Active Fluidized Bed Technology Used for Thermal Energy Storage

A higher number of research institutions work on solutions for energy storage systems. Therefore a large number of differing approaches in competition among each other to develop storage technologies. At the TU-Wien, Institute for Energy Systems and Thermodynamics a novel thermal energy storage concept based on an active fluidized bed technology — the so called sandTES-heat exchanger technology — has been developed. The present paper describes the basic idea behind the key technology and the design methodology of a test rig in semi-industrial scale. In addition the results of selected preliminary experimental and numerical investigations are presented and discussed.