Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Large Stratified Thermal Storage Systems in transient states

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-455-6_13How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Stratified Thermal Energy Storage; Computational Fluid Dynamics; OpenFOAM; Decentralized Sector; Optimized Use of Renewable Energies

Abstract

Mid-sized thermal energy storage (TES) systems, especially in the distributed sector, have received little attention for public buildings. Validation of such systems, especially for the use of multiple renewables with different operating modes using CFD simulations, is still pending. The objective of this study is to validate a CFD model for the operation of complex and mid-sized TES systems for simultaneous charging and discharging cycles to enable investigations on optimized operating modes, geometric optimizations, and predictive charging and discharging scenarios. For this purpose, the 60 m³ local heating storage of Großbardorf, Germany, was used to obtain real-time operating conditions and in-situ temperature distribution data. Charging and discharging cycles as well as combined scenarios were calculated and compared with the experimentally determined dynamics of the thermocline. Simulations were performed using the open-source tool OpenFOAM® with the single-phase transient solver buoyantPimpleFoam in laminar and turbulent modes, including ambient heat losses. Good agreement was found between simulated and experimental data, especially in the regions of layer transitions with a RMSE of 1.2 ℃ or less over the entire observation period. It is shown how the validation allows further improvements and optimizations of TES with greater confidence. In particular, for research on the efficient use of multiple, fluctuating renewable energies and the increase of self-sufficiency in the decentralized sector, a demand-optimized charging and discharging layout is presented for a mid-sized TES to be installed at the new Institute for Hydrogen and Energy Technology (iwe) at Hof University of Applied Sciences. By conducting research in facilities such as the iwe, this approach will not only create opportunities for the future deployment of renewable energy storage and related systems, but also highlight the importance of decarbonization in the decentralized sector.

Copyright

© 2024 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Robin Fick
AU  - Robert Honke
AU  - Dieter Brüggemann
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/07/11
TI  - Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Large Stratified Thermal Storage Systems in transient states
BT  - Proceedings of the International Renewable Energy Storage and Systems Conference (IRES 2023)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 118
EP  - 131
SN  - 2589-4943
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-455-6_13
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-455-6_13
ID  - Fick2024
ER  -