Numerical investigation of the smart energy management of modular latent heat thermal storage on the performance of a micro-solar power plant

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2019Author
Tascioni, Roberto
Cioccolanti, Luca
Del Zotto, Luca
Mahkamov, Khamid
Kenisarin, Murat
Costa, Carolina
Halimic, Elvedin
Mullen, David
Lynn, Kevin
Arteconi, Alessia
Suggested citation
Tascioni, Roberto;
Cioccolanti, Luca;
Del Zotto, Luca;
Mahkamov, Khamid;
Kenisarin, Murat;
Costa, Carolina;
...
Arteconi, Alessia.
(2019)
.
Numerical investigation of the smart energy management of modular latent heat thermal storage on the performance of a micro-solar power plant.
Proceedings of the ECOS 2019 - 32nd International Conference on Efficiency, Cost, Optimization, Simulation and Environmental Impact of Energy Systems, Wrocław, Poland, 23–28 June 2019.
ECOS2019 - 32 th International Conference on Efficiency, Costs, Optimization, Simulation and Environmental Impact of Energy Systems.
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/69555.
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Show full item recordAbstract
Solar energy is widely considered as one of the most attractive renewable energy source
to curb CO2 emissions at residential level where micro-cogeneration has a very
interesting potential. One promising application of solar energy is in combination with
Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) plants due to the ability to utilize low-medium
temperature heat sources. However, because of the intermittent availability of solar
energy, thermal energy storage (TES) systems are required to improve the performance
of such systems and assure their prolonged operation. At medium temperatures, latent
heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) systems allow to effectively store and release the
collected thermal energy from the solar field. However, room for improvements exists
to increase their efficiency when in operation. For this reason, in this work the authors
have numerically investigated the performance of a 2 kWe micro-solar ORC plant
coupled with an innovative LHTES system that is going to be built and tested under the
EU funded project Innova MicroSolar. The novel LHTES, developed and designed by
some partners of the Consortium, is subdivided into six modules and consists of 3.8 tons
of high-temperature phase change material. In this study the effect of the storage
volume partialization on the performance of the integrated plant is evaluated using a
fuzzy logic approach. Main aim of the storage management is to achieve a reduction of
the thermal losses and improve the plant overall efficiency. Annual dynamic simulations
are performed in order to determine the optimal storage volume needed in different
operating conditions. Results clearly show a remarkable annual increase in electric and
thermal energy production of 8 % and 6 % respectively, in comparison with the
configuration without fuzzy logic control: this achievement was obtained decreasing the
working LHTES modules in winter and conversely increasing them in summer.