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A ternary molten chloride has been suggested as a high temperature (550-720 °C) sensible heat storage medium for a two-tank system. An effective thermal insulation is proposed to provide an opportunity for the fabrication of both the hot and cold storage tanks from lower cost metals, e.g. A240-347H, by maintaining the tank wall below 500 °C. To achieve this, the hot storage tank mainly comprises of inner shell (11.4 cm of a refractory brick as liner (KX-99®), 30 cm of insulation brick) and outer metal shell, where 5 cm of frozen layer of PCM800 (NaCl), and 5 cm of ceramic wool fill the annular space between the shells. Another layer of ceramic wool was introduced at the outer side of the metal shell to keep the temperature lower than 60 °C. ANSYS Fluent was used for the numerical study of the cool down behavior of the system during idle period when tank is quarter-filled. The heat transfer modes were considered as radiation and natural convection heat transfer from the hot molten salt at 720 °C, conduction through the solid layers and convection heat transfer from the outer shell to the environment at 15 °C. The results showed that the proposed insulation system including a frozen layer of PCM800 maintains the temperature at the metal wall lower than 500 °C, and lower than 60°C at the outer side of the tank. Apart from the insulation property of the frozen layer of PCM800, it absorbs any leak of hot molten salt, acting as a barrier between salt and the metal shell. The thermal performance analysis provide an insight into the benefits of the multilayer insulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latent heat thermal energy storage systems working at higher temperatures around 800 °C are considered as a promising alternative in conjunction with the sCO2 Brayton cycle for the next generation of concentrating solar power plants. At higher temperatures, a detailed thermo-mechanical analysis of the system is crucial, particularly during a melting/charging process with a high temperature difference (50-100 K) between the solid phase change material (PCM) and heat transfer fluid. Here, the melt path formation of a high temperature PCM in a horizontal shell and tube system is investigated. Three different levels of modelling were conducted. The results of the study showed that the melted PCM around the tubes connect and form a path after about 50 seconds, which provides a way for the high temperature PCM to flow through. This imposes a temperature gradient along the tubes preventing a localised hot spot and high thermal stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current study a novel geopolymer created from waste materials (namely fly ash and black slag) has been characterised as a potential high temperature thermal energy storage material option. Several geopolymer samples have been fabricated and characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Additionally, the density and heat capacity have been determined. Lastly, the cost of the material and packed bed system was estimated showing that the geopolymer-based systems are potentially 35% cheaper than the traditional 2-tank molten salt systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latent heat storage using phase change materials (PCMs) can be used to store large amounts of energy in a narrow temperature difference during phase transition. The thermophysical properties of PCMs such as latent heat, specific heat and melting and solidification temperature need to be defined at high precision for the design and estimating the cost of latent heat storage systems. The existing laboratory standard methods, such as differential thermal analysis (DTA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), use a small sample size (1-10 mg) to measure thermophysical properties, which makes these methods suitable for homogeneous elements. In addition, this small amount of sample has different thermophysical properties when compared with the bulk sample and may have limitations for evaluating the properties of mixtures. To avoid the drawbacks in existing methods, the temperature – history (T-history) method can be used with bulk quantities of PCM salt mixtures to characterize PCMs. This paper presents a modified T-history setup, which was designed and built at the University of South Australia to measure the melting point, heat of fusion, specific heat, degree of supercooling and phase separation of salt mixtures for a temperature range between 200 °C and 400 °C. Sodium Nitrate (NaNO3) was used to verify the accuracy of the new setup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the following study cost estimates have been undertaken for an encapsulated phase change material (EPCM) packed bed, a packed bed thermocline and a traditional two-tank molten salt system. The effect of various heat transfer fluids (air and molten salt), system configuration (cascade vs one PCM, and direct vs indirect) and temperature difference (ΔT = 100-500 °C) on the cost estimate of the system was also investigated. Lastly, the storage system boundary was expanded to include heat exchangers, pumps and fans, and heat tracing so that a thorough cost comparison could be undertaken. The results presented in this paper provide a methodology to quickly compare various systems and configurations while providing design limits for the studied technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium sulphate (Li2SO4) was evaluated as a solid-solid PCM material to be coupled with concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies. The energy is stored in a cubic crystalline phase that is formed at temperatures above 576°C and can potentially be discharged at temperatures as low as 150°C, providing both sensible and latent thermal energy storage in a hybrid sensible-latent system. These operational conditions are appropriate for current CSP technologies based on subcritical steam Rankine power cycles. Results from thermal cycling experiments in air showed no change in energy storage capacity after 15 cycles. There was up to a 5% reduction in latent thermal capacity and 0.95% in total thermal capacity after 150 cycles in air. In our paper, we evaluate a hybrid sensible-latent thermal energy storage system based on lithium sulphate from an economic and technical performance point of view, demonstrating its potential as a high temperature thermal energy storage material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the stability and corrosion testing results of a candidate high temperature phase change material (PCM) for potential use in concentrating solar power applications. The investigated PCM is a eutectic mixture of NaCl and Na2CO3 and both are low cost materials. This PCM has a melting temperature of 635℃ and a relatively high latent heat of fusion of 308.1 J/g. The testing was performed by means of an electric furnace subjected to 150 melt-freeze cycles between 600℃ and 650℃. The results showed that this PCM candidate has no obvious decomposition up to 650℃ after 150 cycles and stainless steel 316 potentially can be used as the containment material under the minimized oxygen atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an effort to reduce the cost and increase the material compatibility of encapsulated phase change materials (EPCMs) a new encapsulated system has been proposed. In the current study a molten salt eutectic of barium chloride (53% wt.), potassium chloride (28% wt.) and sodium chloride (19% wt.) has been identified as a promising candidate for low cost EPCM storage systems. The latent heat, melting point and thermal stability of the phase change material (PCM) was determined by DSC and was found to be in good agreement with results published in the literature. To cope with the corrosive nature of the PCM, it was decided that a fly-ash based geopolymer met the thermal and economic constraints for encapsulation. The thermal stability of the geopolymer shell was also tested with several formulations proving to form a stable shell for the chosen PCM at 200℃ and/or 600℃. Lastly several capsules of the geopolymer shell with a chloride PCM were fabricated using a variety of methods with several samples remaining stable after exposure to 600℃ testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]