Factors affecting thermal energy storage

Why is thermal energy storage important?

Thermal energy storage (TES) is increasingly important due to the demand-supply challenge caused by the intermittency of renewable energy and waste heat dissipation to the environment. This paper discusses the fundamentals and novel applications of TES materials and identifies appropriate TES materials for particular applications.

How is thermal energy stored?

Thermal energy can generally be stored in two ways: sensible heat storage and latent heat storage. It is also possible to store thermal energy in a combination of sensible and latent, which is called hybrid thermal energy storage. Figure 2.8 shows the branch of thermal energy storage methods.

Can thermal energy storage systems be used in buildings?

It is possible to use thermal energy storage methods for heating and cooling purposes in buildings and industrial applications and power generation. When the final use of heat storage systems is heating or cooling, their integration will be more effective. Therefore, thermal energy storage systems are commonly used in buildings.

What are the different types of thermal energy storage?

This study is a first-of-its-kind specific review of the current projected performance and costs of thermal energy storage. This paper presents an overview of the main typologies of sensible heat (SH-TES), latent heat (LH-TES), and thermochemical energy (TCS) as well as their application in European countries.

How energy is stored in sensible thermal energy storage systems?

Energy is stored in sensible thermal energy storage systems by altering the temperature of a storage medium, such as water, air, oil, rock beds, bricks, concrete, sand, or soil. Storage media can be made of one or more materials. It depends on the final and initial temperature difference, mass and specific heat of the storage medium.

What are the properties of thermal energy storage materials?

Other desired properties of thermal energy storage materials are low supercooling, low cost, easy availability, thermal stability, chemical stability, low volume change, non–toxic, low vapor pressure, congruent melting and low flammability etc .