Energy storage and recovery utilizing low-pressure thermal conditioning for heat exchange with high-pressure gas
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of energy storage and recovery, the method comprising:
- during each of a plurality of cycles;
(i) in a pneumatic chamber of a cylinder, at least one of compressing a gas to store energy or expanding a gas to recover energy, and(ii) during the at least one of compressing the gas or expanding the gas, circulating, without thermal conditioning thereof, a heat-exchange fluid through the gas to exchange heat between the gas and the heat-exchange fluid; and
thermally conditioning, external to the at least one of compression or expansion, at least a portion of the heat-exchange fluid between cycles,wherein, during each cycle, circulating the heat-exchange fluid comprises (i) pumping heat-exchange fluid from the pneumatic chamber into a first hydraulic chamber and (ii) pumping heat-exchange fluid out of a second hydraulic chamber separated from the first hydraulic chamber into the pneumatic chamber.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In various embodiments, gas is compressed to store energy and/or expanded to recover energy to or from high pressures, and the gas is exchanges heat with a heat-exchange fluid that is thermally conditioned at low pressures.
699 Citations
22 Claims
-
1. A method of energy storage and recovery, the method comprising:
-
during each of a plurality of cycles; (i) in a pneumatic chamber of a cylinder, at least one of compressing a gas to store energy or expanding a gas to recover energy, and (ii) during the at least one of compressing the gas or expanding the gas, circulating, without thermal conditioning thereof, a heat-exchange fluid through the gas to exchange heat between the gas and the heat-exchange fluid; and thermally conditioning, external to the at least one of compression or expansion, at least a portion of the heat-exchange fluid between cycles, wherein, during each cycle, circulating the heat-exchange fluid comprises (i) pumping heat-exchange fluid from the pneumatic chamber into a first hydraulic chamber and (ii) pumping heat-exchange fluid out of a second hydraulic chamber separated from the first hydraulic chamber into the pneumatic chamber. - View Dependent Claims (2, 4, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
3. A method of energy storage and recovery, the method comprising:
-
during a first cycle; (i) at least one of compressing a gas to store energy or expanding a gas to recover energy, and (ii) during the at least one of compressing the gas or expanding the gas, circulating, without thermal conditioning thereof, a heat-exchange fluid from a first fluid reservoir through the gas to exchange heat between the gas and the heat-exchange fluid; and thermally conditioning, external to the at least one of compression or expansion, heat-exchange fluid from a second fluid reservoir. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 9, 10, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
Specification