A novel triple-sleeve energy storage exchanger and its application in an environmental control system

Phase change material (PCM) based on thermal energy storage (TES) for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning applications can involve thermal storage at various temperatures associated with heating and cooling processes. In this paper, a novel TES heat exchanger called triple-sleeve energy storage exchanger (TRESE) is firstly introduced. Based on the TRESE, a proposed novel environmental control system (ECS) is detailed. The ECS can be operated in eight modes so as to be adaptive to various weather conditions all year around. Finally, an experimental study on the TRESE operating performance is reported. The influences of the temperature and mass flow rate of heat transfer fluid (HTF) on heat storage performance are experimentally investigated. The experimental results indicate that the amount of heat storage at a high HTF temperature is more than that at a low temperature. In addition, heat storage period at a low HTF mass flow rate and temperature is much longer than that at a high mass flow rate and temperature. ► We firstly introduce a novel TES heat exchanger called triple-sleeve energy storage exchanger (TRESE). ► We propose a multifunction environmental control system (ECS) based on the TRESE. ► We address an experimental study of the TRESE operating performance. ► HTF temperature impacts the operating performance of TRESE more than HTF mass flow rate.