One of the newly established IITs,
Indian Institute of Technology, Jammu has established itself as a leading
research institution thanks to its distinct objectives. In November 2022,
Ecosense provided and set up a Thermal Energy Storage System in the Department
of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Jammu.
The Thermal Energy Storage system is a
product of Ecosense’s Solar Thermal Lab.
Ecosense’s Solar Thermal Labs provides
an end-to-end learning and training in the field of Solar Thermal. Solar
Thermal Lab consists of four products which together covers the entire concepts
of Solar Thermal technology, usage and Installation.
The thermal energy storage
(TES) can be defined as the temporary storage of thermal energy at high or low
temperatures. The TES is not a new concept, and at has been used for centuries.
Energy storage can reduce the time or rate mismatch between energy supply &
demand and it plays an important role in energy conservation. Energy storage
improves performance of energy systems by smoothing supply and increasing
reliability. For example, storage would improve the performance of a power
generating plant by load levelling. The higher efficiency would lead to energy
conservation and improve cost effectiveness. Some of the renewable energy
sources can only provide energy intermittently. Although the sun provides an
abundant, clean and safe source of energy, the supply of this energy is
periodic following yearly and diurnal cycles; it is intermittent, often
unpredictable and diffused. Its density is low compared with the energy flux
densities found in conventional fossil energy devices like coal or oil-fired
furnaces. The demand for energy, on the other hand, is also unsteady following
yearly and diurnal cycles for both industrial and personal needs. Therefore,
the need for the storage of solar energy cannot be avoided.
This system has been designed
to perform TES related experiment by using PCM materials. As there are several
types of PCM, the system has been designed to perform experiment with at least
two PCM separately. Provision is also kept to examine the combine (known as
cascading) effect of two PCMs in thermal energy storage. To visualize the phase
changes in the material another set of arrangement are there in the system.
·
Artificial Source of heat
·
Simple to integrate with
solar thermal devices such as parabolic trough collector, Flat Plate Collector
or Evacuated Tube Collector
·
Inbuilt storage for two
PCMs
·
Easy to change the storage
unit for new PCM
·
Provision to perform
experiment in cascading of PCMs
·
Provision to perform
experiment under different operating conditions (temperature, HTF, flow rate)
·
Capable to give
experimental knowledge of thermal resistance
·
Capable to deliver
in-depth knowledge about the charging, storing and discharging stages of latent
heat thermal energy storage technology
·
Evaluation of heat
transfer during charging and discharging of PCM
·
Evaluation of system
thermal efficiency during charging storing and discharging the PCM
·
Evaluation of overall
system thermal efficiency
· Comparison of some experimentally and theoretically calculated values
