Experimental study on thermal performance of porous phase change plates assisted air conditioning system in data centers

The integration of phase change energy storage with cooling systems not only reduces the need for mechanical refrigeration in data centers (DCs), but also significantly enhances energy efficiency. However, research on the application location of phase change energy storage systems in DCs and the structural characteristics of system devices are limited. This paper combines the features of shell-and-tube and plate heat exchangers to design the porous phase change plate (PPCP) for use in DCs air conditioning systems and explores its cooling performance through experiments. The study employed single-factor and orthogonal experiments to analyze the effects of inlet air temperature, air velocity, aperture size and placement distance of the PPCP on the performance of the phase change heat device (PCHD) and evaluated the auxiliary effects of the device. The results indicate that: (1) The PCHD can reduce the air temperature by an average of 1.59 to 3.90 °C within 8 hours. (2) The aperture size of the PPCP significantly affects the cooling performance of PCHD: a reduction in the PPCP aperture size by 2 cm results in an 8% to 11% enhancement in cooling performance. (3) In a comprehensive analysis of multiple factors, the primary and secondary factors of the PPCP are inlet air temperature > air velocity > aperture size > placement distance. (4) During high-temperature loads, the PCHD can assist in reducing mechanical energy consumption by up to 63%.