Compared to solar photovoltaics, concentrated solar power (CSP) can store excessive solar thermal energy, extend the power generation, and levelize the mismatch between the demand and supply. Thermal energy storage (TES) system filled with phase change material (PCM) is a key to make CSP competitive, and it is also a promising indirect energy storage technique. It is of great interests to the solar thermal engineering community to apply the latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) system for large-scale CSP application, because PCMs can store more energy due to the latent heat during the melting/freezing process. Therefore, a comprehensive parametric analysis of LHTES system is necessary in order to identify the most sensitive ranges of various parameters to design the LHTES system with better systematic performances. In this study, unlike the existing parametric study based on dimensional parameters, we aimed to provide a more general analysis using dimensionless parameters; therefore, an 11-dimensionless-parameter space of LHTES system was developed, by considering the technical constraints (material properties and operation parameters), without economic constraints. The parametric study and sensitivity analysis were then performed based on a 1D enthalpy-based transient model, and the energy storage efficiency was used as the objective function to minimize the number of variables in the parameter space. It was found that Stanton number (St), dimensionless PCM radius (r/D), and void fraction (ε) are the three most important dimensionless parameters. It is expected that the discovery of this study can bring more discussions in the solar thermal engineering community about the implementation of LHTES system in CSP plant, to further explore the significances of these three dimensionless parameters to the operation of the LHTES system.
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April 2019
Research-Article
Parametric Study and Sensitivity Analysis of Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage System in Concentrated Solar Power Plants
Hermes Chirino,
Hermes Chirino
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley,
Edinburg, TX 78539
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley,
Edinburg, TX 78539
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Ben Xu
Ben Xu
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley,
Edinburg, TX 78539
e-mail: ben.xu@utrgv.edu
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley,
Edinburg, TX 78539
e-mail: ben.xu@utrgv.edu
Search for other works by this author on:
Hermes Chirino
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley,
Edinburg, TX 78539
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley,
Edinburg, TX 78539
Ben Xu
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley,
Edinburg, TX 78539
e-mail: ben.xu@utrgv.edu
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley,
Edinburg, TX 78539
e-mail: ben.xu@utrgv.edu
1Present address: Texas State Technical College, Harlingen, TX 78550.
2Corresponding author.
Contributed by the Solar Energy Division of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF SOLAR ENERGY ENGINEERING: INCLUDING WIND ENERGY AND BUILDING ENERGY CONSERVATION. Manuscript received September 4, 2018; final manuscript received November 9, 2018; published online January 8, 2019. Guest Editors: Tatsuya Kodama, Christian Sattler, Nathan Siegel, Ellen Stechel.
J. Sol. Energy Eng. Apr 2019, 141(2): 021006 (9 pages)
Published Online: January 8, 2019
Article history
Received:
September 4, 2018
Revised:
November 9, 2018
Citation
Chirino, H., and Xu, B. (January 8, 2019). "Parametric Study and Sensitivity Analysis of Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage System in Concentrated Solar Power Plants." ASME. J. Sol. Energy Eng. April 2019; 141(2): 021006. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4042060
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