Design, Optimization and Control of a Thermal Energy Storage System

Abstract

The storage of thermal energy is important in a wide variety of applications. Certainly, in the utilization of solar energy, the storage of the energy received is of particular interest and importance because of the intermittent nature of solar energy. The energy storage system in this case must be able to retain the energy absorbed for at least a few days in order to be able to supply energy, as needed, on cloudy days when the energy input is small For power generation, the desired duration of storage is even longer since the substantially greater absorbed energy in the summer, as compared to that in the winter, is to be retained over several months to meet the demand during the winter. A salt-gradient solar pond is such a long-term storage system [1] For short-term storage requirements, storage of thermal energy in tanks of water, packed beds, phase-change materials and in other high thermal capacity materials have been used for solar energy applications [2,3]. Besides thermal energy, storage systems based on electrical, mechanical and chemical energy have been developed and employed for different applications.