Cold Storage Using Ice Slurry

Ice slurry is a mixture of water and ice. Its benefit is explained by the phase change energy of the ice, giving ice slurry a high thermal capacity per unit of volume compared to that of fluids in a given phase.

The use of ice slurry has been low in Canada because of the lack of financial initiatives for energy demand management. Increase in energy costs, the need to limit peak demand and targets fixed for near-zero energy homes have led to renewed interest in ice slurry.

The challenges are to reduce the cost of ice generators and increase their reliability. It is also necessary to optimize these systems through better control of ice concentration, flow rate and the size of generators.

For near-zero energy homes, integration and optimization of different sources and energy projects represent major challenges. These challenges will be addressed by combining a new method of thermodynamic optimization with a traditional modeling and simulation method.

CanmetENERGY’s research activities are focused on:

• A test bed for ice slurry
• Modeling
• Demonstration projects

CanmetENERGY is seeking research partnerships with universities and industries that share its interest in improving energy efficiency in buildings and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. To discuss a partnership, contact us.

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Test bed for ice slurry

A test bed has been developed and is now in operation in order to gain knowledge and acquire expertise on ice slurry with the goal of optimizing and reducing system costs.

Modeling

Modeling and digital simulation of ice pack systems will be carried out, taking into account technical and economic performance, in order to provide guidelines to facilitate design of integrated energy management systems. To optimize the design of these systems, the models developed within this project will be combined with existing models of annual energy consumption from homes and buildings.

Demonstration projects

Projects will be carried out with manufacturers of ice pack systems in order to demonstrate the benefits of this technology for various applications.

Managed by CanmetENERGY at the Varennes (Quebec) research centre.