Скачать или смотреть Working principle of ice ball heat storage air conditioning system

In the field of modern air conditioning and refrigeration, ice ball thermal storage air conditioning systems have become a preferred solution for many scenarios due to their efficient cold storage and heat exchange capabilities. Their core structure revolves around a cold storage tank containing ice balls. The outer shells of these ice balls are made of high-density polyolefin material, which exhibits excellent stability and low-temperature resistance, providing reliable protection for the internal cold storage medium. The balls are filled with a cold storage solution with high solidification-melting latent heat, which can efficiently absorb and release cold energy during the phase change process, laying a foundation for the system's cold storage.
The cold energy exchange mechanism of this system is unique: the coolant flows through the gaps between the ice balls in the cold storage tank, directly transferring cold energy with the ice balls. Compared with the traditional ice-making methods using brine antifreeze or evaporator coils—where in the former, brine or refrigerant flows inside the pipes and cold storage occurs outside the pipes, and the latter also has the limitation of separating the medium inside and outside the pipes—the ice ball thermal storage system achieves a design breakthrough where the coolant flows outside the pipes and the cold storage medium is inside the balls. This innovative structure can maximize the heat exchange area, enabling efficient wet cooling and cold storage processes, thus occupying an important position in the application of ice thermal storage systems.
In terms of coolant selection, traditional solutions have long relied on ethylene glycol. The reason ethylene glycol has been widely used lies in its low viscosity under the system's operating conditions, which can reduce flow resistance, and its large specific heat capacity, which can carry more cold energy, meeting the basic cold energy transmission needs of the system. However, as the system operates over time, the drawbacks of ethylene glycol gradually become apparent: in systems that have been in use for many years, the coolant causes severe corrosion. This not only leads to a significant decline in the overall efficiency of the cold storage system but also causes a large amount of rust and dirt to adhere to the surface of the ice balls, further hindering cold energy exchange and affecting the stable operation and service life of the system.