Parametric Study and Sensitivity Analysis of Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage System in Concentrated Solar Power Plants

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hermes Chirino ◽  
Ben Xu
Keyword(s):  
Sensitivity Analysis ◽  
Energy Storage ◽  
Latent Heat ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Parametric Study ◽  
Solar Thermal ◽  
Thermal Engineering ◽  
Concentrated Solar Power ◽  
Dimensionless Parameters

Compared to solar photovoltaics, concentrated solar power (CSP) can store excessive solar thermal energy, extend the power generation, and levelize the mismatch between the demand and supply. Thermal energy storage (TES) system filled with phase change material (PCM) is a key to make CSP competitive, and it is also a promising indirect energy storage technique. It is of great interests to the solar thermal engineering community to apply the latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) system for large-scale CSP application, because PCMs can store more energy due to the latent heat during the melting/freezing process. Therefore, a comprehensive parametric analysis of LHTES system is necessary in order to identify the most sensitive ranges of various parameters to design the LHTES system with better systematic performances. In this study, unlike the existing parametric study based on dimensional parameters, we aimed to provide a more general analysis using dimensionless parameters; therefore, an 11-dimensionless-parameter space of LHTES system was developed, by considering the technical constraints (material properties and operation parameters), without economic constraints. The parametric study and sensitivity analysis were then performed based on a 1D enthalpy-based transient model, and the energy storage efficiency was used as the objective function to minimize the number of variables in the parameter space. It was found that Stanton number (St), dimensionless PCM radius (r/D), and void fraction (ε) are the three most important dimensionless parameters. It is expected that the discovery of this study can bring more discussions in the solar thermal engineering community about the implementation of LHTES system in CSP plant, to further explore the significances of these three dimensionless parameters to the operation of the LHTES system.

scholarly journals Material Selection for Latent Heat Based High Temperature Solar Thermal Energy Storage

2015 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 1525-1532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramón Gutiérrez ◽  
Héctor García ◽  
Bruno Cardenas ◽  
Noel León
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Energy Storage ◽  
Latent Heat ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Material Selection ◽  
Solar Thermal ◽  
Solar Thermal Energy ◽  
Selection For

scholarly journals Development of Binary Eutectic Organic Phase Change Materials for Solar Thermal Energy Storage Systems

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 2207-2210
Keyword(s):  
Energy Storage ◽  
Melting Point ◽  
Latent Heat ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Solar Thermal ◽  
Heat Of Fusion ◽  
Solar Thermal Energy ◽  
Latent Heat Of Fusion ◽  
High Latent Heat

Solar thermal energy storage unit anchored fatty acids as Phase Change Materials (PCMs) having narrow range of transition temperature and high latent heat of fusion. In this paper, a new novel eutectic PCM was developed by using a fatty acid (acetamide) and non-paraffin organic PCM (acetanilide) for a sharp melting point and high latent heat of fusion. The optimized eutectic PCM may be used for middle temperature range solar thermal energy storage systems. The binary mixture of acetamide and acetanilide at various compositions by mass ratio (wt%) was prepared and optimized experimentally for lowest value of melting point at a eutectic mixture composition of 60 wt% of acetamide and 40 wt% of acetanilide. Eutectic PCM was analyzed by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM). DSC results revealed that optimized eutectic PCM has a sharp melting point of 65.37°C and high latent heat of fusion of 224.67 kJ/kg. Accelerated thermal cycle testing of optimized eutectic PCM was performed for 100 melting and freezing cycles and change in melting temperature and latent heat of fusion was acceptable.

A Review of Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage for Concentrated Solar Plants onthe Grid

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Flores
Keyword(s):  
Energy Storage ◽  
Latent Heat ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Concentrated Solar Power ◽  
Renewable Source ◽  
Solar Power Plants ◽  
Reducing Costs ◽  
Concentrated Solar Power Plants

Thermal Energy Storage has improved the dispatch ability of Concentrated Solar Power Plants(CSP), a renewable source of energy on the grid. Furthermore, Latent heat Thermal Energy Storage(LTES)shows potential as a storage technology by further reducing costs and improving eciencyfor CSP plants. This papers reviews the goals for LTES, the developments in phase change materialsfor LTES, the types of system congurations possible, and the challenges that LTES face. Fromthe scientic literature available, LTES systems can meet TES goals, and research is progressing inmaking it a scalable technology for CSP plants.

Comprehensive Parametric Analysis and Sensitivity Study of Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage System in Concentrated Solar Power Plants

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hermes Chirino ◽  
Ben Xu
Keyword(s):  
Energy Storage ◽  
Latent Heat ◽  
Parameter Space ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Parametric Analysis ◽  
Sensitivity Study ◽  
Storage Efficiency ◽  
Concentrated Solar Power ◽  
Energy Storage Efficiency

Compared to Solar Photovoltaics (PV), Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) can store the excess solar thermal energy, extend the power generation at night and cloudy days, and levelize the mismatch between energy demand and supply. To make CSP competitive, Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system filled with phase change material (PCM) is a promising indirect energy storage technique, compared to the TES system using concrete or river rocks. It is of great interests to solar thermal community to apply the latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) system for large scale CSP application, because PCMs can store more thermal energy due to the latent heat during the melting/freezing process. Therefore, a comprehensive parametric analysis of LHTES system is necessary in order to improve its systematic performance, since LHTES system has a relatively low energy storage efficiency compared to TES systems using sensible materials. In this study, an 11-dimensionless-parameter space of LHTES system was developed, by considering only the technical constraints (materials properties and operation parameters), instead of economic constraints. Then the parametric analysis was performed based on a 1D enthalpy-based transient model, and the energy storage efficiency was used as the objective function to minimize the number of variables in the parameter space. It was found that Stanton number (St), PCM radius (r), and void fraction (ε) are the three most important ones. The sensitivity study was conducted then based on the three dimensionless-parameter space which will significantly influence the system performance. The results of this study make LHTES system competitive with TES system using sensible materials in terms of energy storage efficiency.

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