Applying "Thermal Storage Cooling Tower" to Shift On-Peak Electric Energy Demand of Underground Commercial Building

Cold storage system called "thermal storage cooling tower" which works with cooling water of air-conditioning system is introduced. By setting packing materials above the air conditioning pool of underground commercial building, a new type heat and mass transfer device is developed to replace the original combination of cooling tower and thermal storage tank. Running the equipment with proper control strategies, the performance of the chiller will be improved and the on-peak electric energy load can be shifted. With time-of-use electricity charging rates, the approach can save expenses. Such system has been applied in a building located in Shanghai city. A related simulation has been performed based on the experimental data of the engineering. The results verify the conclusions of previous analogous research work.