Experimental study on a small scale of gas hydrate cold storage apparatus

• Published in: Applied energy 2010-11, Vol.87 (11), p.3340-3346
• Main Authors: Xie, Yingming, Li, Gang, Liu, Daoping, Liu, Ni, Qi, Yingxia, Liang, Deqing, Guo, Kaihua, Fan, Shuanshi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air conditioning systems; Air conditioning. Ventilation; Applied sciences; Cold storage; Coolant; Coolants; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; Flow rate; Gas hydrate; Gas hydrate Cold storage Heat exchanger SDS Hydration enhancement Coolant; Gas hydrates; Heat exchanger; Heat exchangers; Heating, air conditioning and ventilation; Hydration; Hydration enhancement; Refrigerating engineering; Refrigerating engineering. Cryogenics. Food conservation; SDS; Small scale; Sodium; Techniques, equipment. Control. Metering; Techniques. Materials
• ISSN: 0306-2619; 1872-9118
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2010.05.028

To have an overall investigation of cold storage characteristics to help to promote the application, a novel small scale of gas hydrate cold storage apparatus was designed. The amount of cold energy, growth rate, Hydrate Packed Factor (HPF) and overall heat transfer coefficient during the cold storage process were calculated and analyzed under different heat exchangers, sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDS) concentrations, hydration enhancement ways, inlet coolant temperatures and flow rates, etc. Results show that the cold storage performance could be improved greatly by adding a heat exchanger with vertical metal fins; SDS with concentration of 0.04 wt.% could help to improve the cold storage performance effectively. In addition, decreasing of the coolant temperature or increasing of the coolant flow rate could also make the amount of cold storage increased; it was found that mechanical blending for 5 min was the better hydration enhancement way than others, which presents the perspective for practical application.