A study on the use of phase change materials (PCMs) in combination with a natural cold source for space cooling in telecommunications base stations (TBSs) in China

•A technology that combines phase change materials and cold outdoor air is proposed.•The technology is for space cooling of telecommunications base stations.•A prototype unit was built and then tested in an enthalpy difference laboratory.•An experimentally-validated model was used to simulate the unit’s performance.•The simulated average annual adjusted energy efficiency ratio of the unit was 14W/W. A technology that combines phase change materials (PCMs) with a natural cold source is proposed to reduce the space cooling energy of telecommunications base stations (TBSs). First, a mathematical model was developed to assess this technology. Then, a full-scale prototype, named latent heat storage unit (LHSU), was designed, built, and tested in an enthalpy difference laboratory. The energy efficiency ratio (EER) and the adjusted energy efficiency ratio (AEER) were used as the criteria to evaluate the performance of this unit and to compare it with conventional air conditioners. LHSU performance simulations were carried out based on the unit’s operation in TBSs located in five Chinese cities with different climates. The simulated average annual AEER was 14.04W/W, which is considerably higher than the limiting value of 3.2W/W for air conditioners with a cooling capacity of less than 4500W. The estimated average energy savings potential of the LHSU was 50%. Based on these results, it was concluded that LHSUs could be used in TBSs to reduce a significant amount of their energy consumed in space cooling.