How can heat transfer be effectively applied in the analysis and design of thermally driven components for high efficiency, favorable environmental performance, and low cost? How can this knowledge lead to advances in related thermal processes with applications in electricity production, thermal energy storage, water purification, and others?
Photo: Martin Adams on Unsplash
Keywords: CSP receiver design, solar/high temperature materials, hot and cold storage technologies, transport phenomena in MD, system optimization & control.
Projects
Effective thermal storage systems for competitive Stirling-CSP plants
Oct 07, 2022
The project aims to develop, test and verify effective thermal energy storage (TES) systems for Stirling engine based power generation, fueled by concentrated solar irradiation (CSP). With an adequate thermal storage, this type of power plants produces cost-effective solar electricity below $100 / MWh, around the clock and can act as base load and load balancing source to the grid. For Stirling engine-based CSP to be competitive with traditional CSP steam turbine systems with thermal storage, a new storage concept is required that can store heat over 800 °C up to 15 hours to reach a yearly availability of 80%. The project will develop such a storage concept for Stirling engines while meeting the industrial requirements for life time and product cost.
Performance Untapped Modulation for Power and Heat via Energy Accumulation Technologies with a consortium consisting of 14 participants from 8 countries