Thermal energy storage is an essential component of solar heating systems. A numerical analysis of thermal stratification in hot water storage tanks suitable for solar water heating applications is presented in this paper. Transient, axi-symmetric, turbulent natural convection in fully and partially charged storage tanks for varying Rayleigh Number in the range of 10 to 10 is studied. Mix Numbe...

A low cost, simple solar heating system consisting of an active collector with an In-Floor Heat Distribution and Storage (IFHDS) system was developed in response to the energy crisis of the 1970s. A two-dimensional finite difference model was developed and used to simulate the performance of IFHDS system cross-sections. Simulation runs were conducted with a steady-periodic model for the tempera...

Liquid air energy storage (LAES) is a novel technology for grid scale electrical energy storage in the form of liquid air. At commercial scale LAES rated output power is expected in the range 10 to 100 MWe, while the storage capacity of the order of 100s of MWhe. LAES comprises three processes: charging, consisting in air liquefaction; storage, involving preservation of air in liquid form; and ...

Thermal energy storage is attractive in the design of concentrator solar thermal systems because of its ability to increase turbine capacity factor and to facilitate dispatchable, if not continuous, power output from a solar field. At the right cost, a storage system can improve overall economics of a solar energy system. Presented here is a simulation study of the performance of a cycle that u...

A novel lamination that consists of aluminum heat spreader plates interspersed with a polymer-based thermal energy storage composite is described. The composite consists of a thermoplastic matrix that encapsulates paraffin such that it is immobilized when in the liquid phase. As a consequence, the thermal energy storage/release process is independent of g-loading or orientation. Composites with...

KNO3 was used as the phase change material (PCM), but its thermal conductivity is too low to transfer heat between the PCM and conduction oil efficiently. In this thesis, on the basis of the previous studies (Yong Li, 2015), the solar power generation efficiency is enhanced with high temperature interval (280°C—400°C), and the new composite which are composed by the SiC honeycomb (SCH) frame an...