ESL-IC-06-11-118

ICEBO2006, Shenzhen, China HVAC Technologies for Energy Efficiency, Vol. IV-9-1

Numerical Analysis of Water Temperature Distribution in the Tank of

ASHPWH with a Cylindrical Condenser

Dandan Wang Shangli Shan Ruixiang Wang

Postgraduate Postgraduate Professor
Beijing Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture
Beijing&China
[email protected]

Abstract: Air source heat pump water heaters There are three popular types of residential
(ASHPWH) are becoming increasingly popular for water heater used in China market: electric resistance,
saving energy, protecting the environment and security direct gas fired and solar water heater. They have
purposes. The water temperature distribution in the tank their own advantages and disadvantages. For example,
is an important parameter for an ASHPWH. This paper energy efficiency of electric resistance water heater is
presented a mathematic model for a cylindrical water low. Gas fired water heater has safety incipient fault.
tank with a cylindrical condenser as its heat source. The Solar water heater is mainly confined by terrene,
computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software package, climate, building level[1].
FLUENT, was used to study hot water temperature ASHPWH composed of heat pump circulation
distribution in the tank of the ASHPWH. In addition, the system and water tank, is a type of heater utilizing air
effects of tank dimension and the type of condenser coil as heat source and its structure is shown as Fig.1[2].It
on water temperature distribution were discussed. The makes use of refrigerant in evaporator absorbing the
work of this paper could be used for the optimization of air heat, and the condenser is directly inserted into the
tank and condenser coil designs. tank for heating water. Its heating coefficient is 3 to 4
Key words: air source heat pump water heater; water times greater than conventional electrical resistance
temperature distribution; numerical analysis; tank heater’s. The condenser coil water heating can
dimension; condenser coil achieve water-electricity separation which makes it
good electrical security. Therefore, ASHPWH has
NOMENCLATURE such advantages as pollution-free, high- efficiency,
D1 diameter of water tank energy saving, safe-reliability and perfect self-control,
H height of water tank etc. The common design is to insert the condenser
D2 diameter of condenser coil coil of ASHPWH into the water tank. This design
L length of condenser coil could be less expensive than others and more
TC condenser coil temperature efficient because of the elimination of the water
T water temperature circulating pump and a heat exchange. Comparing
t time with general air conditioning, it is in dynamic
P pressure environment. Evaporating pressure, condensing
r
u velocity vector pressure and heating capacity increase with hot water
temperature rising. For using the water heater in daily
Greek Symbols life, hot water is drawn off the top of the water tank
ν kinematic viscosity and replaced by cold water entering at the bottom.
ρ density When the outlet temperature is constant, if the
β thermal expansion coefficient longitudinal temperature difference in a water tank
gives rise , the average hot water temperature will
1. INTRODUCTION reduce, the value of COP will increase. Therefore,

Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference for Enhanced Building Operations, Shenzhen, China, November 6 - 9, 2006
 ESL-IC-06-11-118

ICEBO2006, Shenzhen, China HVAC Technologies for Energy Efficiency, Vol. IV-9-1
according to the hot water temperature distribution, To simplify the issue, the model was assumed as
design the rational water tank and the type of follows:
condenser coils, and thus greatly increase the heating (1)The water tank sidewall was assumed
coefficient [3]. adiabatic.
(2)The condenser coil immersed in tank was
cylindrical.
(3)The condenser coil was regarded as the fixed
3 temperature wall boundary, the temperature was the
average value of results of testing.
(4)The water flow was turbulence[4],[5].
4 (5)Natural convection flow was modeled with
2
Boussinesq approximation[2].
1 For many natural-convection flows, you can get
faster convergence with the Boussinesq model than
Fig1. Schematic diagram of ASHPWH you can get by setting up the problem with fluid
1—Evaporator 2—Compressor 3—Condenser density as a function of temperature. This model
4—Capillary tube treats density as a constant value in all solved
In this paper, the impact that the tank dimension equations, except for the buoyancy term in the
and the type of condenser coil of an ASHPWH with momentum equation[6]:
cylindrical condenser on the water temperature
(ρ − ρ 0 )g ≈ − ρ 0 β (T − T0 )g (1)
longitudinal stratification was investigated by using
FLUENT computational fluid dynamics software
where ρ 0 is the (constant) density of the flow,
package.

T0 is the operating temperature, and β is the thermal

2. MATHEMATIC MODEL
Fig.2 showed the geometry of the water tank expansion coefficient. Equation (1) is obtained by
with the condenser coil. The model was assumed as
using the Boussinesq approximation ρ = ρ 0 (1 − β ΔT )
natural convection in three dimensional enclosed
spaces. The parameters of water tank and condenser to eliminate ρ from the buoyancy term. This
coil were shown in Fig3. approximation is accurate as long as changes in
actual density are small; specifically, the Boussinesq

approximation is valid when β (T − T0 ) << 1 .

Governing equations for fluid were written as

following equation.
Continuity :
r r r
∇ ⋅ ( ρu ) = ρ∇ ⋅ u = ∇ ⋅ u = 0 (2)
Fig2. Schematic of water tank structure The Navier-Stocks:
r
Du ∇P r Δρg
=− + ν∇ 2 u − (3)
Dt ρ0 ρ0
After submitting Eq.(1) into the foregoing equation, it
then became
r
Du ∇P r
=− + ν∇ 2 u − gβ (T − T0 ) (4)
Dt ρ0
Energy:
Fig3. Physical model

Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference for Enhanced Building Operations, Shenzhen, China, November 6 - 9, 2006
 ESL-IC-06-11-118

ICEBO2006, Shenzhen, China HVAC Technologies for Energy Efficiency, Vol. IV-9-1

∂T r chosen. The implicit scheme was used for time

+ u ⋅ ∇T = α ∇ 2 T (5)
∂t discretization.
Boundary condition: At all walls either the
no-slip or the shear-free velocity boundary condition 3.2 Calculation Condition
was prescribed. The surface temperature of condenser Tab.1 Calculation condition
coil was the first boundary condition. The rest of Condition Condition Parameter
sidewalls were assumed adiabatic. D1=0.38m H =1.5m
Initial condition: The initial temperature was D2 = 0.04m L=1.0m
Ⅰ
natural temperature of water. TC = 328+5×i (i = 0,1,2,3.4.5)
Heating Time: 1h
3. CALCULATION AND RESULTS D1=0.38m H=1.5m
D2=0.04m TC = 333K
Ⅱ
3.1 Numerical Method L= 0.6+0.2×i (i = 0,1,2,3.4)
Grids were generated by the GAMBIT program. Heating Time: 1h
For calculation accuracy, some grids were refined in D2=0.04m TC = 333K L= 2/3×H
which the temperature changed violently, some grids D1/H= 0.118,0.165,0.253,0.465,1.316
Ⅲ
were loosened in which the temperature changed (The volume of tank was constant.)
slowly in order to reduce a total of mesh volumes and Heating Time: 1h
calculated capacity[7]. The grids of fluid in horizontal D1=0.465m H =1m
plane were shown as Fig.4. The grids were locally Ⅳ D2 = 0.04m L= 0.67m TC =333 K
refined near the condenser coil. Away from the coil, Heating time: 1h,1.5h,2h,2.5h,3h
the grids were more and more loosened.
3.3 Results

3.3.1 Effects of the Condenser Temperature on Water

Temperature Distribution
When the dimension of tank, the length of
condenser coil and heating time were constant, the
Fig.4 Grids of fluid in horizontal plane condenser temperature was gradually up to 353K
There are many methods of generating grid. The from 328K, the temperature interval was 5K. The
types of grid are complicated and various. For three impact of boundary condition change on water
dimensional flow, GAMBIT creates hexahedral, temperature was very great. With the increase of
pyramidal, and wedge elements[8]. Mesh type used in condenser temperature, the average temperature, the
this study was hexahedral structure mesh. Firstly, maximum temperature and the minimum temperature
meshed the bottom surface. When it was finished, were growing linearly in Fig.5. The maximum
specified the volume which included the bottom temperature difference in the tank altitude direction
surface, then GAMIBIT automatically meshed the was up to 9.6K from 5.6K, and the temperature
entire volume. After repeated calculation, the interval stratification was remarkable. With the increase of
size was 0.04m. condenser temperature, the temperature of water
After meshing the water tank, the grid file was surrounding the condenser increased, which
imported directly into FLUENT for next step eliminated water natural convection in the tank,
calculation. The segregated solver was used to drive aggravated the temperature uniformity. The
the model to convergence. The standard k-epsilon temperature difference rose up[9].
turbulence model was utilized to compute water flow.
For velocity-pressure coupling, Simplec algorithm
was selected and first order upwind scheme was

Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference for Enhanced Building Operations, Shenzhen, China, November 6 - 9, 2006
 ESL-IC-06-11-118

ICEBO2006, Shenzhen, China HVAC Technologies for Energy Efficiency, Vol. IV-9-1

345.00
Average
Water temperature (K)

340.00
Maximum
335.00
Minimum
330.00
325.00
320.00
315.00
310.00
328 333 338 343 348 353
Condenser temperature(K)
Fig.7 Results of condition Ⅲ
Fig.5 Results of condition Ⅰ

3.3.2 Effects of the Length of Condenser on Water

Temperature Distribution
As the tank dimension, the temperature of
condenser coil and heating time were constant, the
length of condenser was gradually up to 1.4m from
0.6m, and the length interval is 0.5m. In Fig.6, with
the length of condenser coil increasing, the average
temperature, the maximum temperature and the (a)
minimum temperature changed unobviously.
Therefore, when the length of condenser coil was
greater than 2/5 of the tank height, water temperature
changed little.

Average
326.00 Maximum
Water temperature (K)

Minimum
324.00

322.00

320.00

318.00

316.00 (b)
0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4
Fig.8 The temperature contour of flow along
Length of condenser(m)
asymmetric cutplane; (a) The ratio of
Fig.6 Results of condition Ⅱ tank’s diameter to height is 0.465. (b)
The ratio of tank’s diameter to height is
3.3.3 Effects of the Tank Dimension on Water 0.118.
Temperature Distribution Fig.7, with the ratio of the tank’s diameter to height
With the condenser temperature, heating time increasing, the average temperature, the maximum
and the tank volume fixed, the height of tank was temperature and the minimum temperature increased
gradually up to 2.5m from 0.5m, and its diameter firstly, then reduced, the maximum average
reduced to 0.294m from 0.658m gradually. temperature was 322.6K at 0.465 ratio of the tank’s
Preliminary analysis showed that water temperature diameter to height. The maximum temperature
changed little when the length of condenser coil was difference in the tank altitude direction was up to
greater than 2/5 of the tank height. So the length of 9.4K from 1.5K, the temperature stratification was
condenser coil was taken as 2/3 height of the tank. In remarkable. Fig.8 (a), (b) gave the water temperature

Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference for Enhanced Building Operations, Shenzhen, China, November 6 - 9, 2006
 ESL-IC-06-11-118

ICEBO2006, Shenzhen, China HVAC Technologies for Energy Efficiency, Vol. IV-9-1
distribution in two tanks whose ratio of diameter to water temperature changed little. With the ratio of the
height were 0.465 and 0.118. Because of the increase tank’s diameter to height increasing, the average
of the tank height, the water velocity was reduced, temperature, the maximum temperature and the
which eliminated water natural convection, minimum temperature increased firstly, then reduced,
aggravated the temperature uniformity. the maximum average temperature was 322.6K at
3.3.4 Effects of Heating Time on Water Temperature 0.465 ratio of the tank diameter to its height. The
Distribution water tank was optimized according to the above
In Fig.7, other conditions were constant, the influencing factors.
maximum average temperature was 322.6K at 0.465
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Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference for Enhanced Building Operations, Shenzhen, China, November 6 - 9, 2006
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ICEBO2006, Shenzhen, China HVAC Technologies for Energy Efficiency, Vol. IV-9-1
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Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference for Enhanced Building Operations, Shenzhen, China, November 6 - 9, 2006