Altuntop
(2018) investigated the effect of the sizing strategies of the PCM
TES for the hypermarket in Turkey. It was claimed that the 10%
partial storage mode had the shortest payback period of 1.5 years.
However, the full storage mode had the highest cost saving with a
payback period of 3.1 years. Gholamibozanjani and Farid (2020a)
experimentally evaluated the performance of the PCM storage for
the two huts in the winter and summer seasons. It was shown
that using PCM for space cooling led to energy saving of 30%
based on New Zealand weather conditions. In another work (Gho-
lamibozanjani and Farid, 2020b) the performance of active and
passive thermal systems was evaluated. It was found that using
passive system consumed only 8% less than active one. While the
quantity of PCM used in passive systems was more than twice
as much as that used in active ones. PCM must be chemically
and thermally stable during continuous freezing/melting cycles
to be applicable for thermal energy storage (Bista et al., 2018).
In this regard, Azzouz et al. (2009) carried out experiments with
water and eutectic aqueous solution as PCM. Water holds the
advantages such as good time stability, high enthalpy of fusion
and known thermophysical properties. Lin et al. (2020) optimized
and evaluated a PCM TES for a building in Australia. It was found
that PCM tubes inner diameter, PCM tubes distance-to-diameter
ratio, the type of PCMs, the number of the PCM tubes, and the
inlet water temperature significantly affected the charging per-
formance of the TES unit. It was reported that the energy storage
density improved from 13.58 to 26.47 kWh/m3 compared to basic
design.
According to the literature review and summary of previous
works listed in Table 1, most of the previous articles have con-
centrated solely on the influence of discharging PCMs to shift the
electricity peak load of refrigeration systems. While, in this sur-
vey, for the first time, the impact of the full charge and discharge
cycle over the day and night on the performance of the vapor
compression refrigeration system is conducted experimentally.
The aim of this study is to assess the role of adding the PCM TES to
the conventional vapor compression system on its performance.
Moreover, the temperature conditions of the outdoor and indoor
units of the vapor compression system are simulated through two
A. Riahi, H.J. Mosleh and M.B. Shafii Energy Reports 10 (2023) 850–863

Table 1
The summary of previous studies.
Ref Type of cooling Type of storage system Experimental work Time of evaluation Effect of charging &
system discharging process
Chaichana et al. (2001) AC unit Ice storage No 1 Day No
Yau and Lee (2010) Chiller Ice storage No 1 Year No

Wang et al. (2007a) AC unit Ice storage Yes 4000 s No

Wang et al. (2007b) AC unit Ice storage No 4000 s No
Wang et al. (2007c) AC unit Ice storage No 4000 s No
Korth et al. (2020) AC unit PCM storage No 6 h No
Riahi et al. (2021b) AC unit PCM storage No 1 Day Yes
Riahi et al. (2021a) AC unit PCM storage No 1 Day Yes
Yang et al. (2017) Vapor compression Ice storage No 1 Day No
refrigeration unit
Torregrosa-Jaime et al. Chiller PCM storage Yes 20 h No
(2013)
Mosaffa et al. (2014) AC unit PCM storage No 1 Day No
Hoseini Rahdar et al. AC unit Ice storage No 1 Year No
(2016)
Erdemir and Altuntop Chiller Ice storage No 24 h No
(2018)
Gholamibozanjani and AC unit Active PCM storage unit Yes 1 Year No
Farid (2020a)
Lin et al. (2020) HVAC unit Ice storage No 9 h No

separated test chambers designed to provide a realistic imitation
of weather conditions with high accuracy. The system evalua-
tion has been performed by simulating the weather conditions
of five different cities, which determines the effect of ambient
weather conditions on the performance of the condenser and,
consequently, the performance of the vapor compression refrig-
eration system. In this work, a PCM TES, which uses water as
its medium, integrated into the conventional vapor compression
system (conventional AC) with minor changes in its pipelines. The
stored cooling energy in the PCM TES transfers to the indoor unit
section with a circulating water pump. To the best of the authors’
knowledge, no works have ever evaluated the performance of the
compression cooling system combined with PCM TES like this. So,
this experimental work is novel and has been done for the first
time.
2. Experimental setup
The whole setup consists of a conventional 12 000 BTU air
conditioning unit, electrical heaters, two air fans, a conventional
30 000 BTU air conditioning unit (AC), a PCM thermal storage
tank, a programmable logic controller (PLC), a circulating water
pump, a water heat exchanger, and two test chambers, which
its diagram is illustrated in Fig. 1. The aim of the test chambers
is to provide a realistic imitation of real indoor (building) and
outdoor (ambient) temperature conditions for the 12 000 BTU AC
indoor and outdoor units, respectively. The electrical heaters and
a 30 000 BTU AC unit have been used to achieve the proposed
purpose. Moreover, a control system is used to adjust the desired
temperature with high accuracy.
2.1. Outdoor test chambers
Two separate test chambers have been constructed to simulate
the ambient air (outdoor) and indoor (building) temperatures for
the outdoor and indoor units of the AC system. The dimensions of
each of these test chambers are 4 m3 (2 × 2×1). The outdoor test
chamber temperature is adjusted by the six electrical heaters, a
30 000 BTU AC unit, and an air fan. Its controller system, which is
equipped with four thermometers, adjusts the setpoint tempera-
ture of the outdoor test chamber. Three of the thermometers are
implemented in the various spots inside the outdoor test cham-
ber, and one of them is located in the lab environment. According
852
to the lab, outdoor test chamber, and setpoint temperatures,
the controller switches ON/OFF the electrical heaters and the
conventional 30 000 BTU AC unit to provide a realistic imitation of
the air temperature inside the outdoor test chamber (simulated
ambient temperature) according to the given temperature data
of the desired city. According to Fig. 2, the air is sucked into
the outdoor unit test chamber by an adjustable air fan, which its
rotation speed is equal to the AC condenser’s speed fan. When
the setpoint temperature of the outdoor test chamber, according
to the ambient temperature of the desired city understudy, has to
be higher than the lab temperature, the sucked air will be heated
up by the electrical heaters through a channel and then enters
the outdoor test chamber. When the setpoint temperature of
the outdoor test chamber, according to the ambient temperature
of the desired city understudy, has to be lower than the lab
temperature, the sucked air first will be cooled by the 30 000 BTU
AC unit and then is reached the desired temperature by the elec-
trical heaters. In fact, the PLC turns ON/OFF the electrical heaters
and 30 000 BTU AC unit based on the received temperatures by
the thermometers. The experimental setup of the outdoor test
chamber with equipment used in it is indicated in Fig. 2. It
should be noted that, since the only way for air stream to enter
the outdoor test chamber is through the adjustable air fan, the
amount of air stream is sucked by the adjustable air fan must
be the same as the amount of air sucked in by the condenser’s
fan of the AC unit at normal operating condition. Otherwise, a
low or high amount of the adjustable fan load will affect the
performance of the AC unit condenser. So, an airflow meter has
been used to adjust the outdoor test chamber fan speed. Also, the
amount of compressor and pump electric power consumptions of
the AC unit is measured through a wattmeter, which is located
in the controller system. Then, these data are recorded by the
supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), which is an
industrial software that connects the controller system to the
computer.
2.2. Indoor test chamber
The indoor test chamber comprises two heat exchangers, elec-
trical heaters, and an air fan. The aim of the indoor test chamber
is to simulate the temperature condition inside the building. The
electrical heaters play the role of the heat gain of the building
in the summer (required cooling load of the building). Two heat
A. Riahi, H.J. Mosleh and M.B. Shafii Energy Reports 10 (2023) 850–863

Fig. 1. The experimental setup diagram of the desired system.

Fig. 2. The experimental setup of the outdoor test chamber with its equipment.

exchangers have been used to provide the building cooling loads removed from the indoor test chamber to maintain the tempera-
demand (the amount of heat energy that would need to be ture in an acceptable range, which is between 23–25 degrees).
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A. Riahi, H.J. Mosleh and M.B. Shafii
Fig. 3. The experimental setup of the indoor test chamber with its equipment.
Fig. 4. The temperature range of the indoor test chamber (building) for a specific
test over 24 h.
One of them is an evaporator of the 12 000 BTU AC unit with
refrigerant R410 A in this study. The other one uses circulating
cold water, which comes from the PCM TES by a circulating water
pump. The heat load of the electrical heaters is adjusted by the
controller system. The electrical heaters are switched ON/OFF
in a way that the indoor test chamber temperature maintains
in an acceptable range (23–25 degrees). Controlled indoor test
chamber temperature variations for a specific scenario are shown
in Fig. 4. As can be seen, the room temperature is well maintained
at around 24 degrees. The thermostat of the indoor unit of the
AC system (refrigerant evaporator) is responsible for adjusting
the desired temperature. The experimental setup of the indoor
test chamber with equipment used in it is indicated in Fig. 3.
It should be noted that the power consumption of electrical
heaters, which must be equal to cooling load production of the AC
unit in steady-state conditions, is measured through a wattmeter
placed in the controller system. Then, these data are recorded
by the SCADA, which is an industrial software that connects the
controller system to the computer.
2.3. PCM TES
The inner volume of the PCM TES is about 300 liter and
covered with elastomeric insulation. Copper and aluminum pipes
with lengths of 60 m and diameters of 10 mm and 12.5 mm,
respectively, are placed inside the PCM TES in six rows. The
experimental setup of these pipes is illustrated in Fig. 5. In cold
energy charging mode, the refrigerant enters the cooper pipe and
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Energy Reports 10 (2023) 850–863
cools the water used as PCM. In the cold energy discharging mode
of the PCM, the circulating water enters the aluminum pipe and
is cooled by the PCM. Then it goes to the indoor water heat
exchanger by a circulating water pump.
2.4. System description
The schematic of the proposed system is illustrated in Fig. 6.
The system operates in two modes, which are conventional AC
mode (with no PCM involvement), and the AC plus PCM mode
(combination of conventional AC unit and PCM storage tank).
The AC plus PCM mode comprises processes of cold energy
charging (storing cold energy in the PCM TES by solidifying) and
discharging (releasing cold energy from PCM TES by melting). In
this study, the time of cold energy charging (storing cold energy
in PCM TES by freezing it) is between 00:00 to 8:00. For this
purpose, the refrigerant (R410 A) exits from the expansion valve
(point 2) and enters solenoid valve 2 (point 6) to charge the
PCM TES (storing cold energy by means of solidification). Then
the outlet refrigerant goes to the compressor (point 7) until the
normal process of the vapor compression cycle is completed. It
should be noted that if the building requires the cooling load
for counterbalancing the electrical heaters inside the indoor test
chamber during this time, only the circulating water pump will
provide the cooling load from the PCM TES. In other words, while
the cold refrigerant of the vapor compression system stores its
cooling energy in the PCM TES, the circulating water simultane-
ously extracts this cooling energy from the PCM TES and transfers
it to the room. The schematic of the cold energy charging pro-
cess is indicated in Fig. 6b. At this time, all of the cooling load
production, also named as the accessible cooling load of the AC
compressor, is stored in the PCM TES. The cooling load demand
of the indoor test chamber (building) is supplied from PCM TES
by the circulating water pump at this time. Consequently, the
building cooling load demand is provided by the heat exchanger
1.
During cold energy discharging time (extracting cold energy
from the PCM TES by melting it), in addition to the conventional
AC system, the stored cold energy in the PCM TES provides the
building cooling load demands (counterbalancing the electrical
heaters inside the indoor test chamber to maintain constant room
temperature). There are two heat exchangers for providing build-
ing cooling demands. One of them uses a refrigerant evaporator
(heat exchanger 2), which is a part of the vapor compression
A. Riahi, H.J. Mosleh and M.B. Shafii Energy Reports 10 (2023) 850–863

Fig. 5. The experimental setup of the PCM TES.

cycle, and the other one uses circulating cold water, which is Table 2
integrated to the PCM TES by a circulating water pump. The The specifications of the main equipment used in this study.
schematic of the cold energy discharging process is depicted in Equipment Description
Fig. 6c. The cooling load demand of the indoor test chamber AC cooling unit 12 000 BTU rated cooling capacity
(building) during this time is provided from the conventional AC Maximum input power = 1700 W
Refrigerant type = R410A
unit and PCM TES by the heat exchanger 2 and heat exchanger
Manufacture = General Max
1, respectively. In other words, during cold energy discharging Electrical heater 5 electrical heaters with 2 kW power each one
mode, all of the cooling load production by the vapor compression Expansion valve MOP = 15 ◦ C
system is transferred to the indoor test chamber (building) by Design type = Thermostatic
the heat exchanger 2 to provide part of the building cooling load Manufacture = Honeywell
Temperature range = −50 to 15 ◦ C
demand. The rest is supplied by the PCM TES with the circulating Air fan Voltage = 380 V
water pump simultaneously. It should be noted that the cold Power = 750 W
energy discharge time depends on the type of scenarios, which 2800 RPM (Max)
will be discussed later. Manufacture = Moto Gen
In the conventional mode with no PCM involvement, the water Inverter Power = 1.5 kW
Model = LS iG5 A
pump is switched off the whole time, and the vapor compression Temperature sensors Model = PT 100
system alone (conventional AC) provides all the cooling load Error = ±0.2 ◦ C
demand by the refrigerant evaporator (heat exchanger 2). In this Range = −200 to 850 ◦ C
mode, the refrigerant exits from the expansion valve and enters Pressure gauges Error = 2.5%
the solenoid valve 1 (point 3). Then it goes to heat exchanger 2 Range = 0 to 40 bar
Type = Analog
to absorb the heat load produced by the electrical heaters inside Wattmeter Type = Digital
the indoor test chamber (building). After that, it enters the com- Error = 0.5%
pressor to complete the normal process of the conventional vapor
compression cycle. The schematic of the conventional mode pro-
cess is illustrated in Fig. 6d. The conventional mode times also
vary depending on the types of scenarios. Moreover, the power Fig. 7. It is notable that the changes in the outdoor test chamber
consumption of the electrical heaters inside the indoor test cham- (ambient) during the day directly affect the performance of the
ber, which is measured by the wattmeter, plays the role of the vapor compression cycle condenser. Consequently, changes in
cooling load demand of the building. In other words, the amount condenser conditions lead to changing the whole system’s perfor-
of the power consumption of the electrical heaters inside the mance. Also, the temperature variations in the indoor test cham-
indoor test chamber is equal to cooling load production, named ber (building) and outdoor test chamber (ambient) are measured
as the building accessible cooling load by the proposed system in by the thermometers and are recorded by the SCADA software in
each mode. a computer.
The specifications of the main equipment which are used in
the desired experimental evaluation are listed in Table 2. 2.6. Performance evaluation

2.5. Outdoor test chamber (ambient) temperature condition To evaluate the performance of the proposed system, the
following formulas have been used.
To simulate the realistic imitation of ambient temperature QHeaters
COP = (1)
in the outdoor test chamber, the weather data of five different Wcomp + WPump
cities on their hottest days of the year have been given to the
QHeaters = QBuilding = QHex,1 + QHex,2 (2)
controller. The weather data information has been extracted from
Meteonorm software and then has been read by the TRNSYS Peak load = Max pow er consumption

software. The only parameter, which has been controlled in the − AVG pow er consumption of conv entional cooling system (3)
outdoor test chamber is temperature, and the other climatic
Peak load shav ing
conditions such as humidity are constant during the test and are
Peak load of conv entional system − Peak load of PCM integrated system
( )
not controlled. =
Peak load of conv entional system
The cities are Tehran, Ahvaz, Hamedan, Ramsar, and Bushehr,
which their temperature changes over the 24 h are indicated in × 100 (4)
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A. Riahi, H.J. Mosleh and M.B. Shafii
Fig. 6. The schematic of the (a) conventional AC plus PCM TES (b) cold energy
charging process (c) cold energy discharging process (d) conventional AC unit.
where QHeaters , Wcomp , and WPump are the electric heaters’ power
consumption inside the indoor test chamber (counterbalancing
cooling load production), vapor compressor power consumption,
and circulating water pump power, respectively. QHex,1 and QHex,2
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Energy Reports 10 (2023) 850–863
Fig. 6. (continued).
also denote the cooling load provided by the heat exchanger 1
and heat exchanger 2, respectively. It should be noted the values
of electrical heaters inside the test chamber, vapor compressor,
and circulating water pump power consumptions have been mea-
sured by the wattmeters and are recorded by the SCADA software
in a computer.
A. Riahi, H.J. Mosleh and M.B. Shafii
Fig. 7. The ambient temperature variations with time for Tehran, Ahvaz,
Hamedan, Ramsar, and Bushehr cities at the hottest day of the year.
2.7. Experimental procedure
The performance of the proposed system has been conducted
based on two scenarios. The operating function of each scenario
is described below.
2.7.1. Scenario 1
In scenario 1, the AC unit operates non-stop during the 24 h
at its maximum capacity to produce a cooling load. The aims
of scenario 1 are to determine the maximum accessible cooling
load during 24 h and estimate the maximum accessible cooling
load or maximum allowable building cooling load demand during
on-peak hours (12:00–19:00). In other words, the changes of
maximum accessible cooling load or maximum allowable build-
ing cooling load demand during 24 h by adding PCM TES to
the conventional AC unit so that the room temperature remains
within the specified comfort zone have been examined in the
proposed scenario.
In the proposed scenario, the cold energy charging process of
the PCM only occurs between 00:00 to 8:00. During this time, all
of the cooling load production by the vapor compression system
is stored in the PCM TES. Meanwhile, a 0.5 kW building cooling
load demand (heaters with 0.5 kW of heating power are turned
on) is considered for the indoor test chamber, which is only
provided by the circulating water pump from the stored cold
energy in the PCM TES (Fig. 6b). In other words, while the cold
refrigerant of the vapor compression system stores its cooling
energy in the PCM TES, the circulating water simultaneously
extracts this cooling energy from the PCM TES and transfers it
to the room to supply the cooling load demand of the building.
The performance of the system during this time is calculated from
follows equations.
QHeaters
COP =
Wcomp + WPump
QHeaters = QBuilding = QHex,1
The cold energy discharging process of the melting PCM only
happens between 12:00 to 19:00 in scenario 1 (Fig. 6c). During
this time, the AC unit works at its maximum capacity to produce
a cooling load. All of the cooling load production by the AC unit,
as well as the stored cooling energy of the PCM, are used at this
time to absorb the heat from the indoor test chamber. So, the
cooling load capacity of the system is boosted during cold energy
discharge mode from 12:00 to 19:00. So, in addition to cooling
load production of the conventional AC, the stored cold energy
in the PCM TES is available during cold energy discharge mode,
which leads to an increase in building accessible cooling load
demand compared to the conventional AC system. During this
Energy Reports 10 (2023) 850–863
time, the system’s performance is calculated from Eqs. (1) and
(2).
During the other times of the day, which are 8:00 to 12:00
and 19:00 to 24:00, the vapor compression system works as the
conventional AC mode with no PCM TES involvement at its max-
imum cooling load capacity (Fig. 6d). The system’s performance
during this time is calculated from the following equations.
QHeaters
COP = (7)
Wcomp
QHeaters = QBuilding = QHex,2 (8)
It should be noted that the operating function of the system
based on scenario 1 has also been done for the conventional AC
system (with no PCM TES involved) to evaluate the influence of
integrating a PCM TES to the conventional AC unit. The vapor
compression system alone is operated non-stop during the 24 h
at its maximum capability. The system’s performance for the con-
ventional AC mode during 24 h is calculated from the following
equations.
QHeaters
COP = (9)
Wcomp
QHeaters = QBuilding = QHex,2 (10)
Also, in order for this comparison to be made precisely, the
power consumption of the electrical heaters inside the indoor test
chamber, which is equal to cooling load production are adjusted
in a way to maintain the temperature inside the building within
a comfort zone of 23–25 degrees for all modes and scenarios.
The brief operating conditions of the desired systems based on
scenario 1 are shown in Table 3.
2.7.2. Scenario 2
The difference between scenario 2 and scenario 1 is that,
unlike scenario 1, there is no set time for cold energy discharg-
ing mode (extracting cold energy from the PCM by melting it).
Whenever the AC unit alone is not able to supply the building
cooling load demand as in the conventional AC case, the cold
energy stored in the PCM TES is transferred to the indoor test
chamber from heat exchanger 1 by a circulating water pump to
assist the conventional AC unit and compensate for the lack of
the required building cooling load (Fig. 6c). During this time, the
system’s performance has been calculated from Eqs. (1) and (2).
In scenario 2, a building cooling load demand profile has been
scheduled for the indoor test chamber by turning on and off the
electric heaters. The aim of scenario 2 is to evaluate the compres-
sor’s energy consumption based on the fulfillable building cooling
load demand profile over 24 h. In other words, the changes in
energy consumption of the AC unit’s compressor during 24 h
by adding the PCM TES to the conventional AC unit have been
examined in the proposed scenario.
(5)
In the proposed scenario, the cold energy charging process of
(6) the PCM only occurs between 00:00 to 8:00 (Fig. 6b). During this
time, all of the cooling load production by the vapor compression
system is stored in the PCM TES. Meanwhile, the required cooling
load for the indoor test chamber (building cooling load demand)
is only provided by the circulating water pump from the PCM TES.
In other words, some portion of the cooling load being stored in
the PCM TES is reused during the cold energy charging process
to supply the cooling load demand of the test chamber (building
cooling load demand). The performance of the system during this
time has been calculated from Eqs. (5) and (6).
It should be noted that the operating function of the system
based on scenario 2 has also been done for the vapor compres-
sion system alone (with no PCM TES involved) to evaluate the
influence of adding a PCM TES to an AC unit. The conventional
857
A. Riahi, H.J. Mosleh and M.B. Shafii Energy Reports 10 (2023) 850–863

Table 3
The brief description of scenario 1 operating conditions.
Type of system Off-Peak hours (00:00–08:00) On-Peak hours (12:00–19:00) Conventional mode
(08:00–12:00 & 19:00–24:00)
AC plus PCM Providing 0.5 kW cooling load from PCM TES Providing cooling energy from PCM Working at maximum capacity
by the circulating water pump & charging PCM TES & AC unit simultaneously with no PCM involved
TES simultaneously
Conventional AC unit Working at maximum capacity Working at maximum capacity Working at maximum capacity

Table 4
The brief description of scenario 2 operating conditions.
Type of system Off-Peak hours (00:00–08:00)
AC plus PCM Providing desired building cooling load from
PCM TES by the circulating water Pump &
charging PCM TES simultaneously
Conventional AC unit Working based on desired Building cooling
load demand
On-Peak hours (Based on Desired
Building Cooling Load Demand)
Providing cooling energy from PCM
TES & AC unit simultaneously
Working based on desired building
cooling load demand
Conventional mode (Based on Desired
Building Cooling Load Demand)
Working based on desired building
cooling load demand with no PCM
involved
Working based on desired building
cooling load demand

3. Results and discussions

It should be noted that the measurement equipment, which

Fig. 8. The daily fulfillable building cooling load demands profile of scenario 2
operating condition.
AC system is also operated based on the fulfillable cooling load
demand profile for the indoor test chamber. Also, the temperature
inside the building is always maintained in an acceptable range
(23–25 degrees). The system’s performance for the conventional
AC unit during 24 h has been determined from Eqs. (9) and (10).
The daily fulfillable building cooling load demands profile
based on scenario 2 operating conditions is shown in Fig. 8 for
the proposed cities. The fulfillable building cooling load demand
of Tehran city has been determined according to the off-peak
and on-peak hours. So, the building requires more cooling load
demand during on-peak hours, as shown in Fig. 8. Also, the
daily fulfillable building cooling load demand profile has been
determined through the process of trial and error in a way that
all of the stored cold energy in the PCM storage tank is con-
sumed during the day. Since the ambient temperature affects the
performance of the AC plus PCM and conventional AC systems,
the fulfillable building cooling load demand profile is different
for each city. To determine the fulfillable building cooling load
demand profile of the other cities, Tehran’s fulfillable building
cooling load demand profile has been scaled up and down based
on each city’s performance. For instance, Hamedan, which has
the lowest daily average ambient temperature, has the highest
fulfillable building cooling load and energy demand among the
proposed cities. In contrast, Ahvaz has the lowest. It should be
noted that the daily fulfillable building cooling load demand
profile of each city has been determined through the process of
trial and error in a way that all of the stored cold energy in the
PCM consumes during the day. The brief operating conditions of
the desired systems based on scenario 2 are shown in Table 4.
858
are wattmeters, pressure indicators, and thermometers, have er-
rors of up to 2.5%. So, their error impacts on the results are
insignificant. The T – S diagrams of the conventional AC unit
and AC plus PCM unit during the charging process are depicted
in Fig. 9. As can be seen, Fig. 9a shows the charging process
when the AC plus PCM unit is about to freeze the PCM storage
tank. Fig. 9b indicates the charging process when the AC plus
PCM unit is about to charge the PCM storage tank. According to
Fig. 9a, when the PCM storage tank is about to freeze, the evap-
orator temperature and pressure decrease. So, the compressor
power consumption increases in AC plus PCM mode compared
to conventional AC mode. According to Fig. 9b, when the PCM
storage tank is about to charge, the evaporator outlet temper-
ature rises. Consequently, the amount of the evaporator outlet
stream superheat value increases. So, the refrigerant stream en-
ters the compressor at a higher temperature compared to the
conventional AC one. Therefore, the AC plus PCM compressor
consumes more power during the charging process compared to
the conventional AC unit.
3.1. Scenario 1 results
The changes in accessible cooling load and power consump-
tions of the AC unit plus PCM and the conventional AC system
with no PCM TES involvement based on scenario 1 operating
conditions are shown in Fig. 10 over 24 h for Tehran, Ramsar,
Hamedan, Ahvaz, and Bushehr cities. As can be seen from 00:00–
8:00, the indoor accessible cooling load is equal to the whole
cooling load production of the conventional AC system since
no PCM TES is involved. While integrating the PCM TES to the
conventional AC unit reduces the amount of accessible cooling
load received by the indoor test chamber. The rest of the cooling
load production is stored in the PCM TES and is reused during on-
peak hours from 12:00–19:00 when the cold energy discharging
process takes place. This leads to boosting the accessible cooling
load produced by PCM plus conventional AC during this time.
For instance, the AC plus PCM maximum accessible cooling load
power during this cold energy discharging time for Hamedan city
is 3112 W which is about 113% higher than that of the conven-
tional AC unit alone. This improvement is about 67% for Ahvaz
city, which has the highest ambient temperature or outdoor test
chamber temperature among the proposed cities in this study.
As can be seen in Fig. 10, during cold energy discharging time
from 12:00–19:00, the AC plus PCM accessible indoor cooling load
A. Riahi, H.J. Mosleh and M.B. Shafii Energy Reports 10 (2023) 850–863

Fig. 9. The T-S diagrams of the charging process in PCM and conventional modes
for (a) storage tank temperature about 0 ◦ C (b) storage tank temperature about
21 ◦ C.

reaches its maximum at the beginning and then decreases due to

the reduced cooling energy drainage from the PCM TES as a result
of the melting process and increase in thermal resistance. As we
get closer to the end of cold energy discharging time (19:00),
the cooling load extraction from the PCM significantly reduces,
and the whole available cooling load is supplied by the AC unit
alone as in the conventional AC unit. The amount of stored cooling
energy is highly dependent on the system’s performance during
cold energy charging hours from 00:00–8:00. The cities with
lower ambient temperatures during cold energy charging hours
have a higher accessible cooling load energy since more cold
energy gets stored in the PCM. Consequently, AC plus PCM units
in these cities can store much more cooling energy for use during
cold energy discharge hours from 12:00–19:00.
The influence of the ambient temperature (outdoor test cham-
ber temperature) on the performance of the conventional AC
unit is indicated in Fig. 10. It can be seen that the accessible Fig. 10. The changes in cooling load production and power consumption of the
cooling load reaches its maximum from 00:00–8:00 for all cities AC unit with PCM and with no PCM involvement based on scenario 1 over 24 h.
due to their lower ambient temperature (outdoor test chamber)
during the proposed time compared to other times of the day.
In contrast, it reaches its minimum during on-peak hours from
12:00–19:00 for all cities due to their higher ambient tempera- W. While at on-peak hours, it reduces to 1029 W. Moreover,
tures (outdoor test chamber) during the proposed time compared Hamedan, which has the lowest ambient temperature (outdoor
to other times of the day. For instance, Tehran city’s maximum test chamber temperature), achieves the highest accessible cool-
accessible cooling load power from 00:00–8:00 is about 1650 ing load power of 1992 W at its minimum ambient temperature

859
A. Riahi, H.J. Mosleh and M.B. Shafii Energy Reports 10 (2023) 850–863

Table 5
The daily results of the conventional AC system (with no PCM TES involved) and AC plus PCM unit based on scenario 1 operating conditions.
Cities Tehran Hamedan Ramsar Bushehr Ahvaz
Modes Conventional AC plus Conventional AC plus Conventional AC plus Conventional AC plus Conventional AC plus
AC PCM AC PCM AC PCM AC PCM AC PCM
Daily total accessible cooling energy (kWh) 31.83 28.50 37.50 32.97 38.25 33.02 31.53 23.10 23.79 18.02
Daily total compressor energy consumption (kWh) 25.09 25.55 24.83 25.34 24.33 24.81 25.58 26.02 28.09 28.50
Daily total pump energy consumption (kWh) 0 1.59 0 1.79 0 1.89 0 1.57 0 1.49
Daily total electric energy consumption (kWh) 25.09 27.15 24.83 27.14 24.33 26.70 25.58 27.58 28.09 30.00
Daily average COP 1.27 1.05 1.51 1.21 1.57 1.24 1.23 0.84 0.85 0.60
COP at on-peak hours (12–19) 0.91 1.52 1.05 1.74 1.32 1.82 0.81 0.92 0.51 0.66
Accessible cooling energy at on-peak hours (12–19) (kWh) 7.53 13.79 8.55 15.94 9.91 15.62 6.61 8.17 4.63 6.36

among all cities. In contrast, Ahvaz, which has the highest am-
bient temperature, achieves the lowest accessible cooling load
power of 574 W at its maximum ambient temperature among all
cities. It can be seen that ambient temperature plays a significant
role in the amount of conventional AC unit accessible cooling
load. So, adding the PCM TES to the conventional AC unit and
using its stored cold energy during on-peak hours, which also
coincides with high ambient temperature, can enhance the acces-
sible cooling load during the proposed time. As a result, there is
no need to use a larger conventional AC system to provide cooling
load demand during on-peak hours.
The ambient temperature also affects the compressor power
consumption, as shown in Fig. 10. It can be seen that the con-
ventional AC unit’s compressor power consumption reaches its
minimum from 00:00–8:00 for all cities due to their lower ambi-
ent temperature compared to other times of the day. In contrast,
it reaches its maximum during on-peak hours from 12:00–19:00
for all cities due to their higher ambient temperature compared
to other times of the day. For instance, Tehran city’s compres-
sor power reaches 865 W from 00:00–8:00. In comparison, it
increases up to 1210 W during on-peak hours from 12:00–19:00.
Moreover, Hamedan, which has the lowest ambient tempera-
ture, achieves the lowest compressor power consumption with
825 W at its minimum ambient temperature. In contrast, Ahvaz,
which has the highest ambient temperature, achieves the highest
compressor power consumption with 1335 W at its maximum
ambient temperature.
In fact, the changes in ambient temperature affect the AC
system’s condenser pressure and temperature. In this regard,
condenser temperature and pressure increase as the ambient
temperature increases. Hence, the AC unit’s compressor must
consume more power to boost the refrigerant pressure from
evaporator pressure to the condenser pressure. Also, the amount
of cooling load production is affected according to the proposed
changes.
The results of the daily performance of the conventional AC
system with no PCM TES involvement and the AC plus PCM based
on scenario 1 operating conditions are summarized in Table 5.
Also, the changes in the performance of the AC plus PCM com-
pared to the conventional AC one are stated in Table 6. It should
be noted that the negative sign in Table 6 indicates a decrease
in the desired parameters after adding the PCM TES to the con-
ventional AC unit. The positive sign indicates an increase in the
desired parameters after adding the PCM TES to the conventional
AC unit.
It can be seen that adding PCM TES to the conventional AC unit
leads to a reduction in daily total accessible cooling energy for all
cities, which was obtained by integrating accessible cooling load
over time. It happens due to the heat transfer loss during the cold
energy charging and discharging processes. Moreover, the AC plus
PCM unit’s evaporator temperature (PCM TES temperature) is less
than the conventional AC unit’s evaporator temperature (heat ex-
changer 2) due to the PCM melting temperature (0 ◦ C) during the
cold energy charging process from 00:00–8:00. So, it decreases
the AC plus PCM unit’s evaporator pressure, which reduces the
daily total accessible cooling energy. The highest reduction in
860
daily total accessible cooling energy belongs to Bushehr city with
−26.73% shown in red in Table 6. In contrast, the lowest re-
duction is related to Tehran city with −10.44% shown in red in
Table 6.
Furthermore, adding the PCM TES to the conventional AC
system increases daily total electric energy consumption (time-
integral of electric power) for all cities. Since the AC plus PCM
unit uses a circulating water pump in addition to the conventional
AC unit, its daily total electric energy consumption is higher than
the conventional AC one. As mentioned, the AC plus PCM unit’s
evaporator temperature (PCM TES temperature) is less than the
conventional AC unit’s evaporator temperature (heat exchanger
2) during the cold energy charging process. So, it reduces the AC
plus PCM unit’s evaporator pressure. Consequently, the pressure
difference between the condenser and evaporator of the AC plus
PCM is more than the conventional AC during this time. Hence,
the compressor consumes more electric energy to provide the
desired pressure difference. The highest increase in daily total
electric energy consumption belongs to Ramsar city with 9.74%.
In contrast, the lowest rise is related to Ahvaz city with 6.77%
shown in red in Table 6.
Obviously, as a result of higher daily total electric energy
consumption and lower daily total accessible cooling energy of
the AC plus PCM unit compared to the conventional AC unit,
adding the PCM TES to the conventional AC unit lowers the daily
averaged COP based on Eq. (1). Shown in red in Table 6, the
highest and lowest decline in COP is related to Bushehr and
Tehran cities with −32.07% and −17.23%, respectively. It is noted
that since the cooling energy stored in the PCM comes to the
aid of the AC cooling unit, adding PCM TES to the conventional
AC system boosts the accessible cooling energy and COP during
on-peak hours only from 12:00–19:00 for all cities. For example,
the average COP of AC plus PCM and accessible cooling energy
for Hamedan city rise 65.99% and 86.34%, respectively, during
cold energy discharging hours (on-peak hours) from 12:00-19:00,
compared to the conventional AC unit.
3.2. Scenario 2 results
The changes in fulfillable building cooling load demand and
power consumptions of the AC unit plus PCM and the con-
ventional AC system with no PCM TES involvement based on
scenario 2 operating conditions are shown in Fig. 11 over 24 h
for Ramsar and Ahvaz cities. As it is mentioned before, each city
has a specific fulfillable building cooling load demand profile. The
cities with the lower daily average ambient temperature can have
a higher daily total fulfillable building cooling energy demand.
According to Table 7, Ahvaz with the daily average ambient
temperature of 42.07 ◦ C, has the lowest daily total fulfillable
building cooling energy demand of 14.95 kWh, shown in red. In
contrast, Hamedan with 29.91 kWh achieves the highest daily
total fulfillable building cooling energy demand (shown in red).
As shown in Fig. 11, the total electric energy consumption
of the AC plus PCM during cold energy charging hours (00:00–
8:00) is higher than the conventional AC one for all cases. Dur-
ing the proposed time, the conventional AC unit only needs to
A. Riahi, H.J. Mosleh and M.B. Shafii Energy Reports 10 (2023) 850–863

Table 6
The reduction and increase of the AC plus PCM unit parameters compared to the conventional AC system.

Table 7
The performance of the AC plus PCM based on scenario 2 operating condition for various cities.

provide the fulfillable building cooling load demand profile. In

comparison, the AC plus PCM charges the PCM TES in addition
to supplying the fulfillable building cooling load demand profile.
So, the AC plus PCM compressor works at its maximum capacity
during cold energy charging hours, which leads to increasing
electric energy consumption during the proposed time. It should
be noted that the fulfillable building cooling load demand profile
during the cold energy charging hours is provided from PCM TES
by the circulating water pump. In other words, the AC plus PCM
operates at cold energy charge and discharge modes simultane-
ously during the proposed time. As a result, the total electric
consumption of the AC plus PCM during cold energy charging
hours is the summation of the compressor and circulating water
pump electric energy consumptions.
During the cold energy discharge hours, which is different for
each city, the remain of cooling load demand is provided from
the PCM TES for the AC plus PCM unit. In other words, whenever
the AC unit alone is not able to supply building cooling load
demand as in the conventional AC case (with no PCM involved),
the cold energy stored in the PCM TES is transferred to the indoor
test chamber (heat exchanger 1) by a circulating water pump to
assist the conventional AC unit and compensate for the lack of
the required cooling load. It reduces electric energy consumption
compared to the conventional AC one during the cold energy
discharge hours. According to Table 7, the AC plus PCM system
can shave the electric peak load from 45.11% to 65.02% (shown in Fig. 11. The changes in fulfillable building cooling load demand and power
red). The minimum and maximum values are related to Bushehr consumption of the AC unit with PCM and with no PCM involved based on
and Tehran cities, respectively. Also, the schematic of the electric scenario 2 over 24 h for Ahvaz and Ramsar cities.
peak load shaving for Ahvaz city is illustrated in Fig. 12.
However, the AC plus PCM system based on scenario 2 operat-
ing strategy leads to increasing total electric energy consumption
compared to the conventional AC one over 24 h. In this regard,
Tehran with 5.49% and Bushehr with 29.35% have the minimum
and maximum rise in total electric energy consumption, respec-
tively, compared to the conventional AC one over 24 h (shown in
red).

4. Conclusion

In this study, the performance of an AC unit has been con-

ducted experimentally based on two scenarios. In each scenario,
two states have been compared, which are the conventional AC
system (with no PCM involved) and the AC plus PCM system. The Fig. 12. The schematic of the electric peak load shaving for Ahvaz city.

analysis has been performed according to the five various ambi-

ent temperatures (outdoor test chamber temperature) over 24 h
861
A. Riahi, H.J. Mosleh and M.B. Shafii
for Tehran, Hamedan, Ramsar, Bushehr, and Ahvaz cities. More-
over, the precise realistic imitation of temperature conditions
for outdoor (condenser, compressor...) and indoor (evaporator)
units of the vapor compression system is provided by the two
separated test chambers with the help of the controller. Some
of the main results of the proposed analysis are summarized as
follows.
• According to scenario 1 operating strategy, the conventional
AC system (with no PCM involved) based on Ramsar temper-
ature conditions, which has the minimum average ambient
temperature over 24 h, has the best performance compared
to proposed cities.
• Based on scenario 1 operating strategy, adding the PCM TES
to the conventional AC system leads to decreasing daily total
COP and daily total accessible cooling energy for all cases.
• Based on scenario 1 operating strategy, adding the PCM
TES to the conventional AC system boost COP and acces-
sible cooling energy during on-peak hours (12:00–19:00).
The AC plus PCM maximum accessible cooling load power
during the cold energy discharging time (12:00–19:00) for
Hamedan city (3112 W) boosts about 113% compared to the
conventional AC unit.
• Based on scenario 2 operating strategy, adding the PCM
TES to the conventional AC unit increases total electric con-
sumption over 24 h. The highest increase in total electric
energy consumption belongs to Ramsar city with 9.74%. In
contrast, the lowest rise is related to Ahvaz city with 6.77%.
• Based on scenario 2 operating strategy, adding the PCM
TES to the conventional AC unit leads to electric peak load
shaving amount ranging from 45.11% to 67.02%, in which the
highest peak load shaving belongs to Tehran, and the least
is related to the Bushehr city.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Alireza Riahi: Writing – original draft, Conceptualization, Ex-
perimental tests, Investigation, Result evaluation. Hosein Jafari
Mosleh: Writing – original draft, Conceptualization, Experimen-
tal tests, Investigation, Result evaluation. Mohammad Behshad
Shafii: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing – review & edit-
ing.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
No data was used for the research described in the article.
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