High-Ice – System development for high solar thermal gains with ice storage and heat pump

The objective of the High-Ice project was to investigate a specific concept of a solar thermal and heat pump system with ice storage (solar-ice system). An ice storage design with heat exchangers that can be de-iced was studied. The dependence of the system’s electricity consumption on the sizing of the main components (collector field and ice storage) was analysed by means of simulations with the software TRNSYS. An important additional aim of the study was to analyse the system concept from an environmental and an economic point of view. Further, an elastic heat exchanger plate made of EPDM-rubber that can be de-iced mechanically by inflation, was developed on the laboratory scale.

High-Ice was supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE).