Reversible Heat Pump Coupled with Ground Ice Storage for Annual Air Conditioning: An Energy Analysis

During annual operation, a heat pump produces both heating and cooling effects, so it would be of great advantage to store one of the two to be then used when it is necessary. To do this, a seasonal energy storage is necessary. This paper presents results relative to the use of a ground ice thermal energy storage (I-TES) integrated with a reversible heat pump for annual air conditioning. The energy analysis is based on heating and cooling loads for a residential building located in Milan. In particular, the focus is on the most important parameters affecting the performance of both the whole system and the Ice Tank, which is the position and the thickness of the insulation layers and the shape of the ice tank. A biannual simulation of the system allows for a full description of the ice tank behavior during the charging and discharging processes. The main objective of the study is to suggest a first tentative procedure to design the I-TES integrated system with the best energy performance.