350 results about "Thermal energy storage system" patented technology

There is herein described energy storage systems. More particularly, there is herein described thermal energy storage systems and use of energy storable material such as phase change material in the provision of heating and / or cooling systems in, for example, domestic dwellings.

A thermal energy storage system is proposed in which the latent heat of fusion of common salts is used to store energy within a selectable temperature range, extending both above and below the melting / freezing temperature zone of the salt mixture. The salt mixture occupies interstitial void spaces in a solid endostructure. The solid material remains in the solid state throughout the thermal cycling of the energy storage system, and preferably has properties of thermal conduction and specific heat that enhance the behavior of the salt mixture alone, while being chemically compatible with all materials in the storage system. The storage system is capable of accepting and delivering heat at high rates, thereby allowing power generation using a suitable energy transfer media to power a turbine of an electric generator or a process heat need to provide a relatively local, dispatchable, rechargeable thermal storage system, combined with a suitably sized generator.

The invention provides compositions for use in thermal energy storage systems, including thermal energy storage mediums, fluid channeling devices and thermally conductive heat transfer elements, and methods for storing thermal energy. A thermal energy storage system is provided, comprising: (a) a granular thermal energy storage medium comprising at least a first size class and a second size class; wherein the individual granules of each size class deviate from the average granular size for that size class by no more than about ±50%; wherein first size class is the largest size class; wherein the ratio of the average size of the first size class to the average size of the second size class is at least about 2:1; and (b) one or more conduits disposed within the medium, and arranged to receive a source of thermal energy.

The invention relates to a universal system for producing cost effective energy particularly for cooling purposes. In one embodiment, wind turbines are used to generate electricity and compressed air energy, wherein the compressed air energy is used to co-generate electricity and chilled air. The chilled air is then used to chill water in either a mixing chamber, or a desalination system, wherein the chilled water is stored in a separation tank, wherein it can later be used to provide cooling for an air conditioning system for a facility. When desalination is used, the system produces chilled fresh drinking water which can be used for air conditioning, and then used as fresh drinking water. Any exhaust chilled air can be used directly for air conditioning.

There is herein described energy storage systems. More particularly, there is herein described thermal energy storage systems and use of energy storable material such as phase change material in the provision of heating and / or cooling systems in, for example, domestic dwellings.

An active thermal energy storage system is disclosed which uses an energy storage material that is stable at atmospheric pressure and temperature and has a melting point higher than 32 degrees F. This energy storage material is held within a storage tank and used as an energy storage source, from which a heat transfer system (e.g., a heat pump) can draw to provide heating of residential or commercial buildings and associated hot water. The energy storage material may also accept waste heat from a conventional air conditioning loop, and may store such heat until needed. The system may be supplemented by a solar panel system that can be used to collect energy during daylight hours, storing the collected energy in the energy storage material. The stored energy may then be used during the evening hours to heat recirculation air for a building in which the system is installed.

An active thermal energy storage system is disclosed which uses an energy storage material that is stable at atmospheric pressure and temperature and has a melting point higher than 32 degrees F. This energy storage material is held within a storage tank and used as an energy storage source, from which a heat transfer system (e.g., a heat pump) can draw to provide heating of residential or commercial buildings and associated hot water. The energy storage material may also accept waste heat from a conventional air conditioning loop, and may store such heat until needed. The system may be supplemented by a solar panel system that can be used to collect energy during daylight hours, storing the collected energy in the energy storage material. The stored energy may then be used during the evening hours to heat recirculation air for a building in which the system is installed.

A vessel for a thermal energy storage system comprising a bottom wall joined to a surrounding side wall, and an inner liner disposed within the bottom wall and side wall and comprising an inner liner bottom and an inner liner side wall. One aspect of the inner liner bottom and side wall is that they are configured to repeatedly expand and contract during the thermal cycling of the storage system. A thermal energy storage system comprising the containment vessel and an array of heat exchangers is also disclosed. The heat exchangers are disposed in the vessel, and arranged so as to enclose a volume within the vessel. Each of the heat exchangers is suspended by a suspension assembly. The assembly may be comprised of a central support hanger, a spring loaded upper hanger, and a lower hanger.

A system and method for a thermal energy storage system is disclosed, the thermal energy storage system comprising a plurality of pressure vessels arranged in close proximity to one another, each of the pressure vessels having a wall comprising an outer surface and an inner surface spaced from the outer surface by a respective wall thickness and surrounding an interior volume of the pressure vessel. The interior volume has a first end in fluid communication with one or more compressors and one or more turbines and a second end in fluid communication with at least one of one or more additional compressors, one or more additional turbines, and at least one compressed air storage component. The thermal energy storage system further comprises a thermal storage medium positioned in the interior volume of each of the plurality of pressure vessels.

A thermal energy storage system (TESS) that enables the discharge of refrigerated air for cooling cargo or passengers in large compartments, such as the trailer of a semi-truck, for a period of time well in excess of several hours. The TES system is able to provide refrigeration without operating a conventional VCC unit, the truck engine, or the TRU diesel APU engine during all or a significant portion of the period of the typical range of time that a 53 foot refrigerated the truck is traveling over the road. The TES system includes a phase change material (PCM) reservoir, a cooling system-to-WF heat exchanger in fluid communication with the PCM reservoir, and a PCM-to-target heat exchanger in fluid communication with the PCM reservoir. The PCM reservoir contains a phase change material, a working fluid (WF) and a working fluid-to-PCM heat exchanger.

A containment vessel for a thermal energy storage system comprising a bottom wall joined to a surrounding containment side wall, and a liner comprising a liner bottom disposed upon the bottom wall of the vessel, the liner bottom having an outer perimeter and comprising an array of plates, each of the plates joined at a portion of its perimeter to a portion of the perimeter of an adjacent plate by a flexible joint; and a liner side wall joined to the outer perimeter of the liner bottom and disposed within the containment side wall. A thermal energy storage system comprising the containment vessel and an array of heat exchangers is also disclosed. The heat exchangers are disposed in the vessel, and are each supported by a support frame joined to one of the plates of the array of plates of the liner.

A variety of energy storage and retrieval systems are described. Generally “hot” and “cold thermal reservoirs are provided. The “hot” reservoir holds both liquid and saturated vapor phase working fluid. The “cold” reservoir holds working fluid at a lower temperature than the hot reservoir. A heat engine / heat pump unit: (a) extracts energy from vapor passing from the hot reservoir to the cold reservoir via expansion of the vapor in a manner that generates mechanical energy to facilitate retrieval of energy; and (b) compresses vapor passing from the cold reservoir to the hot reservoir to facilitate the storage of energy. In some embodiments, the heat engine / heat pump takes the form of a reversible positive displacement heat engine that can act as both an expander and a compressor. To facilitate the storage and retrieval of electrical energy, an electric motor / generator unit may be mechanically coupled to the heat engine / heat pump unit.

A compressed air energy storage (CAES) system encompassing direct heating. The compressed air energy storage system includes a compressor for compressing ambient air, an air storage reservoir, and a thermal energy storage system. The air storage reservoir is adapted to store compressed air from the compressor. The thermal energy storage system is adapted to supply heat to the compressed air energy storage system such that the compressed air is heated to increase work production of the compressed air. The thermal energy storage system is heated using off-peak electricity.

A thermal energy storage system includes a container positioned within a surrounding body of water and comprising a container wall. The wall has an interior surface exposed to and defining an internal volume of the container and has an exterior surface opposite the interior surface and exposed to the surrounding body of water. The internal volume is substantially full of water, and the container is configured to thermally separate water within the internal volume along the interior surface from water of the surrounding body of water along the exterior surface. A thermal source in thermal communication with the water within the internal volume is configured to transfer a thermal potential to the water within the internal volume.

Output power and efficiency of combustion turbines, in particular, and combustion engines, in general, are improved by providing cooled intake air to the combustion device. The cooled air is obtained using a thermal energy storage system that has a stratified chilled fluid storage tank. A local or remote chiller plant, possibly already present for use in a thermal energy distribution system, provides the chilled fluid, which can be an aqueous solution of sodium chloride or calcium chloride or both, during off-peak operating times.

The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a heat equalizer and the fluid transmission duct disposed in a heat carrier existing in solid state in the nature where presents comparatively larger and more stable heat carrying capacity for passing through the fluid. The fluid passes through the solid or gas state semiconductor application installation to regulate temperature equalization of the semiconductor application installation and flows back to the heat equalization installation disposed in the natural heat carrier for the heat equalization installation providing good heat conduction in the natural heat carrier to provide the operation of temperature equalization regulating function on the backflow of the fluid, and through the heat equalizer to transfer thermal energy to the heat storing block constituted by the surrounding natural heat carrier so as to store heat for releasing thermal energy to the specified heat releasing target.

The invention relates to a universal system for producing cost effective energy particularly for cooling purposes. In one embodiment, wind turbines are used to generate electricity and compressed air energy, wherein the compressed air energy is used to co-generate electricity and chilled air. The chilled air is then used to chill water in either a mixing chamber, or a desalination system, wherein the chilled water is stored in a separation tank, wherein it can later be used to provide cooling for an air conditioning system for a facility. When desalination is used, the system produces chilled fresh drinking water which can be used for air conditioning, and then used as fresh drinking water. Any exhaust chilled air can be used directly for air conditioning.

The invention provides a stepped heat storage system and a stepped heat storage method. The stepped heat storage system comprises a solid heat storage heat exchanger (A), a phase change heat storage heat exchanger (B), a fused salt steam superheater (C), a main pipeline and a bypass pipeline. The stepped heat storage system and the stepped heat storage method have the advantages of stability of heat energy output, low cost, a simple structure, flexible operation and control and the like, adapt to heat storage and heat exchange of a large solar thermal power station heat storage system, adapt to heat storage of unstable industrial waste heat recovery, and have great significance to full utilization of renewable energy sources and waste heat.

The invention discloses a flexible peak regulation system and method for air energy storage of a power plant. The system comprises a liquid compressed air energy storage system and a coal-fired unit power generation system. The operation modes of the system comprise an energy storage mode and an energy release mode. The energy storage mode is started when the power utilization load of a power gridis low and residual electric energy exists, and the residual electric energy is used for driving a multi-stage compressor to compress air. The energy release mode is started when the power utilization peak of the power grid is short of electric energy supply, and low-temperature air is heated by utilizing steam extraction of a coal-fired unit to push an expansion machine to generate power and output electric energy to the outside. According to the invention, the efficiency of the energy storage system can be improved, and meanwhile, the problems of high energy consumption, short service lifeand the like when a high-pressure compressor is used are avoided; according to the invention, a heat storage system in a traditional liquid compressed air energy storage system is omitted, the investment of the energy storage system is reduced, and meanwhile, the problem of mismatching of heat in the energy storage process and the energy release process is solved.

A thermal energy storage system comprises a pressure vessel configured to withstand a first pressure, wherein the pressure vessel has a wall comprising an outer surface and an inner surface surrounding an interior volume of the pressure vessel. The interior volume of the pressure vessel has a first end in fluid communication with one or more compressors and one or more turbines, and a second end in fluid communication with at least one compressed air storage component. A thermal storage medium is positioned in the interior volume, and at least one reinforcement structure is affixed to the outer surface of the wall, wherein the at least one reinforcement structure configured to reinforce the wall to withstand a second pressure greater than the first pressure.

A thermal energy storage system is described employing latent heat storage of a supercritical fluid instead of typical phase change materials. Two fundamental thermodynamic concepts are invoked. First, by using the latent heat of liquid / vapor phase change, high energy density storage is feasible. Second, by operating the thermal energy storage system at a higher pressure, the saturation temperature is increased to operate at molten salt temperatures and above. Beyond the two-phase regime, supercritical operation permits capturing and utilizing heat taking advantage of latent and sensible heat, both in the two-phase regime as well as in supercritical regime while at the same time, reducing the required volume by taking advantage of the high compressibilities.

There are herein described energy storage systems. More particularly there are provided thermal energy storage systems comprising battery assemblies containing phase change materials and a monitoring system therefor. In addition there are provided thermal stores comprising battery assemblies having integral control means for management of the thermal energy provided by the battery assembly.

A combined cycle power plant for frequent stops and startups comprises at least one gas turbine, a heat recovery steam generator, at least one steam turbine and a thermal energy storage and retrieval system utilizing latent heat of fusion. Phase change materials receive thermal charge from two sources: (a) renewable energy generation plants, when their production exceeds demand and (b) gas turbine exhaust heat. The thermal energy storage and retrieval system, discharges efficiently thermal energy for steam production, which keeps the at least one steam turbine preheated and ready for fast startups, thus increasing the plant's flexibility and efficiency.A novel two stage latent thermal energy storage system provides at least supercritical steam.

A flexible coal-fired power generation system includes a thermal system for coal-fired power generating unit and a high-temperature heat storage system connected in parallel, wherein: the heat storage system includes a heat storage medium pump (17), a cold heat storage medium tank (18), a hot heat storage medium tank (20), multiple valves, and a heat storage medium and feedwater heat exchanger (21). A heat storage medium heater (16) locates in the boiler (1) and is connected with both the cold heat storage medium tank (18) and the hot heat storage medium tank (20). Through the heat storage medium pump (17), the flow of heat storage medium that enters the heat storage medium heater (16) is adjusted to reduce the output of the steam turbine when the boiler (1) is stably burning.

A thermal energy storage system utilizes a high temperature storage segment having flow passages extending through the storage segment whereby a working fluid can extract energy from the storage system for powering conventional downstream equipment. A mixing manifold cooperates with an outlet manifold for reducing the temperature of the working fluid to a temperature safe for the downstream equipment. The mixing manifold, an outlet manifold, an inlet manifold and a support base for the high temperature storage segment, are all of a high temperature tolerant material allowing the high temperature storage segment to operate at temperatures in excess of 1000° C. and preferably to temperatures above 1400° C. The temperature of the working fluid provided to the conventional equipment can be managed to be below a maximum temperature which in many cases may be about 700° C.

Disclosed is a thermal energy storage system for storing collected solar thermal energy. The system comprises a solar thermal energy collection facility in the form of a field of parabolic troughs, which is in thermal communication with a molten salt circuit. The molten salt circuit is in fluid communication with a molten salt storage facility comprising at least three storage tanks that are each in fluid communication with the molten salt circuit. The multiple tanks set-up allows using cheaper materials, and a more efficient storage of thermal energy.