Thermal Energy

Storage

Jahanzaib Ali 15EE01 (Group Leader)

Amjad Ali
15EE05
Ramiz Shaikh 15EE25
Israr Ali
15EE36
Jahangir Khan 15EE40
Abdul
Jabbar 15EE31

Designed By: Amjad Ali

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What is Energy Storage?
Energy storage is the capture of energy produced at one time for use at a later time. A device that
stores energy is sometimes called an accumulator. Energy comes in multiple forms including radiation,
chemical, gravitational potential, electrical potential, electricity, elevated temperature, latent heat and
kinetic.

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Thermal Energy Storage.
Thermal energy storage (TES) is a technology that stocks thermal energy by heating or cooling a
storage medium so that the stored energy can be used at a later time for heating and cooling applications
and power generation.
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Thermal energy (i.e. heat and cold) can be stored as sensible heat in heat storage media, as latent
heat associated with phase change materials (PCMs) or as thermo-chemical energy associated with
chemical reactions (i.e. thermo-chemical storage) at operation temperatures ranging from -40°C to above
400°C. Typical figures for TES systems are shown in Table 1 [1], including capacity, power, efficiency,
storage period and costs.

1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_storage
2
http://www.calmac.com/how-energy-storage-works
3
https://www.irena.org/DocumentDownloads/Publications/IRENA-ETSAP%20Tech%20Brief%20E17%20Thermal
%20Energy%20Storage.pdf
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How Thermal Energy Storage Works?

Step 1: During night time, off-peak hours, water that contains 25% ethylene or
propylene glycol is cooled by a chiller. That solution circulates inside the heat exchanger within
the ice Bank tank, freezing 95% of the water that surrounds the heat exchanger inside the
tank. The water surrounding the heat exchanger never leaves the tank.
Step 2: Ice is created uniformly inside the ice Bank tank via CALMAC’s, counter-flow-
heat exchanger tubes. As ice forms, water still moves freely, which prevents damage to the
tank. To fully charge an ice Bank tank takes from six to 12 hours.
Step 3: During the day-time on peak hours, the glycol solution circulates through the ice
storage tanks to deliver the stored energy to the building to augment or offset electric chiller
cooling.  The cold glycol is delivered at the proper temperature to the cooling coil in an air
handler. 
Step 4: A fan blows air over the coils to deliver cooling to the occupant spaces.  People
feel cool and comfortable and never know ice storage is being used to save money on cooling
costs.

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What is Heat Storage?
Heat/Thermal energy storage (TES) is achieved with greatly differing technologies that
collectively accommodate a wide range of needs. It allows excess thermal energy to be collected for later
use, hours, days or many months later, at individual building, multiuser building, district, town or even
regional scale depending on the specific technology.

4
http://www.calmac.com/how-energy-storage-works
5
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_energy_storage
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Types of Heat Storage:
Thermal energy storage can basically be classified according to the way heat is stored as
sensible heat, in hot liquids and solid, as latent heat in melts and vapors and as chemical heat in chemical
compounds.

1. Sensible heat Storage:

In the case of sensible heat storage systems, energy is stored or extracted by heating or
cooling a liquid or a solid, which does not change its phase during this process. A variety of substances
have been used in such systems. These include liquids like water, heat transfer oils and certain inorganic
molten salts, and solid like rocks, pebbles and refractory. In the case of solids, the material is invariably in
porous form and heat is stored or extracted by the flow of a gas or a liquid through the pores or voids.

2. 7
Latent Heat Storage:
Latent heat involves the change of a substance from one phase to another at a fixed temperature.
In latent TES systems, energy is stored during the phase change (e.g. melting, evaporating and
crystallization). Due to the specific heat of a typical medium and the high enthalpy change during phase
change, the latent heat change is usually greater than the sensible heat change for a given system size.
Latent heat storage materials are usually useful over a small temperature range

3. Thermochemical Storage:
The chemical TES category includes sorption and thermochemical reactions. In thermochemical
energy storage, energy is stored after a dissociation reaction and then recovered in a chemically reverse
reaction. Thermochemical energy storage has a higher storage density than the other types of TES,
allowing large quantities of energy to be stored using small amounts of storage substances. Energy
storage based on chemical reactions is particularly appropriate for long-term storage applications, e.g.,
seasonal storage of solar heat, because the process involves almost no energy losses during the storing
period. Storage is usually done at ambient temperatures.

In general, a TES cycle includes three main processes:

• Charging

• Storing

• Discharging

These three processes are illustrated for thermochemical energy storage in Fig. (1), and are
described individually below:

Charging: The charging process is endothermic. Thermal energy is absorbed from an energy
resource, which could be a renewable energy resource and/or conventional energy sources like fossil
6
http://www.eolss.net/sample-chapters/c08/e3-14-02-01.pdf
7
http://benthamopen.com/contents/pdf/TOREJ/TOREJ-4-42.pdf
fuels. This energy is used for dissociation of the thermochemical material, and is equivalent to the heat of
reaction or enthalpy of formation. After this process, two materials (A and B) with different properties are
formed that can be stored.

Storing: After the charging process, components A and B are separately stored with little or no
energy losses. The materials are usually stored at ambient temperatures, leading to no thermal losses
(except during the initial cooling of components A and B after charging). Any other energy losses are due
to degradation of the materials.

Discharging: During this process, A and B are combined in an exothermic reaction. The energy
released from this reaction permits the stored energy to be recovered. After discharging, component C is
regenerated and can be used again in the cycle

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Utilization and Importance of Thermal Energy Storage:

Utilization: Important fields of application for TES systems are in the building sector (e.g.
domestic hot water, space heating, air-conditioning and in the industrial sector (e.g. process heat and
cold). TES systems can be installed as either centralized plants or distributed devices. Centralized plants
are designed to store waste heat from large industrial processes, conventional power plants, combined
heat and power plants and from renewable power plants, such as concentrated solar power (CSP). Their
power capacity ranges typically from hundreds of kW to several MW (i.e. thermal power). Distributed
devices are usually buffer storage systems to accumulate solar heat to be used for domestic and
commercial buildings (e.g. hot water, heating, appliances).
Importance: Distributed systems are mostly in the range of a few to tens of kW. TES systems
– either centralized or distributed - improve the energy efficiency of industrial processes, residential
energy uses and power plants by storing waste or by-product heat or renewable heat when it is available
and supplying it upon demand. Thermo-chemical storage systems can also convert waste heat into higher
temperature heat or into cold. A number of energy-intensive industrial sectors and processes (e.g. cement,
iron and steel, glass) benefit from TES systems. Manufacturing industry (e.g. automobile industry) can
also benefit significantly from TES. Most importantly, TES can help integrate variable solar heat into the
8
https://www.irena.org/DocumentDownloads/Publications/IRENA-ETSAP%20Tech%20Brief%20E17%20Thermal
%20Energy%20Storage.pdf
energy system. This applies either to short-term storage based on daily heat buffers for domestic hot-
water production or to long-term heat storage for residential and industrial heating purposes, based on
large central storage systems and district heating networks.

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Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage:
Seasonal thermal energy storage (or STES) is the storage of heat or cold for periods of up to
several months. The thermal energy can be collected whenever it is available and be used whenever
needed, such as in the opposing season. For example, heat from solar collectors or waste heat from air
conditioning equipment can be gathered in hot months for space heating use when needed, including
during winter months. Waste heat from industrial process can similarly be stored and be used much
later. Or the natural cold of winter air can be stored for summertime air conditioning.  STES stores can
serve district heating systems, as well as single buildings or complexes. Among seasonal storages used for
heating, the design peak annual temperatures generally are in the range of 27 to 80 °C (80.6 to 176.0 °F),
and the temperature difference occurring in the storage over the course of a year can be several tens of
degrees.

Materials used in Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage:

The most common material used to store energy is water. Moreover, certain materials based on
common ceramics (cement, concrete, etc.), some natural stones like marble, granite, clay, sandstone, and
polymers (PUR, PS, PVC) are also widely used. Thereby, waste materials from several industrial
processes with proper thermo physical properties are becoming suitable candidates to be used for sensible
heat TES.

9
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_thermal_energy_storage