Thermodynamic Performance and Parametric Analysis of an Ice Slurry-Based Cold Energy Storage System

Subcooling-based ice slurry production faces challenges in terms of energy efficiency and operational stability, which limit its applications for large-scale cold energy storage. A thermodynamic model is established to investigate the effects of key control parameters, including evaporation temperature, condensation temperature, subcooling degree, water flow rate, type of refrigerant, and adiabatic compression efficiency. The results show that using the refrigerant R161 achieves the highest energy efficiency, indicating that R161 is the optimal refrigerant in this research. When the evaporation and condensation temperatures are −10 °C and 30 °C, respectively, the system achieves the maximum comprehensive performance coefficient of 2.43. Moreover, under a flow velocity of 0.8 m/s and a temperature of 0.5 °C, the system achieves a peak ice production rate of 45.28 kg/h. A high water temperature and high flow velocity would significantly degrade the system’s ice production capacity. This research provides useful guidance for the design, optimization, and application of ice slurry-based cold energy storage systems.