Energy Conversion and Management 128 (2016) 34–43

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Liquid nitrogen energy storage for air conditioning and power

generation in domestic applications
Abdalqader Ahmad ⇑, Raya Al-Dadah, Saad Mahmoud
The University of Birmingham, School of Mechanical Engineering, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15-2TT, UK

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The global demands for air conditioning have increased rapidly over the last few decades leading to sig-
Received 8 July 2016 nificant power consumption and CO2 emissions. Current air conditioning systems use mechanical vapour
Received in revised form 10 September compression systems which consume significant amount of energy particularly during peak times and
2016
use refrigerants that have global warming potential higher than that of carbon dioxide. This paper pre-
Accepted 20 September 2016
Available online 28 September 2016
sents a new approach for providing air conditioning and power using liquid nitrogen produced from sur-
plus electricity at off peak times or renewable energy sources. Thermodynamic analyses of different
cryogenic cycles was carried out to achieve the most effective configuration that provides the required
Keywords:
Air conditioning
cooling and power for a 170 m2 dwelling in Libya with minimum LN2 consumption. Results showed that
Liquid nitrogen/air at today LN2 prices, it is feasible to use LN2 to provide for cooling and power demands of residential build-
Cryogenic ings with saving of up to 28% compared to conventional AC systems. However, as the LN2 price decreases
Peak times to around 1.3 pence per litre, the proposed technology will have significant advantages compared to AC
systems with savings of up to 79% with almost 85% of the energy stored in LN2 is recovered.
Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Energy storage technologies offer advantages of balancing the

The global demands for air conditioning have increased rapidly
over the last few decades where about 87% of US households have
air conditioning and 50 million units were sold in China in 2010
[1]. In summer time, approximately 40% of the residential power
consumption in India and Australia is consumed by AC units [2].
In china and UK, AC systems consume about 20% and 17% of the
total power consumption respectively. In Saudi Arabia, more than
50% of the power consumption at summer peak times is used to
power AC systems [1,3]. In Europe, forecasts have shown that
demands for space cooling will rapidly increase over the next
15 years by 72% and will reach 30 times its current value by
2100 [4,5]. This huge energy consumption has a major impact on
national electricity grids particularly during peak times. Also, it
contributes to global warming as a result of fossil fuel combustion
and leakage of the CFC/HCFC refrigerants used in conventional AC
systems. According to the National Institute for Public Health and
the Environment in Netherlands, leakage from 32 refrigeration sys-
tems will contribute 25% of the total emissions by mid of this cen-
tury [1].
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: aya325@bham.ac.uk (A. Ahmad).
demand and supply of the electricity grid throughout the day
where surplus electricity at night can be stored and used during
peak hours to meet various demands. Liquid air/Nitrogen have
recently been identified as energy vector with high energy storage
density defined as the maximum possible work that can be gained
by bringing the liquid from the stored condition to the environ-
ment conditions [6–9]. The energy density of liquid nitrogen
(LN2) compared to other cryogenic fluids is presented in Table 1,
and it is clearly seen that, the energy density of LN2 per kg is higher
than that of other cryogenic fluids, except methane where it is
around 40% higher than that of LN2. However, the energy density
of LN2 per litter is around 25% higher than that of Methane making
LN2 more attractive energy vector to use [10,11].
The cryogenic storage medium can be used to provide cooling
for various applications and generate power through expansion
process. Many researchers have used the cold stored energy in liq-
uid natural gas (LNG), for example, during regasification process to
provide cooling for liquefaction plant, and to generate power using
an open Rankine power cycle [12–17]. These studies reported that,
it is possible to recover the energy stored in LNG, however, most
proposed systems integrated with regasification plant which
makes it difficult to use for domestic applications. Other research-
ers have investigated other cryogenic fluids mainly liquid air/nitro-
gen due to their energy density, availability, safety and

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2016.09.063
0196-8904/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 A. Ahmad et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 128 (2016) 34–43
Nomenclature
h enthalpy (kJ/kg)
CC cooling capacity (kW/kg)
m_ mass flow rate (kg/s)
S entropy (kJ/kg K)
W output power (kW)
mr ratio of the closed Brayton or Rankine cycles mass flow
rates to LN2 mass flow rate
mr1 ratio of the first closed Rankine cycle mass flow rate to
LN2 mass flow rate
mr2 ratio of the second closed Rankine cycle mass flow rate
to LN2 mass flow rate
environmental aspects to use for domestic applications to provide
cooling [18–24] or power only [25–29] or to provide both cooling
and power [30–36].
Regarding cooling applications of liquid air/nitrogen, Place,
developed a cooling system using liquid air to cool railway car-
riages to preserve food by passing liquid air in channels around
the cooling space leading to reduction in the weight compared to
using ice [18]. Harold has used a mixture of liquid air and oxygen
for air conditioning of airplanes and spaceships. The mixture is
evaporated in a heat exchanger then the cold gas is passed through
the cooling space [19]. Saia et al. have replaced the traditional
refrigerator system of a lorry used to transfer frozen food, using
a new refrigerator system that uses liquefied carbon dioxide. In
this system the liquid CO2 evaporates in a heat exchanger fitted
in the cooling space roof to provide cooling at a wide range of
sub-zero temperatures [20]. Dakhil has used LN2 to run air condi-
tioning system by directly releasing LN2 from a pressurized vessel
to a closed space where it flashes and evaporates, then passes to
room space using fan [21]. Garlov et al. used LN2 for cooling food
transport vehicles where LN2 is sprayed directly in the food [22].
Skobel et al. invented an open refrigerator system for a beverage
dispenser by using LN2 where the LN2 flow rate is controlled by
temperature activated valve. The machine was effective in produc-
ing cooling, quiet and environmental friendly [23]. Watanabe et al.
have reported on new project in Japan to cool the high-
temperature superconductor (HTS) cables using liquid nitrogen
to keep them at superconducting state [24].
Regarding power production, Manning and Schneider have
patented LN2 engine that works near isothermal expansion process
by using three stages expander with reheating after the first and
the second stage in order to increase its output power [25]. Ordo-
nez et al. have analysed and tested a cryogenic heat engine using
different cryogenic fluids and they reported that, liquid nitrogen
is the most attractive fluid to run such engine [26,27]. Knowlen
et al. have studied the heat transfer in a reciprocating engine that
used LN2 as working fluid, reported achieving 85% of the isother-
mal expansion process by having a high surface-to-volume ratio
[28]. Chen et al. carried out a comparative study to compare liquid
Table 1
Energy density of various cryogenic fluids.
Fluid Storage temperature at atm (K) Density (kg/m3)
Liquid nitrogen 77.4 809
Liquid air 78.9 886
Liquid oxygen 90.2 1140
Methane (without burning) 111.6 423
Ethane (without burning) 184.6 545
Compressed air at 200 (bar) 300 233
35
Subscripts
B Brayton cycle
AD adiabatic expansion
ISO isothermal expansion
n nitrogen/LN2
N liquid nitrogen cycle
R Rankine cycle/first closed Rankine cycle
R0 second closed Rankine cycle
tan k cooling tank
air with compressed air as energy storage vectors for fuelling a
zero emission vehicles in terms of the power output, energy den-
sity and efficiency. They found that, for a given pressure (300 bars)
and temperature (300 K), compressed air engine has slightly higher
efficiency than liquid air engine, however, its volumetric energy
density is 2.45 times less than that of liquid air. [29]. Ordonez
et al. improved the open LN2 power engine by combining it with
a closed Brayton cycle where the evaporating LN2 is used to cool
the working fluid of the closed Brayton cycle before the compres-
sion process [30].
Dearman developed LN2 system to generate cooling and power
for refrigerated vehicles. The engine generated power is used to
run a conventional AC system and other auxiliary devices while
the LN2 exhaust from the engine is uses to improve the perfor-
mance of the AC system by cooling the system condenser
[31,32]. Ameel et al. proposed a new system that increases the
recovered energy from liquid air/nitrogen by integrating the liquid
air/nitrogen power cycle with liquefaction plant to reduce its
power requirement [33]. Newman and McCormick replaced the
conventional refrigeration system in lorry with LN2 and LNG refrig-
erator, where both liquids evaporates in a finned heat exchanger to
refrigerate products to temperatures below 0 °C then the mixture
is used to run the lorry engine [34]. Another combined system
reported by Wang et al. where the open LN2 power cycle is used
to cool the cold side of Stirling engine to recover more stored
energy [35,36].
The reported literature have indicated that, utilizing Liquid air/
Nitrogen to provide cooling or power only consumes large amount
of LN2 and not fully recovering the stored energy. However, com-
bined system that provides cooling and power can be a promising
technique to extract the energy stored in Liquid air/Nitrogen. This
indicates that there is a need for investigating various cryogenic
cooling and power cycles to extract more stored energy in LN2. This
study investigates the use of LN2 to provide cooling for air condi-
tioning and power where a number of thermodynamic cycle con-
figurations were assessed in terms of the cooling and power
output using Matlab integrated with Refprop. This study was car-
ried out for a typical dwelling in Sabha, Libya with a total area of
Availability (kJ/kg) Availability (W h/kg) Availability (W h/L)
768 213 173
737 205 181
635 176 201
1093 304 128
352 97.7 53.2
258 715 16.7
36 A. Ahmad et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 128 (2016) 34–43

170 m2 with its daily cooling load and the ambient temperature
are shown in Fig. 1 [37].

2. Proposed technology

The proposed technology aims to use the stored energy in liquid

N2 to provide for cooling and power generation in buildings. The
system consists of two main circuits, the first one utilizes a sec-
ondary refrigerant to recover the LN2 to provide the building cool-
ing demand and the second circuit is LN2 cycle for power
generation through the expansion process. Five different configu-
rations were modelled using Matlab integrated with Refprop to
investigate the effects of various LN2 input pressure (P2N) on the
system cooling capacity and power output compared to conven-
tional AC system.

2.1. Cycle 1 – cooling only

Fig. 2 shows the baseline configuration where liquid nitrogen is Fig. 2. Using LN2 to generate cooling.
evaporating in the cooling tank to cool a secondary fluid used for
providing the building cooling load with no power generation.
For power generation, a number of configurations were investi-
gated through integrating various power generation cycles to the
LN2 circuit shown in Fig. 2 where 1N, 2N . . .. nN represent the state
of N2 at the salient points in the circuit. Cooling load

2.2. Cycle 2 – cooling and power

Fig. 3 shows the cycle configuration where an expander was

added to the LN2 circuit for power generation. Liquid N2 is pumped
from the storage tank to the heat exchanger immersed inside the
cooling tank to be evaporated and then passed into an expander
to produce power. For the expander, there are two possible operat-
ing scenarios; adiabatic and isothermal expansions. If the expan-
sion process is adiabatic, the N2 exist temperature is low hence
the expanded gas returns to the cooling tank in order to increase
the system cooling capacity. However, in the isothermal expansion
process N2 leaves the expander at near cooling tank temperature,
thus no need for returning it back to the cooling tank [25–39].
2.3. Cycle 3 – integration with Brayton cycle
Fig. 4 presents the third cycle configuration where LN2 is used
to operate a closed Brayton cycle where 1B, 2B, 3B and 4B in this
figure represent the states of the Brayton cycle working fluid.
The pressurized LN2 is evaporated and superheated (2N–3N) while
Fig. 1. The daily variation of cooling load and ambient temperature of the selected
dwelling on 21st of June [37].
5N
Cooling Tank
LN2 Tank
3N
2N Exp.
1N
4N
Fig. 3. LN2 cooling and power cycle.
cooling down the Brayton cycle fluid (4B–1B) in the evaporator
before returning to the compressor [30]. The superheated N2 and
the compressed Brayton cycle fluid pass through expanders after
being heated in the secondary fluid cooling tank. The output power
of Brayton cycle expander depends on its pressure ratio and mass
flow rate. Increasing the pressure ratio leads to increasing the com-
pressor outlet temperature (T2B) which should not exceed the sec-
ondary fluid cooling tank temperature. The mass flow rate depends
on the selected evaporator outlet temperature (T3N) where increas-
ing this temperature leads to increasing the mass flow rate, how-
ever, it decreases the temperature difference between the cooling
tank and the evaporator leading to reduce the power output. This
temperature, pressure ration and the working fluid should be care-
fully selected to maximize the output power and to avoid any pos-
sibility of condensation occurring in the evaporator. Various gases,
which have boiling temperature lower than LN2, can be used as
working fluid for Brayton cycle such as Neon, Helium or Hydrogen
to meet cycle requirements, and the first one was selected for the
current study.
 A. Ahmad et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 128 (2016) 34–43
Fig. 4. LN2 cycle drives closed Brayton cycle.
2.4. Cycle 4 – integration with Rankine cycle
Rankine cycle is more efficient power cycle than Brayton cycle
thus utilizing LN2 to run such cycle could lead to extracting more
power from LN2 as well as generating cooling effect. Fig. 5 shows
the fourth cycle configuration where the LN2 cycle drives closed
Rankine cycle and 1R, 2R, 3R and 4R represent its working fluids
states [10]. The pressurized LN2 evaporates and superheats as it
absorbs heat from the Rankine cycle fluid in HE1 and condensing
it. The condensed Rankine cycle fluid is then pumped to the sec-
ondary fluid cooling tank to be evaporated and then expanded in
the expander. LN2 is passed through a separate expander after fur-
Fig. 5. LN2 cycle drives closed Rankine cycle.
37
ther superheating in the cooling tank. The condensing and the LN2
inlet pressures are chosen to be atmospheric, and Xenon is selected
as working fluid for the closed cycle. Xenon boils at 108 °C at
atmospheric pressure and it has relatively high boiling tempera-
ture but it does not freeze at the Rankine cycle condenser HE1.
2.5. Cycle 5 – integration with cascaded Rankine cycle
The last cycle configuration is similar to the fourth one; how-
ever, the LN2 cycle is driving two cascade closed Rankine cycles
where 1R, 2R, 3R, 4R and 1R0 , 2R0 , 3R0 , 4R0 represent the state of
the first and the second closed cycles respectively [10]. This will
further increase the amount of cold energy recovered from the
LN2. In this cycle, the pressurized LN2 is evaporated and super-
heated in HE1 while condensing the working fluid of the first
closed Rankine cycle. Then the condensate fluid is pumped to
another heat exchanger (HE2) where it evaporates while condens-
ing the working fluid of the second closed Rankine cycle which has
higher boiling temperature. All outlets from HE2 pass though indi-
vidual expanders after gaining heat from the secondary fluid cool-
ing tank as shown in Fig. 6. The two working fluids of the Rankine
cycles should be carefully selected to meet the cycle and the appli-
cation requirements. R14 and R13 with boiling temperatures at
atmospheric pressure of 127 and 81 °C were selected, respec-
tively in the first and second closed Rankine cycles. Considering
the environment aspect R23 could be replaced by either R23 or
R116 and they give similar results. The outlet temperatures from
HE2 are assumed to be three degrees lower than the secondary
fluid cooling tank’s temperature for all working fluids.
3. Thermodynamic modelling
Thermodynamic analysis was carried out to find the best cycle
configuration that achieves minimum amount of LN2 and maxi-
mum power output and cooling capacity for the selected applica-
tion. Using Matlab integrated with Refprop code, a mathematical
model was developed for each of the above configurations to calcu-
late the properties of the working fluids at each point in the cycle,
solve the energy and mass balance equations for LN2 and other
working fluids, the cooling capacity and the power output. The out-
put power is affected significantly by the chosen type of expansion
process whether adiabatic or isothermal with the later one gener-
ating more power and cooling. Practically it is possible to achieve
isothermal expansion through the heat gain from the surroundings
and/or transferring heat using a secondary fluid
[10,25,28,30,38,39]. It has been reported that, about 80–85% of
isothermal expansion could be achieved by three stage expander
with two reheat between them or by having a high value of the
surface to volume ratio of the expander device [31,38]. Both expan-
sion processes were modelled in this study. The study covered
wide range of the inlet LN2 pressure (P2N) which from 1 to
100 bars.
The assumptions made in modelling the proposed cycles are:
– LN2 is stored as liquid at 77 K at near atmospheric pressure, and
leaves the overall system at 283 K.
– The pressure drop in all system pipes and heat exchangers is
negligible.
– Pumps, expanders and compressors isentropic efficiencies are
90%, 90% and 85% respectively.
In the first cycle shown in Fig. 2, there is no power generated, so
LN2 is only used to meet the cooling load. By applying energy bal-
ance equation between the cooling load and the LN2 enthalpy dif-
38 A. Ahmad et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 128 (2016) 34–43

Fig. 6. LN2 cycle drives two closed cascade Rankine cycles.

ference at the inlet and the outlet of the cooling tank, the mass flow _ B ÞAd ¼ m
ðm _ B  ðm
_ N ÞAd ð11Þ
rate of LN2 can be calculated using Eq. (1).
_ N ÞAd ½ðh4N  h5N Þ  ðh2N  h1N Þ
ðW N ÞAd ¼ ðm ð12Þ
Cooling Load
_N¼
m ð1Þ
ðh3N  h2N Þ _ B ÞAd ½ðh3B  h4B Þ  ðh2B  h1B Þ
ðW B ÞAd ¼ ðm ð13Þ
Cooling Load W Ad ¼ ðW N ÞAd þ ðW B ÞAd ð14Þ
CC ¼ ð2Þ
m_N
In the second cycle shown in Fig. 3, the LN2 mass flow rate, cool- _ N ÞAd ½ðh4N  h3N Þ þ ðh6N  h5N Þ þ ðm
CC Ad ¼ ðm _ B ÞAd ðh3B  h2B Þ ð15Þ
ing capacity and output power was calculated using Eqs. (3)–(5) for
adiabatic process and Eqs. (6)–(8) for isothermal one. Cooling Load
_ N ÞIso ¼
ðm
ðh4N  h3N Þ þ T tank ðs5N  s4N Þ þ mr ðh3B  h2B Þ þ T tank ðs4B  s3B Þ
Cooling Load
_ N ÞAd ¼
ðm ð3Þ ð16Þ
ðh3N  h2N Þ þ ðh5N  h4N Þ
_ B ÞIso ¼ mr  ðm
ðm _ N ÞIso ð17Þ
_ n ÞAd ½ðh3N  h4N Þ  ðh2N  h1N Þ
W Ad ¼ ðm ð4Þ
_ N ÞIso ½T tank ðs5N  s4N Þ  ðh2N  h1N Þ
ðW N ÞIso ¼ ðm ð18Þ
_ n ÞAd ½ðh3N  h4N Þ þ ðh5N  h4N Þ
CC Ad ¼ ðm ð5Þ

Cooling Load _ B ÞIso ½T tank ðs4B  s3B Þ  ðh2B  h1B Þ

ðW B ÞIso ¼ ðm ð19Þ
_ N ÞIso ¼
ðm ð6Þ
ðh3N  h2N Þ þ T tank ðs4N  s3N Þ
W Iso ¼ ðW N ÞIso þ ðW B ÞIso ð20Þ
_ n ÞIso ½T tank ðs4N  s3N Þ  ðh2N  h1N Þ
W Iso ¼ ðm ð7Þ
_ N ÞIso ½T tank ðs5N  s4N Þ þ ðm
CC Iso ¼ ðm _ B ÞIso ½T tank ðs4B  s3B Þ ð21Þ
_ n ÞIso ½T tank ðs4N  s3N Þ
CC Iso ¼ ðm ð8Þ
The fourth cycle as shown in Fig. 5, where the LN2 cycle drives
Regarding the third cycle configuration shown in Fig. 4, where
closed Rankine cycle, solving the balance equations were carried
the LN2 cycle operates closed Brayton cycle, calculating the mass
out in the same previous manor using Eqs. (22)–(34) to find the
flow rates, cooling capacities and output power can be carried
mass flow rates, cooling capacities, and output power for both
out using Eqs. (9)–(21) for both expansion processes. The ratio of
expansion processes.
the mass flow rate of the closed Brayton cycle working fluid to
the LN2 mass flow rate was calculated in order to determine the
LN2 mass flow rate and other parameters. _ R ðh3N  h2N Þ
m
mr ¼ ¼ ð22Þ
_ N ðh1R  h4R Þ
m
_ B ðh3N  h2N Þ
m
mr ¼ ¼ ð9Þ
_ N ðh1B  h4B Þ
m Cooling Load
_ N ÞAd ¼
ðm ð23Þ
ðh4N  h3N Þ þ ðh6N  h5N Þ þ mr ðh3R  h2R Þ
Cooling Load
_ N ÞAd
ðm ¼ ð10Þ
ðh4N  h3N Þ þ ðh6N  h5N Þ þ mr ðh3B  h2B Þ ðm _ R  ðm
_ R ÞAd ¼ m _ N ÞAd ð24Þ
 A. Ahmad et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 128 (2016) 34–43 39

_ N ÞAd ½ðh4N  h5N Þ  ðh2N  h1N Þ

ðW N ÞAd ¼ ðm ð25Þ _ N ÞIso T tank ðs6N  s5N Þ  ðh2N  h1N Þ
ðW N ÞIso ¼ ðm ð48Þ

_ R ÞAd ½ðh3R  h4R Þ  ðh2R  h1R Þ

ðW R ÞAd ¼ ðm ð26Þ _ R ÞIso ½T tank ðs5R  s4R Þ  ðh2R  h1R Þ
ðW R ÞIso ¼ ðm ð49Þ

W Ad ¼ ðW N ÞAd þ ðW R ÞAd ð27Þ _ R0 ÞIso ½T tank ðs4R0  s3R0 Þ  ðh2R0  h1R0 Þ

ðW R0 ÞIso ¼ ðm ð50Þ

_ N ÞAd ½ðh4N  h3N Þ þ ðh6N  h5N Þ

CC Ad ¼ ðm W Iso ¼ ðW N ÞIso þ ðW R ÞIso þ ðW R0 ÞIso ð51Þ
_ R ÞAd ½ðh3R  h2R Þ
þ ðm ð28Þ
_ N ÞIso ½T tank ðs5N  s4N Þ þ ðm
CC Iso ¼ ðm _ R ÞIso ½T tank ðs4R  s3R Þ
Cooling Load _ R0 ÞIso ½T tank ðs4R0  s3R0 Þ
þ ðm ð52Þ
_ N ÞIso ¼
ðm
ðh4N  h3N Þ þ T tank ðs5N  s4N Þ þ mr ðh3R  h2R Þ þ T tank ðs4R  s3R Þ
All cycle configurations except the first one, the LN2 stored
ð29Þ energy is recovered for cooling and power output. The percentage
of this power to the LN2 energy density (770 kJ/kg) is defined as
_ R ÞIso ¼ mr  ðm
ðm _ N ÞIso ð30Þ
recovered energy (RE) as:
_ N ÞIso ½T tank ðs5N  s4N Þ  ðh2N  h1N Þ
ðW N ÞIso ¼ ðm ð31Þ Maximum specific power
RE ¼  100 ð53Þ
LN2 energy density
_ R ÞIso ½T tank ðs4R  s3R Þ  ðh2R  h1R Þ
ðW R ÞIso ¼ ðm ð32Þ

W Iso ¼ ðW N ÞIso þ ðW R ÞIso ð33Þ 4. Results and discussion

_ N ÞIso ½T tank ðs5N  s4N Þ þ ðm

CC Iso ¼ ðm _ R ÞIso ½T tank ðs4R  s3R Þ ð34Þ The proposed cycles aim to use the stored energy in LN2 to gen-
erate cooling and power for domestic application where this stored
The last cycle consists of several cascaded Rankine topping energy will be the main energy source leading to more environ-
cycles. Ratios of the first and the second closed Rankine cycles ment friendly solution. Fig. 7(a and b) compares the daily con-
working fluids mass flow rate to LN2 mass flow rate were calcu- sumption of LN2 for the selected load for all the investigated
lated using Eqs. (35) and (36). Then, the LN2 mass flow rate, output cycles for adiabatic and isothermal expansions respectively. It is
power and cooling capacities were calculated using Eqs. (37)–(52) clear that the required LN2 flow rate is highest for the first cycle
for the adiabatic and isothermal expansion processes. shown in Fig. 2 which is used to produce cooling only with no
power generation and it exceeds 200 L/h at the peak time. As for
_ R ðh3N  h2N Þ
m the other cycles that produce cooling and power, it is clear that
mr1 ¼ ¼ ð35Þ
_ N ðh5R  h1R Þ
m the configuration with the cascaded Rankine cycle (cycle 5) shows
the lowest LN2 consumption. Also, when isothermal expansion is
_ R0 mr1 ðh3R  h2R Þ þ ðh4N  hN3 Þ used, the consumption is lower than that of the adiabatic expan-
m
mr2 ¼ ¼ ð36Þ sion with most cycles performing very close to each other.
_N
m ðh4R0  h1R0 Þ
Figs. 8 and 9 show the effect of LN2 input pressure (P2N) on LN2
consumption and power output for both adiabatic and isothermal
Cooling Load
_ N ÞAd ¼
ðm expansions. It can be seen that for the adiabatic expansion, there
ðh5N  h4N Þ þ ðh7N  h6N Þ þ mr1 ðh4R  h3R Þ þ mr2 ðh3R0  h2R0 Þ
are no significant changes in the LN2 mass flow rate and power
ð37Þ output at input pressure values higher than 30 bars indicating that
lower operating pressures of LN2 can be used. However, using
_ R ÞAd ¼ mr1  ðm
ðm _ N ÞAd ð38Þ isothermal expansion process, the mass flow rate of LN2 continues
to decrease with the increase in pressure while the power output
_ R0 ÞAd ¼ mr2  ðm
ðm _ N ÞAd ð39Þ continues to increase indicating the significance of the inlet
pressure.
_ n ÞAd ½ðh5N  h6N Þ  ðh2N  h1N Þ
ðW N ÞAd ¼ ðm ð40Þ Figs. 10 and 11 show the variation of specific work and specific
cooling capacity with the input pressure (P2N) for all the investi-
_ R ÞAd ½ðh4R  h5R Þ  ðh2R  h1R Þ
ðW R ÞAd ¼ ðm ð41Þ gated cycles except the first cycle. For the second cycle, the maxi-
mum specific energy is 166 and 391 kJ/kg in the adiabatic and
_ R0 ÞAd ½ðh3R0  h4R0 Þ  ðh2R0  h1R0 Þ
ðW R0 ÞAd ¼ ðm ð42Þ isothermal expansions, respectively. This means based on Eq.
(53) the Recovered Energy (RE) in this cycle is about 22% and
W Ad ¼ ðW N ÞAd þ ðW R ÞAd þ ðW R0 ÞAd ð43Þ 51% in adiabatic and isothermal expansions, respectively. More-
over, compared with the first cycle where no power generated,
_ N ÞAd ½ðh5N  h4N Þ þ ðh8N  h7N Þ
CC Ad ¼ ðm the maximum specific cooling has increased by 40% and 90% for
_ R ÞAd ½ðh3R  h2R Þ þ ðm
_ R0 ÞAd ½ðh3R0  h2R0 Þ the adiabatic and isothermal expansions, respectively.
þ ðm ð44Þ
In the third cycle the exit temperature from the evaporator
(T3N) is assumed to be 135 K, slightly higher than the critical point

Cooling Load
_ N ÞIso ¼
ðm ð45Þ
ðh5N  h4N Þ þ T tank ðs6N  s5N Þ þ mr1 ½ðh4R  h3R Þ þ T tank ðs5R  s4R Þ þ mr2 ½ðh3R0  h2R0 Þ þ T tank ðs4R0  s3R0 Þ

ðm _ N ÞIso  mr1
_ R ÞIso ¼ ðm ð46Þ of LN2 to ensure that it will be fully evaporated at any inlet
pressure (P2N). The pressure ratios of the Brayton cycle at the
_ R0 ÞIso ¼ ðm
ðm _ N ÞIso  mr2 ð47Þ adiabatic and isothermal expansions were varied between
40 A. Ahmad et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 128 (2016) 34–43

Fig. 7. (a) Daily LN2 consumption for the selected load at adiabatic expansion and (b) daily LN2 consumption for the selected load at isothermal expansion.

(a) Adiabatic expansion (b) Isothermal expansion

Fig. 8. Maximum LN2 mass flow rate for the selected house at various LN2 inlet pressure.

(a) Adiabatic expansion (b) Isothermal expansion

Fig. 9. Maximum output power for the selected house at various LN2 inlet pressure.
 A. Ahmad et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 128 (2016) 34–43 41

(a) Adiabatic expansion (b) Isothermal expansion

Fig. 10. Specific power output with variations of LN2 inlet pressure (P2N).

(a) Adiabatic expansion (b) Isothermal expansion

Fig. 11. Specific cooling capacities with variations of LN2 inlet pressure (P2N).

(1.1–4) and (1.1–8), respectively. Increasing the pressure ratio
above these values produces negative work output leading to
reduction in the output power. Compared with the second cycle,
this configuration shows an increase in the output power for the
adiabatic and isothermal expansions by 13% and 7%, and a decrease
in LN2 mass flow rate by 3% and 4% respectively as presented in
Figs. 8 and 9. At the maximum power output, the ratio of the Bray-
ton cycle mass flow rates to the LN2 mass flow rate for the adia-
batic and isothermal processes were 1.73 and 0.77, respectively.
Figs. 10 and 11 also show an increase in the power output and
the specific cooling effect. In this cycle the RE reached up to 25%
and 57%, and the maximum cooling capacity has increased by
44% and 96% compared with the first cycle for the adiabatic and
isothermal expansions, respectively.
In the fourth cycle, lowering the condensing temperature allows
to increase the Rankine cycle pressure ratio however, it reduces its
mass flow rate, therefore a number of working fluids were investi-
gated like Oxygen, methane, ethane, R22 and Xenon to achieve the
maximum power output leading to using Xenon which produced
maximum power output of 560 kJ/kg-LN2. Compared with the sec-
ond cycle, this cycle shows higher improvement where the output
power for the adiabatic and isothermal expansions has increased
by 28% and 13%. Also, the LN2 mass flow rates have decreased by
8% and 6% respectively, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9. At the maximum
output power, the ratio of the closed Rankine cycle mass flow rates
to the LN2 mass flow rate for the adiabatic and isothermal pro-
cesses were 4.3 and 1.7, respectively. Moreover, Figs. 10 and 11
show that the maximum specific work has increased significantly
compared with the second cycle, indicating that about 30–62% of
the total LN2 stored energy has been recovered, and the maximum
specific cooling has increased by 53% and 102% compared with the
first cycle in the adiabatic and isothermal expansions, respectively.
The fifth cycle shows the lowest LN2 consumption and the high-
est power output compared to all the studied cycles. Compared
with the second cycle, the output powers has increased by 71%
and 29%, and the LN2 mass flow rate has decreased by 27% and
18% for the adiabatic and isothermal expansions, respectively. At
the maximum output power, the ratios of the first closed Rankine
cycle mass flow rate to the LN2 mass flow rate were 1.5 and 1.7,
and for the second closed Rankine cycle they were 3.4 and 1.7
for the adiabatic and isothermal processes respectively. The output
power reached its peak at only 30 bars in both expansions as
shown in Figs. 8 and 9. Furthermore, the specific power and speci-
fic cooling capacity, shown in Figs. 10 and 11, highlight that more
42 A. Ahmad et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 128 (2016) 34–43

(a) Adiabatic expansion (b) Isothermal expansion

Fig. 12. Comparing the proposed cycle 2 with a published work.

(a) Adiabatic expansion (b) Isothermal expansion

Fig. 13. Daily power consumption for the selected load at various LN2 prices.

than 50% and 85% of the LN2 stored energy have been recovered for
the adiabatic and isothermal expansions, respectively. Also, the
maximum specific cooling increased by 93% and 130% compared
with the first cycle for both expansions, respectively.
The proposed cycles are showing promising results however
comparison with experimental data or published work gives more
realistic view on the used approach. Duo to the limitations of such
experimental data and/or studies only cycle 2 was validated by
comparing it with a published work presented in [10]. Fig. 12(a
and b) presents a comparison between the proposed cycle 2 speci-
fic work and the published work for the adiabatic and the isother-
mal expansion processes respectively. The results showing very
good agreement and the maximum deviation was less that 14%.
The published work showing higher output work because of the
expander efficiency and its inlet temperatures were slightly higher
than the proposed cycles.
Fig. 13 compares the cost of using LN2 for cooling and power
generation using the proposed cycles shown in Figs. 2–6 to the cost
of cooling using conventional AC system. The comparison with the
conventional AC system was carried out based on the total electric-
ity consumption of one day with the cooling load of 288 kW h at
the current electricity rate during peak times (19 pence per kW h
[40]) and various LN2 prices. It is clear from these figures that for
adiabatic expansion, only the fifth configuration has lower cost
than the AC system for LN2 price of 3 pence per kg while for the
isothermal expansion case, all the cycles show lower cost than
the AC system when the LN2 price ranges from 3 to 5 pence per
kg. With today prices of 3.5 pence per kg [2,35], the third cycle per-
formed similar to the conventional AC whereas the fourth and fifth
cycles can save 17% and 28% compared to AC therefore offering
cost effective method for using the stored cold energy in LN2 to
produce cooling and power for domestic applications. Also, Dear-
man report [35] showed that the market dynamics of LN2 can lead
to reduced LN2 cost production leading to market price of 1.3 pence
per litre and with this price, cycles 2, 3, 4 and 5 can save up to 68,
71, 76 and 79% respectively of the conventional system. The wide-
spread of using this proposed technology will lead to significant
reduction in the CO2 emission since LN2 is produced using the off
peak power and renewable energy sources.
5. Conclusions
The use of conventional air conditioning systems contributes to
significant fossil fuel energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
 A. Ahmad et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 128 (2016) 34–43
Therefore there is a need to produce a new technology that reduces
CO2 emissions and fuel consumption. Liquid N2/Air have been
acknowledged as energy storage vector with high energy density
of 770 kJ/kg. This energy vector can be used to produce cooling
and power to drive air conditioning systems thus reducing reliance
on the national grid particularly at peak time. Various cycle config-
urations were investigated and results showed the following:
1. Cycle 5 showed the highest power output and lowest LN2
flow rate requirement. It recovers up to 85% of the stored
LN2 energy and produces cooling capacity 7.5 times that
produced by the first cycle configuration.
2. Good agreement between cycle 2 specific work and the
published work.
3. Economical comparison between the conventional AC sys-
tem and the LN2 based cycles was made showing that with
LN2 current price of 3.5 pence per kg, cycle 3 performs sim-
ilar to the conventional system while cycles 4 and 5 can
achieve17% and 28% price reduction compared to the con-
ventional system and a significant reduction in CO2
emission.
4. The widespread of this technology will lead to further
reduction in the LN2 prices and savings of energy consump-
tion for air conditioning accordingly. Results showed that
for LN2 with a cost of 1 pence per kg, saving of 79% can
be achieved by the fifth cycle. Also, at this price level, cycle
2 can give similar savings to cycle 5 leading to simpler sys-
tem design, size and cost.
References
[1] The guardian, climate change, world set to use more energy for cooling than
heating, online <http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/
26/cold-economy-cop21-global-warming-carbon-emissions> [accessed on
05.04/2016].
[2] Dearman Engine Company – Cold and Power – UKES 2014, online <http://
ukenergystorage.co/2014/assets/downloads/presentations/m-ayres.pdf>
[accessed on 06.04/2016].
[3] Cox S. Cooling a warming planet: a global air conditioning surge. Yale Environ
2012;360(10).
[4] Wang S, Liu Z, Li Y, Zhao K, Wang Z. Experimental study on split air conditioner
with new hybrid equipment of energy storage and water heater all year round.
Energy Convers Manage 2005;46(18):3047–59.
[5] Davis LW, Gertler PJ. Contribution of air conditioning adoption to future energy
use under global warming. Proc Natl Acad Sci 2015;112(19):5962–7.
[6] Li Y, Wang X, Ding Y. A cryogen-based peak-shaving technology: systematic
approach and techno-economic analysis. Int J Energy Res 2013;37(6):547–57.
[7] Morgan R, Nelmes S, Gibson E, Brett G. Liquid air energy storage–analysis and
first results from a pilot scale demonstration plant. Appl Energy 2015;1
(137):845–53.
[8] Antonelli M, Desideri U, Giglioli R, Paganucci F, Pasini G. Liquid air energy
storage: a potential low emissions and efficient storage system. Energy Proc
2016;30(88):693–7.
[9] Yvonne L, Mushtak A, Richard W. Liquid air as an energy storage: a review. J
Eng Sci Technol 2016;11(4):496–515.
[10] Knowlen C, Mattick A, Bruckner AP, Hertzberg A. High efficiency energy
conversion systems for liquid nitrogen automobiles. SAE technical paper,
1998, 0148-7191.
[11] Li Y, Chen H, Ding Y. Fundamentals and applications of cryogen as a thermal
energy carrier: a critical assessment. Int J Therm Sci 2010;49(6):941–9.
43
[12] Deng S, Jin H, Cai R, Lin R. Novel cogeneration power system with liquefied
natural gas (LNG) cryogenic exergy utilization. Energy 2004;29(4):497–512.
[13] Qiang W, Yanzhong L, Xi C. Exergy analysis of liquefied natural gas cold energy
recovering cycles. Int J Energy Res 2005;29(1):65–78.
[14] Dispenza C, Dispenza G, La Rocca V, Panno G. Exergy recovery during LNG
regasification: electric energy production–Part one. Appl Therm Eng 2009;29
(2):380–7.
[15] Liu Y, Guo K. A novel cryogenic power cycle for LNG cold energy recovery.
Energy 2011;36(5):2828–33.
[16] Dispenza C, Dispenza G, La Rocca V, Panno G. Exergy recovery during LNG
regasification: electric energy production–part two. Appl Therm Eng 2009;29
(2):388–99.
[17] Szargut Jan, Szczygiel Ireneusz. Utilization of the cryogenic exergy of liquid
natural gas (LNG) for the production of electricity. Energy 2009;34(7):827–37.
[18] Place JF. Apparatus for cooling and preserving foods, & c., by liquid air. Google
Patents; 1909.
[19] Harold R. Air conditioning system. Google gh; 1960.
[20] Saia III LP, Wilbrandt CS. Portable self-contained cooler/freezer apparatus for
use on airplanes, common carrier type unrefrigerated truck lines, and the like.
Google Patents; 1994.
[21] Dakhil F. Air conditioning apparatus using liquid nitrogen. Google Patents;
1999.
[22] Garlov R, Saveliev V, Gavrylov K, Golovin L, Pedolsky H. Refrigeration of a food
transport vehicle utilizing liquid nitrogen. Google Patents; 2002.
[23] Skobel RM, Davey D. Liquid nitrogen cooled beverage dispenser. Google
Patents; 2012.
[24] Watanabe M, Yumura H, Hirota H, Masuda T, Shimoda M, Ohno R, et al. Recent
progress of liquid nitrogen cooling system (LINCS) for Yokohama HTS cable
project. Phys Proc 2012;31(36):1313–8.
[25] Manning L, Schneider R. Nitrogen vapor engine. Google Patents; 1974.
[26] Ordonez CA, Plummer MC. Cold thermal storage and cryogenic heat engines
for energy storage applications. Energy Sources 1997;19(4):389–96.
[27] Ordonez CA, Plummer MC, Reidy RF. Cryogenic heat engines for powering zero
emission vehicles. In: Proceedings of 2001 ASME international mechanical
engineering congress and exposition, US, IMECE 2001 Nov 11.
[28] Knowlen C, Williams J, Mattick A, Deparis H, Hertzberg A. Quasi-isothermal
expansion engines for liquid nitrogen automotive propulsion. SAE technical
paper, 1997 0148-7191.
[29] Ordonez C. Liquid nitrogen fueled, closed Brayton cycle cryogenic heat engine.
Energy Convers Manage 2000;41(4):331–41.
[30] Chen H, Ding Y, Li Y, Zhang X, Tan C. Air fuelled zero emission road
transportation: a comparative study. Appl Energy 2011;88(1):337–42.
[31] Ameel B, T’Joen C, De Kerpel K, De Jaeger P, Huisseune H, Van Belleghem M, De
Paepe M. Thermodynamic analysis of energy storage with a liquid air Rankine
cycle. Appl Therm Eng 2013;52(1):130–40.
[32] Xu W, Wang J, Cai M, Shi Y. Liquid air fueled open–closed cycle Stirling engine.
Energy Convers Manage 2015;30(94):210–20.
[33] Wang J, Xu W, Ding S, Shi Y, Cai M, Rehman A. Liquid air fueled open-closed
cycle Stirling engine and its exergy analysis. Energy 2015;31(90):187–201.
[34] Strahan D, Akhurst M, Atkins A. Liquid air in the energy and transport systems:
opportunities for industry and innovation in the UK. Centre for Low Carbon
Futures report. 2013(020).
[35] Dearman, Liquid air on the European highway, the economic and
environmental impact of zero-emission transport refrigeration., <http://
www.airqualitynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Liquid-Air-on-the-
European-Highway.pdf>.
[36] Newman MD, McCormick SA. LNG (liquefied natural gas) and LIN (liquid
nitrogen) in transit refrigeration heat exchange system. Google Patents; 2014.
[37] Mohamed A, Gassem A. Effect of some types of building materials on the
thermal load for a residential house in Sebha area. Sebha University – V 1,
2016.
[38] Vitt PD. Operational characteristics of a liquid nitrogen powered automobile.
DTIC Document, 1998.
[39] North TB. Liquid nitrogen propulsion systems for automotive applications:
calculation of the mechanical efficiency of a dual, double-acting piston
propulsion system. ProQuest; 2008.
[40] British Gas, online <https://www.britishgas.co.uk/aem6/content/dam/
britishgas/documents/tariffs/Online-Table-Fixed-Price-March-2016-New.xls>
[accessed on 3/06/2016].