Design and Performance Analysis of a Seasonal Ice Storage System for Cooling Chinese Solar Greenhouses

Abstract

To identify an energy-saving solution to cool Chinese solar greenhouses during summer nights, we present a design for a seasonal ice storage system that uses a storage tank to store winter cold energy in water to serve as a source of cold air in the summer. The parameters of the seasonal ice storage system were designed based on the cooling demand of the greenhouse in the summer. To optimize the cooling effect in the heat exchange system, a computational fluid dynamics model was developed to select the size of the heat transfer pipes, and a validation experiment was conducted in the greenhouse. The impacts of the insulation material and size of the heat exchange pipes on system performance have been discussed. The field experiment was conducted in Shenyang to validate the performance of the ice storage system. The best cooling effect in cultivation area was 6.7°C, and the average temperature difference between the beginning and end of the run in the greenhouse was 4.4°C. This system increased heat exchange performance while lowering air temperature in the greenhouse.