Experimental Investigation on the Performance Analysis of Cold Storage Plant Using with and without Phase Change Material (PCM)

As the demand for refrigeration and Air conditioning has been increased during the last decade, the cold storage system can be used to the economic advantage over conventional plants. Loss of electrical power for cold storage facilities leads to an increase in temperature and can result in the loss in quality and value of stored products and thus reduce in Coefficient of performance (COP). This paper proposes the use of a passive system integrated into the walls of the cold storage facility i.e., PCM (Ethylene Glycol) is located behind the five sides of the evaporator cabinet in which the evaporator coils are immersed. Experimental application of PCM into a cold storage has shown that the temperature rise during loss of power is limited. With PCM, the air temperature is kept constant at -8?C for 8 hours, compared to without PCM where the air temperature rises continuously and rises above -8?C in just 1 hour. Experimental result also compares the Coefficient of performance (COP) with and without PCM for the cold storage plant. Hence proposed system could be a new option for performance improvement of a cold storage by enhancing heat transfer of the evaporator and useful for commercial establishments as presently there are frequent power cuts.