ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS

• US 20120227926A1
• Filed: 11/16/2010
• Published: 09/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sunamp Limited
• Original Assignee: Sunamp Limited
• Inventors: Bissell, Andrew, Field, John
• Application Number:
  US13/509,979
• Publication Number:
  US 20120227926A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 165/10
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 11/003 combined with solar energy
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 11/004 with conventional supplementary heat source
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 11/0214 water heating system
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 18/00 Small-scale combined heat and power [CHP] generation systems specially adapted for domestic heating, space heating or domestic hot-water supply
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2101/10 Gas turbines; Steam engines or steam turbines; Water turbines, e.g. located in water pipes
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2101/30 Fuel cells
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2101/40 Photovoltaic [PV] modules
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2101/70 Electric generators driven by internal combustion engines [ICE]
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2101/80 Electric generators driven by external combustion engines, e.g. Stirling engines
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2103/13 characterised by their heat exchangers
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2103/17 Storage tanks
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2103/20 Additional heat sources for supporting thermal peak loads
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2200/11 Geothermal energy
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2200/12 Heat pump
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2200/14 Solar energy
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2200/16 Waste heat
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2200/20 Sewage water
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2220/10 Heat storage materials, e.g. phase change materials or static water enclosed in a space
• CPC Class Codes: F24H 2240/08 with peltier elements
• CPC Class Codes: F24H 7/04 with forced circulation of the transfer fluid
• CPC Class Codes: F24H 7/0441 : with supplementary heating means
• CPC Class Codes: F24S 10/45 : the enclosure being cylindrical
• CPC Class Codes: F24S 10/95 : having evaporator sections and condenser sections, e.g. heat pipes
• CPC Class Codes: F24S 60/10 : using latent heat
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 1/0426 : with units having particular arrangement relative to the large body of fluid, e.g. with interleaved units or with adjacent heat exchange units in common air flow or with units extending at an angle to each other or with units arranged around a central element
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 20/0039 : with stratification of the heat storage material
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 20/02 : using latent heat
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 20/021 : the latent heat storage material and the heat-exchanging means being enclosed in one container F28D20/023 - F28D20/028 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 20/026 : with different heat storage materials not coming into direct contact
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 20/028 : Control arrangements therefor
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 2020/0013 : the heat storage material being enclosed in elements attached to or integral with heat exchange conduits
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 2020/0026 : the heat storage material being enclosed in mobile containers for transporting thermal energy
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 2020/0078 : Heat exchanger arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 2020/0082 : Multiple tanks arrangements, e.g. adjacent tanks, tank in tank
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 10/20 : Solar thermal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 10/40 : Geothermal heat-pumps
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 10/70 : Hybrid systems, e.g. uninterruptible or back-up power supplies integrating renewable energies
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 30/12 : Hot water central heating systems using heat pumps
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 30/52 : Heat recovery pumps, i.e. heat pump based systems or units able to transfer the thermal energy from one area of the premises or part of the facilities to a different one, improving the overall efficiency
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/44 : Heat exchange systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/14 : Thermal energy storage
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/4935 : Heat exchanger or boiler making

Abstract

There is herein described energy storage systems. More particularly, there is herein described thermal energy storage systems and use of energy storable material such as phase change material in the provision of heating and/or cooling systems in, for example, domestic dwellings.

Claims

1-93. -93. (canceled)

94. A phase change material and heat transfer fluid (PCM-HTF) heat exchanger apparatus;

wherein the phase change material (PCM) is capable of undergoing at least one energy absorbing and/or releasing phase transition at one or more temperatures and wherein each phase transition is associated with a change in the physical and/or chemical properties of said thermal energy storage material; and

wherein the PCM-HTF heat exchanger apparatus was originally constructed and/or designed and/or optimized to function as, and/or is based closely on prior art designs for, a gas to heat transfer fluid (gas-HTF) heat exchanger,

and wherein, in at least one void or channel in the gas- HTF heat exchanger, phase change material or PCM composite fills said void or channel replacing gas; and

wherein all paths by which gas formerly flowed between an outer environment and the now phase change material-filled void(s) or channel(s), are sealed off,

such that phase change material, when liquid, will not flow away, and the exchange of water vapor and other trace gases between the phase change material and an outer environment is controlled.

96. A PCM-HTF heat exchanger apparatus as in claim 94,

wherein the heat exchanger is internally divided by insulation into two or more compartments;

wherein each compartment contains a different phase change material or phase change material composite with a different phase transition temperature.

97. A PCM-HTF heat exchanger apparatus as claimed in claim 96, wherein phase change material or phase change material composite of different phase transition temperatures are thermally isolated by replacing one or more fins and/or volume of phase change material composite with insulating material.

98. A PCM-HTF heat exchanger apparatus as in claim 96, wherein the heat pipes and/or tubes are equipped with heat pipe switching or diode arrangements or insulated pipe sections to prevent uncontrolled heat flow from hotter to colder phase change material compartments.

99. A PCM-HTF heat exchanger apparatus as in claim 94, wherein two or more independent circuits (ports) are present within the same heat exchanger;

wherein each port consists of one or more tubes/pipes or one or more heat pipes connected to one or more external services; and

wherein the number of pipes/tubes and/or heat pipes of a given port, and the number of times they traverse the heat exchanger, and the size or capacity of the associated flattened or un-flattened tubes/pipes and/or heat pipes is dependent on the requirements of the services associated with said given port, and wherein the more than one ports traversing the heat exchanger are evenly spaced such that the average distance between the tube or heat pipe centers for a given port is close to equal in all directions.

100. A PCM-HTF heat exchanger apparatus as in claim 94, wherein at least one heat transfer fluid is a two phase liquid, or a refrigerant.

101. A PCM-HTF heat exchanger apparatus as in claim 100, wherein the heat transfer fluid used to carry heat between a PCM-HTF heat exchanger and one or more service heat exchangers acts at the same or another time as the working fluid of a heat pump between a given bank and one or more other banks.

102. A PCM-HTF heat exchanger apparatus as in claim 100, wherein the heat pump compressor associated with a given bank serves an alternative duty, at times when there is no heat pumping to/from said given bank, as the circulation pump for the heat transfer fluid in said given bank;

and wherein at the same times the expansion valves are by passed or opened or otherwise modulated to prevent heat pumping behavior.

103. A method of constructing a phase change material and heat transfer fluid (PCMHTF) heat exchanger apparatus as described in claim 94, wherein the phase change material in a liquid state is poured via an aperture into void spaces of a gas-HTF heat exchanger;

and/or wherein the liquid phase change material is poured into the enclosure under vacuum or reduced pressure.

104. A method for constructing a PCM-HTF heat exchanger as in claim 94, wherein liquid phase change material, or liquid or semi-liquid phase change material composite, is laid down in an alternating sequence of layers between the fins of a fin-tube heat exchanger, or in a sequence of layers around the tubes of a tube heat exchanger;

and

wherein the said phase change material or composite in each layer is applied in a precisely measured quantity and pattern; and

said phase change material/composite is tamped down between each layer application.

105. A method for constructing a PCM-HTF heat exchanger as in claim 94, wherein a solid phase change material or phase change material composite block is cast, formed or drilled with a given hole pattern and pushed home in sequence with fins or tubes of a fin-tube or tube heat exchanger, and wherein the tubes are specially prepared with thermal grease and/or graphite and/or with a pattern of small longitudinal fins to provide adequate thermal contact with the phase change material after tube expansion.

106. A PCM-HTF heat exchange apparatus as in claim 94, wherein the distribution of phase change material or phase change material composite around a tube or equivalent is not held constant;

wherein the distribution is designed to ensure that all along the tube, when discharging, the time when the heat of the PCM is depleted is broadly the same along a portion of or the majority of the tube;

wherein the PCM-HTF exchanger geometry is such that the amount of PCM associated with each section along the tube is scaled by the power related to that section, and

wherein the distribution of phase change material to a given tube or equivalent tapers, associating a larger amount of PCM with a tube or equivalent near the entrance of the heat transfer fluid to a smaller amount towards the end of the tube'"'"'s or equivalent'"'"'s path through the PCM.

107. A PCM-HTF heat exchanger apparatus as in claim 94, wherein the distribution of phase change material or phase change material composite is also dependent on:

distance that the heat must travel through the PCM, PCM composite or fin in the system; and

/or

the specific heat of any fins, the thermal conductivity enhancer or PCM and latent heat of elements of the system.

108. A PCM-HTF heat exchanger apparatus as in claim 94, wherein the PCM-HTF heat exchanger apparatus comprises one or more channels formed of:

tubes or equivalent presenting, in cross-section, a spiral arrangement spiraling out from a central tube, with each alternate tube running in the opposite direction to the preceding tube, with spacing between tubes on the spiral increasing along the spiral path in a logarithmic way, and heat transfer fluid starting from the outermost tube and ending at the central tube; and

/or

several rows of tubes, with decreasing vertical spacing between successive rows in the direction of heat transfer fluid flow, with each successive row containing more tubes spaced closer together;

wherein every alternate tube runs in opposite directions; and

/or

thick layers of PCM or PCM composite with widely spaced channels for HTF moving to thin layers of PCM or PCM composite with closely spaced channels in the direction of heat transfer fluid flow; and

/or

a water tank filled with metal or plastic spheres encapsulating PCM arranged in layers with larger spheres at the bottom of the tank and progressively reducing size in successive layers up the tank in which water flows in at the bottom and out at the top.

109. The phase change material and heat transfer fluid (PCM-HTF) heat exchanger apparatus of claim 94, wherein the heat exchanger is a fin-tube heat exchanger or a car-radiator.

110. The phase change material and heat transfer fluid (PCM-HTF) heat exchanger apparatus of claim 94, wherein the all paths by which gas formerly flowed between an outer environment and the now phase change material-filled voids or channels, are sealed off by sealing the entire heat exchanger within an outer enclosure.

111. The phase change material and heat transfer fluid (PCM-HTF) heat exchanger apparatus of claim 96, wherein the arrangement of said compartments relative to the arrangement of pipes, tubes or heat pipes, ensures that the flow of HTF in pipes or tubes, or successive locations along a heat pipe, pass through compartments in strictly increasing or strictly decreasing order of phase transition temperatures.

112. The method of constructing a phase change material and heat transfer fluid (PCMHTF) heat exchanger apparatus as described in claim 103, wherein said liquid phase change material is poured into a partially enclosed fin-tube heat exchanger from one edge and fills all spaces between fins via gravity.

113. The method for constructing a PCM-HTF heat exchanger as in claim 104, wherein said tamping action in a fin-tube heat exchanger is performed by the next fin being applied;

and wherein in a tube heat exchanger said tamping action is performed by a plate equipped with a given pattern of holes allowing it to slide over, or alternatively between, the tubes, said plate being withdrawn after each tamping action.