Heat-diffusion plate after energy storage

What is thermal energy storage?

Thermal energy storages are applied to decouple the temporal offset between heat generation and demand. For increasing the share of fluctuating renewable energy sources, thermal energy storages are undeniably important. Typical applications are heat and cold supply for buildings or in industries as well as in thermal power plants.

What is thermochemical heat storage?

Thermochemical heat storage is a technology under development with potentially high-energy densities. The binding energy of a working pair, for example, a hydrating salt and water, is used for thermal energy storage in different variants (liquid/solid, open/closed) with strong technological links to adsorption and absorption chillers.

Why do macroencapsulated heat exchangers have a higher thermal power?

1) For immersed heat exchanger configurations, the phase change behavior is more significant with a higher power during the phase change. 2) Due to the high HTF fraction, the mean thermal power of the macroencapsulated system can be higher than for immersed heat exchangers even for a lower heat transfer area within the storage volume.

What are the challenges of latent thermal energy storage?

One of the main challenges for latent thermal energy storages is the phase change itself which requires a separation of the storage medium and HTF. Furthermore, PCMs usually have a low thermal conductivity, which limits the heat transfer and power of the storage.

How do heat sources affect the heat storage power of PCMS?

Different heat sources have a large impact on the heat storage power of PCMs, and the general trend is to increase the contact area between the heat source and the solid–liquid interface to effectively improve the heat storage power.

What are sensible and latent thermal energy storage?

Sensible, latent, and thermochemical energy storages for different temperatures ranges are investigated with a current special focus on sensible and latent thermal energy storages. Thermochemical heat storage is a technology under development with potentially high-energy densities.