Solar Energy – Thermal Energy Storage

The Energy Research Center is collaborating with Profs. Sudhakar Neti and Alparslan Oztekin, in the ME Department, on Thermal Energy Storage (TES) research for solar energy and industrial applications. Solar energy is a very popular renewable energy source for thermal energy collection and electricity generation using photovoltaic cells. Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology has a distinctive advantage over other renewable technologies, since it has the capability to incorporate TES for grid-scale (~ 800 MWh) energy storage. TES can be used to shift energy use temporally or spatially. TES can also play a key role in improving the overall efficiency of power generation systems, improve the overall Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), and add capacitance to systems to improve their stability in the power grid.

Three different physical processes can be used for energy storage: sensible heat storage in solid or liquid media, latent heat storage using phase change materials and thermochemical energy storage. The latent heat storage gains significantly from the phase change of the materials and associated energy. This technique is becoming more attractive because it works in a wide range of temperature and applications. Researchers at Lehigh University have extensive experience with Phase Change Materials (PCM) and Encapsulated Phase Change Materials (EPCM) for high temperature applications (>500 K). Cylindrical shaped EPCM capsules have been designed for a wide range of temperatures (up to ~ 1,400 K) and applications. Laboratory facilities include a thermocline used for testing PCM and Calorimeters for establishing thermal performance and stability. Proprietary computer codes are available for these applications, based on ANSYS-CFX, and OpenFOAM.

The ERC is also collaborating with the Turbulent Flow Design Group in the MEM department on marine and hydrokinetic energy (HKE) research and development. This group is under the direction of Professor Arindam Banarjee and also includes Professors Alparisan Oztekin (MEM) and Panayiotis Diplas (Civil and Environmental Engineering). Research focuses on energy conversion of tides and river and ocean currents into electricity.

Related Links:

• "Encapsulated phase change material for high temperature thermal energy storage – Heat transfer analysis"
• "Experimental and computational study of thermal energy storage with encapsulated NaNO₃ for high temperature applications"
• "Modeling of particle agglomeration in nanofluids"
• "A thermodynamic model of solar thermal energy assisted natural gas fired combined cycle (NGCC) power plant"