IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v9y2016i9p758-d78435.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Experimental and Numerical Research Activity on a Packed Bed TES System

Author

Listed:
  • Mario Cascetta

    (Department of Mechanical, Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Cagliari, Via Marengo, 2, Cagliari 09123, Italy)

  • Fabio Serra

    (Solar Concentration Technologies and Hydrogen from RES Laboratory, Sardegna Ricerche—Z.I. Macchiareddu, Uta (CA) 09010, Italy)

  • Simone Arena

    (Department of Mechanical, Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Cagliari, Via Marengo, 2, Cagliari 09123, Italy)

  • Efisio Casti

    (Department of Mechanical, Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Cagliari, Via Marengo, 2, Cagliari 09123, Italy)

  • Giorgio Cau

    (Department of Mechanical, Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Cagliari, Via Marengo, 2, Cagliari 09123, Italy)

  • Pierpaolo Puddu

    (Department of Mechanical, Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Cagliari, Via Marengo, 2, Cagliari 09123, Italy)

Abstract

This paper presents the results of experimental and numerical research activities on a packed bed sensible thermal energy storage (TES) system. The TES consists of a cylindrical steel tank filled with small alumina beads and crossed by air used as the heat transfer fluid. Experimental tests were carried out while varying some operating parameters such as the mass flow rate, the inlet–outlet temperature thresholds and the aspect ratio (length over diameter). Numerical simulations were carried out using a one-dimensional model, specifically developed in the Matlab-Simulink environment and a 2D axisymmetric model based on the ANSYS-Fluent platform. Both models are based on a two-equation transient approach to calculate fluid and solid phase temperatures. Thermodynamic properties were considered to be temperature-dependent and, in the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model, variable porosity of the bed in the radial direction, thermal losses and the effective conductivity of the alumina beads were also considered. The simulation results of both models were compared to the experimental ones, showing good agreement. The one-dimensional model has the advantage of predicting the axial temperature distribution with a very low computational cost, but it does not allow calculation of the correct energy stored when the temperature distribution is strongly influenced by the wall. To overcome this problem a 2D CFD model was used in this work.

Suggested Citation

  • Mario Cascetta & Fabio Serra & Simone Arena & Efisio Casti & Giorgio Cau & Pierpaolo Puddu, 2016. "Experimental and Numerical Research Activity on a Packed Bed TES System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-13, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:9:y:2016:i:9:p:758-:d:78435
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/9/9/758/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/9/9/758/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fernandes, D. & Pitié, F. & Cáceres, G. & Baeyens, J., 2012. "Thermal energy storage: “How previous findings determine current research priorities”," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 246-257.
    2. Cot-Gores, Jaume & Castell, Albert & Cabeza, Luisa F., 2012. "Thermochemical energy storage and conversion: A-state-of-the-art review of the experimental research under practical conditions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(7), pages 5207-5224.
    3. Zanganeh, G. & Pedretti, A. & Haselbacher, A. & Steinfeld, A., 2015. "Design of packed bed thermal energy storage systems for high-temperature industrial process heat," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 812-822.
    4. Anderson, Ryan & Shiri, Samira & Bindra, Hitesh & Morris, Jeffrey F., 2014. "Experimental results and modeling of energy storage and recovery in a packed bed of alumina particles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 521-529.
    5. Singh, Harmeet & Saini, R.P. & Saini, J.S., 2010. "A review on packed bed solar energy storage systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 1059-1069, April.
    6. Nithyanandam, K. & Pitchumani, R. & Mathur, A., 2014. "Analysis of a latent thermocline storage system with encapsulated phase change materials for concentrating solar power," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1446-1460.
    7. Sharma, Atul & Tyagi, V.V. & Chen, C.R. & Buddhi, D., 2009. "Review on thermal energy storage with phase change materials and applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 318-345, February.
    8. Tian, Y. & Zhao, C.Y., 2013. "A review of solar collectors and thermal energy storage in solar thermal applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 538-553.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Davide Iaria & Xin Zhou & Jafar Al Zaili & Qiang Zhang & Gang Xiao & Abdulnaser Sayma, 2019. "Development of a Model for Performance Analysis of a Honeycomb Thermal Energy Storage for Solar Power Microturbine Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-19, October.
    2. Cisek, Piotr & Taler, Dawid, 2019. "Numerical analysis and performance assessment of the Thermal Energy Storage unit aimed to be utilized in Smart Electric Thermal Storage (SETS)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 755-771.
    3. Xie, Baoshan & Baudin, Nicolas & Soto, Jérôme & Fan, Yilin & Luo, Lingai, 2023. "Experimental and numerical study on the thermocline behavior of packed-bed storage tank with sensible fillers," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 106-121.
    4. Sulzgruber, Verena & Wünsch, David & Haider, Markus & Walter, Heimo, 2020. "Numerical investigation on the flow behavior of a novel fluidization based particle thermal energy storage (FP-TES)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    5. Vittorio Tola & Simone Arena & Mario Cascetta & Giorgio Cau, 2020. "Numerical Investigation on a Packed-Bed LHTES System Integrated into a Micro Electrical and Thermal Grid," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-15, April.
    6. Verena Sulzgruber & David Wünsch & Heimo Walter & Markus Haider, 2020. "FP-TES: Fluidization Based Particle Thermal Energy Storage, Part II: Experimental Investigations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-17, August.
    7. Timo Roeder & Kai Risthaus & Nathalie Monnerie & Christian Sattler, 2022. "Non-Stoichiometric Redox Thermochemical Energy Storage Analysis for High Temperature Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-21, August.
    8. Michael Lanahan & Paulo Cesar Tabares-Velasco, 2017. "Seasonal Thermal-Energy Storage: A Critical Review on BTES Systems, Modeling, and System Design for Higher System Efficiency," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-24, May.
    9. Xie, Baoshan & Baudin, Nicolas & Soto, Jérôme & Fan, Yilin & Luo, Lingai, 2022. "Wall impact on efficiency of packed-bed thermocline thermal energy storage system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    10. Andrea Cinocca & Marco Di Bartolomeo & Roberto Cipollone & Roberto Carapellucci, 2020. "A Definitive Model of a Small-Scale Concentrated Solar Power Hybrid Plant Using Air as Heat Transfer Fluid with a Thermal Storage Section and ORC Plants for Energy Recovery," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-22, September.
    11. Petrollese, Mario & Cascetta, Mario & Tola, Vittorio & Cocco, Daniele & Cau, Giorgio, 2022. "Pumped thermal energy storage systems integrated with a concentrating solar power section: Conceptual design and performance evaluation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kothari, Rohit & Hemmingsen, Casper Schytte & Voigt, Niels Vinther & La Seta, Angelo & Nielsen, Kenny Krogh & Desai, Nishith B. & Vijayan, Akhil & Haglind, Fredrik, 2024. "Numerical and experimental analysis of instability in high temperature packed-bed rock thermal energy storage systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 358(C).
    2. Islam, Md. Parvez & Morimoto, Tetsuo, 2018. "Advances in low to medium temperature non-concentrating solar thermal technology," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2066-2093.
    3. Pelay, Ugo & Luo, Lingai & Fan, Yilin & Stitou, Driss & Rood, Mark, 2017. "Thermal energy storage systems for concentrated solar power plants," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 82-100.
    4. ELSihy, ELSaeed Saad & Mokhtar, Omar & Xu, Chao & Du, Xiaoze & Adel, Mohamed, 2023. "Cyclic performance characterization of a high-temperature thermal energy storage system packed with rock/slag pebbles granules combined with encapsulated phase change materials," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).
    5. Pintaldi, Sergio & Perfumo, Cristian & Sethuvenkatraman, Subbu & White, Stephen & Rosengarten, Gary, 2015. "A review of thermal energy storage technologies and control approaches for solar cooling," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 975-995.
    6. Khamlich, Imane & Zeng, Kuo & Flamant, Gilles & Baeyens, Jan & Zou, Chongzhe & Li, Jun & Yang, Xinyi & He, Xiao & Liu, Qingchuan & Yang, Haiping & Yang, Qing & Chen, Hanping, 2021. "Technical and economic assessment of thermal energy storage in concentrated solar power plants within a spot electricity market," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    7. Xu, Ben & Li, Peiwen & Chan, Cholik, 2015. "Application of phase change materials for thermal energy storage in concentrated solar thermal power plants: A review to recent developments," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 286-307.
    8. Jin, Kaiyuan & Wirz, Richard E., 2020. "Sulfur heat transfer behavior in vertically-oriented and nonuniformly‑heated isochoric thermal energy storage systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    9. Soares, N. & Bastos, J. & Pereira, L. Dias & Soares, A. & Amaral, A.R. & Asadi, E. & Rodrigues, E. & Lamas, F.B. & Monteiro, H. & Lopes, M.A.R. & Gaspar, A.R., 2017. "A review on current advances in the energy and environmental performance of buildings towards a more sustainable built environment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 845-860.
    10. McTigue, J.D. & White, A.J., 2018. "A comparison of radial-flow and axial-flow packed beds for thermal energy storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C), pages 533-541.
    11. ELSihy, ELSaeed Saad & Cai, Changrui & Li, Zhenpeng & Du, Xiaoze & Wang, Zuyuan, 2024. "Performance investigation on the cascaded packed bed thermal energy storage system with encapsulated nano-enhanced phase change materials for high-temperature applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).
    12. Tatsidjodoung, Parfait & Le Pierrès, Nolwenn & Luo, Lingai, 2013. "A review of potential materials for thermal energy storage in building applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 327-349.
    13. Tiskatine, R. & Eddemani, A. & Gourdo, L. & Abnay, B. & Ihlal, A. & Aharoune, A. & Bouirden, L., 2016. "Experimental evaluation of thermo-mechanical performances of candidate rocks for use in high temperature thermal storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 243-255.
    14. Cocco, Daniele & Serra, Fabio, 2015. "Performance comparison of two-tank direct and thermocline thermal energy storage systems for 1 MWe class concentrating solar power plants," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 526-536.
    15. Sharif, M.K. Anuar & Al-Abidi, A.A. & Mat, S. & Sopian, K. & Ruslan, M.H. & Sulaiman, M.Y. & Rosli, M.A.M., 2015. "Review of the application of phase change material for heating and domestic hot water systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 557-568.
    16. Shao, Wei & Cui, Zheng & Chen, Zhao-you & Wang, Jing-chen & Liu, Yu & Ren, Xiao-han & Luo, Feng, 2019. "Experimental and numerical measurements of the channel packed with disordered cement granules regarding the heat transfer performance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    17. Tao, Y.B. & He, Ya-Ling, 2018. "A review of phase change material and performance enhancement method for latent heat storage system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 245-259.
    18. Alvi, Jahan Zeb & Feng, Yongqiang & Wang, Qian & Imran, Muhammad & Pei, Gang, 2021. "Effect of phase change materials on the performance of direct vapor generation solar organic Rankine cycle system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    19. Aneke, Mathew & Wang, Meihong, 2016. "Energy storage technologies and real life applications – A state of the art review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 350-377.
    20. Daniarta, Sindu & Nemś, Magdalena & Kolasiński, Piotr, 2023. "A review on thermal energy storage applicable for low- and medium-temperature organic Rankine cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(PA).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:9:y:2016:i:9:p:758-:d:78435. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.