Thermal energy storage (TES) systems are commonly employed for enhancing the efficiency of commercial and residential heating and cooling systems, by matching thermal energy supply and demand during summer-winter, day-night, and peak-off-peak periods. TES in these systems is usually achieved by changing the temperature of materials (sensible systems) and/or inducing solid-liquid phase change (latent heat systems). Such systems are also categorized as seasonal (long-term) and diurnal (short-term). In this work, the focus is on sensible diurnal TES systems consisting of rock beds, with air as the working fluid. They are relatively simple, easy to construct, inexpensive, and quite effective for many solar energy and building engineering applications. Numerous publications on rock-bed TES systems are available, but there is an urgent need for efficient computational methods for designing and optimizing them. The contributions of this work are the following: proposal of cost-effective mathematical models of fluid flow and heat transfer in rock beds; adaptation of a finite volume method (FVM) for the solution of this model; applications of this FVM to two test problems (with analytical solutions) and one demonstration problem; proposal of suitable thermofluid performance evaluation criteria for the rock-bed TES systems of interest; and presentation and discussions of the results.
Skip Nav Destination
ASME 2010 3rd Joint US-European Fluids Engineering Summer Meeting collocated with 8th International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels, and Minichannels
August 1–5, 2010
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Conference Sponsors:
- Fluids Engineering Division
ISBN:
978-0-7918-4948-4
PROCEEDINGS PAPER
Computational Modeling of Thermal Energy Storage in Rock Beds
Tihomir G. Sivov,
Tihomir G. Sivov
McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Search for other works by this author on:
Raul Palacios-Gamez,
Raul Palacios-Gamez
McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Search for other works by this author on:
B. Rabi Baliga
B. Rabi Baliga
McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Search for other works by this author on:
Tihomir G. Sivov
McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Raul Palacios-Gamez
McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
B. Rabi Baliga
McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Paper No:
FEDSM-ICNMM2010-31130, pp. 923-934; 12 pages
Published Online:
March 1, 2011
Citation
Sivov, TG, Palacios-Gamez, R, & Baliga, BR. "Computational Modeling of Thermal Energy Storage in Rock Beds." Proceedings of the ASME 2010 3rd Joint US-European Fluids Engineering Summer Meeting collocated with 8th International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels, and Minichannels. ASME 2010 3rd Joint US-European Fluids Engineering Summer Meeting: Volume 1, Symposia – Parts A, B, and C. Montreal, Quebec, Canada. August 1–5, 2010. pp. 923-934. ASME. https://doi.org/10.1115/FEDSM-ICNMM2010-31130
Download citation file:
11
Views
Related Proceedings Papers
Related Articles
Investigation on a Solar Thermal Power Plant With a Packed Bed Heat Storage Unit
J. Sol. Energy Eng (August,2022)
Numerical and Experimental Investigation on a Combined Sensible and Latent Heat Storage Unit Integrated With Solar Water Heating System
J. Sol. Energy Eng (November,2009)
Development of a Molten-Salt Thermocline Thermal Storage System for Parabolic Trough Plants
J. Sol. Energy Eng (May,2002)
Related Chapters
Thermal Design Guide of Liquid Cooled Systems
Thermal Design of Liquid Cooled Microelectronic Equipment
Introduction
Introduction to Finite Element, Boundary Element, and Meshless Methods: With Applications to Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow
Complementary Configuration and Operation of a CCHP-ORC System
Combined Cooling, Heating, and Power Systems: Modelling Optimization, and Operation