Phase-Change Material Thermal Energy Storage for the Smart Retrofitting of Existing Buildings
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- The obligation to install solar panels on new public and commercial buildings and new residential buildings;
- Doubling the rate of deployment of heat pumps, and measures to integrate geothermal and solar thermal energy into modernised districts and communal heating systems.
2. Applications of Energy Storage—An Overview
- Passive short-term storage: This involves using the building’s components for thermal energy storage in the form of sensible or latent heat storage.
- Active short-term storage: This involves using water tanks with or without PCMs or ice storage.
- Active seasonal storage: This typically involves using underground thermal energy storage (UTES) or thermochemicals for storing sensible heat.
3. Case Study Description
4. Description of the System Installed in the Case Study
- Information exchange: The heat pump has an internal Modbus/TCP server that allows the operation of the equipment (i.e., operating modes, setpoint temperatures, etc.) and the retrieval of internal values.
- Electricity management: The amount of electricity used to drive the heat pumps is managed by a multi-port power controller (MIMO) and taken from the PV system from a battery bank or the grid.
- Sharing of thermal energy: The heat pump is connected to the heat storage tank [9].
- Information exchange: The smart fan coils send information (e.g., internal parameters, sensors, status) and receive information and commands from the building control system and gateway (e.g., on/off, set temperature).
- Electricity supply: Smart fan coil units receive a 48 V DC power supply from the MIMO converter, which is taken from the PV system, from a battery bank or the grid.
- Sharing of thermal energy: The smart fan coils are connected to the water loop and thus to the PCM tanks and the heat pumps.
- High thermal energy storage capacity (calculation of the stored thermal energy in a storage tank is shown in Appendix A);
- Heat storage and release take place at relatively constant temperatures;
- No supercooling effect, chemically inert;
- Long-life product, with stable performance through the phase change cycles;
- Easy to use;
- Non-toxic.
5. Experimental Results
6. Discussion
7. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
BEMS | Building Energy Management System |
BIPV | Building Integrated Photovoltaics |
COP | Coefficient of Performance |
CREATE | Compact Retrofit Advanced Thermal Energy Storage |
DC-HP | Direct Current Heat Pumps |
DHW | Domestic Hot Water |
HEART | Holistic Energy and Architectural Retrofit Toolkit |
HP | Heat Pump |
HVAC | Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning |
IPCC | Panel on Climate Change |
MIMO | Multiple Input–Multiple Output |
NEB | New European Bauhaus |
PBTES | Packed Bed Thermal Energy Storage |
PCM | Phase-Change Material |
PLC | Programmable Logic Controller |
PV | Photovoltaics |
SHIP | Solar Heat Industrial Processes |
TES | Thermal Energy Storage |
TESS | Thermal Energy Storage System |
TESSe2b | An integrated solution for residential building energy storage by solar and geothermal resources |
THUMBS UP | Thermal energy storage solUtions to optimally Manage BuildingS and Unlock their grid balancing and flexibility Potential |
UTES | Underground Thermal Energy Storage |
Appendix A
- —total stored energy in a storage tank (kJ);
- —total stored energy in water (kJ);
- —total stored energy in PCM (kJ);
- —total stored energy in HDPE (kJ).
- —mass of water in a storage tank (kg);
- —specific heat of water (kJ/kgK);
- —temperature difference of water between initial and final state (K).
- —mass of water in a storage tank (kg);
- —enthalpy of PCM (kJ/kgK).
- —mass of HDPE in a storage tank (kg);
- —specific heat of HDPE (kJ/kgK);
- —temperature difference of HDPE between initial and final state (K).
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Storage Tank (One Unit) | |
---|---|
Size (Ø × height) (mm): | Ø950 × 2120 mm |
Weight (kg): | 250 kg (empty) + 425 kg (PCM modules) |
PCM Module (One Module) | |
Size (Ø) (mm): | Ø 75 |
Weight (g): | 262 |
Plastic HDPE (high-density polyethylene): | 42 g (1 empty module) |
Salt hydrate mixture: | 220 g (in 1 module) |
PCM Specifications | |
Melting/solidification temperature (°C): | 26/25 |
Specific heat (solid/liquid) (kJ/kJK): | 2.07/2.42 |
Heat conduction (solid/liquid) (W/mK): | 1.05/0.55 |
Density (solid/liquid) (kg/m3): | 1621/1510 |
Enthalpy per mass (kJ/kg): | 199 |
Enthalpy per litre (kJ/L): | 300 |
Water capacity (litres): | 1000 (60% water + 40% PCM) |
Maximum charge thermal power (heating mode/cooling mode) (kW): | 50/40 |
Maximum discharge thermal power (heating mode/cooling mode) (kW): | 15 (ΔT = 35–25 °C (Treturn = 15 °C), 1 kg/s, mixing valve outlet 25 °C) |
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Osterman, E.; Del Pero, C.; Zavrl, E.; Leonforte, F.; Aste, N.; Stritih, U. Phase-Change Material Thermal Energy Storage for the Smart Retrofitting of Existing Buildings. Energies 2023, 16, 6127. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16176127
Osterman E, Del Pero C, Zavrl E, Leonforte F, Aste N, Stritih U. Phase-Change Material Thermal Energy Storage for the Smart Retrofitting of Existing Buildings. Energies. 2023; 16(17):6127. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16176127
Chicago/Turabian StyleOsterman, Eneja, Claudio Del Pero, Eva Zavrl, Fabrizio Leonforte, Niccolò Aste, and Uroš Stritih. 2023. "Phase-Change Material Thermal Energy Storage for the Smart Retrofitting of Existing Buildings" Energies 16, no. 17: 6127. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16176127