Ecostorage Sweden AB

Thermal Energy Storage System Design

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Phone: +46 8 965773

E-mail: info@ecostorage.se

Storing Thermal Energy using PCM technology

A material undergoing a phase change, like melting and evaporating, take up a lot of heat which later can be recovered at the particular phase change temperature. Storing thermal energy (heat or cold) using such phase change processes is called PCM technology (Phase Change Materials). Here, utilizing the melting/freezing is often more practical as compared to the evaporation/condensation since the volume change associated with the change of phase is large during evaporation and thus creates some practical problems.

A well-known example of PCM-technology is utilizing ice for storing cold — approximately 90 kWh cold per cubic meter of ice. This is the same amount of energy that would be stored in liquid water when utilizing a temperature change from say 0 ºC to 80 ºC. Other materials, like salt blends, paraffins and sugar alcohols provide PCM storage at other temperatures — the application decides which material is best.

 

 

Phase Change Materials

Thermal Energy Storage using PCM Technology

Storage of thermal energy should be a natural part of any energy system. One reason for this is that it enables the use of sources like solar energy and free-cooling. Another reason is that short term (hourly/daily) storage provide an effective solution for managing peak power demand such that the utilization of equipment and distribution networks (e.g., district energy lines) is optimized.

With PCM technology, a large amount of thermal energy can be stored close to the melting/freezing temperature of the PCM. In heating applications, about 100 kWh/m3 can be stored, that is twice the amount in most conventional hot water storage concepts. For cooling applications 4-5 times the amount of cold stored in a chilled water storage is possible when using PCM technology.