Comprehensive analysis of waste heat recovery and thermal energy storage integration in air conditioning systems

• Recovering and storing wasted heat from AC systems ensures stable operation and improves overall system performance. • Increasing WHR effectiveness from 0.55 to 0.85 extends constant thermal power recovery by from 85 min to 250 min. • Latent heat storage (PCM) provides 61 % longer constant thermal power recovery than water storage. • Using PCM RT 44HC is more effective for waste WHR in AC units compared to RT 50 and RT 54HC. The proposed work aims to address the challenge of effectively recovering and storing wasted heat in air conditioning (AC) systems, which is crucial for improving energy efficiency and system stability. This study focuses on the comprehensive analysis of a Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) system integrated with Thermal Energy Storage (TES) tanks. A lumped-dynamic thermal model was developed and validated against literature data to accurately simulate the system’s performance. Through a detailed parametric study, the research explores how factors like WHR effectiveness, TES type, PCM type, and TES volume influence the system. The results demonstrate that recovering and storing wasted heat from AC systems significantly enhances operational stability and performance. Notably, increasing WHR effectiveness from 0.55 to 0.85 extends the duration of constant thermal power recovery and also results in higher recovered water temperatures with reduced water pump energy consumption. Furthermore, latent heat storage (PCM tank) extends the duration of stable thermal power recovery by over 61 % compared to sensible storage. Using PCM RT 44HC is more effective for WHR in AC units compared to RT 50 and RT 54HC. Finally, it was shown that increasing PCM tank volume from 2 to 4 m3 improves the duration of constant thermal power recovery by up to 52 % while stabilizing the recovered water temperature.