[EnergyPlus_Support] Re: PCM tank for hot storage

["jones.aidant" <jones.aidan.t@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks for your replies.
Sorry about the hold-up - I was away last week.

The process of storing heat in a PCM tank is very similar to that for storing cooling energy, except that fully charged means completely melted and discharged would mean frozen. 

Jason, I'm trying to use a PCM tank to store heat - i.e. use a PCM with a melting point of 46C to produce water at 40C for heating when the heat pump is switched off. In cooling storage, a PCM (e.g. ice) would be charged (i.e. frozen) and subsequently used to produce cool water for cooling as it melts.

But Jeremiah is right: the hot water tank would be too simplistic for a PCM tank model. I'm simulating the tank as part of a wider system, including the building, so I can't schedule different ambient loads. It does, however, seem to be the only inbuilt way of storing heat, unfortunately. Incidentally, I do use a water heater object as a buffer tank elsewhere in the system.

It's strange that PCM heat storage functionality doesn't exist, as the process is practically identical to that of cool storage. I'm going to investigate the possibility of adapting the existing ice module.

Any further advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Aidan



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