Low-Grade Heat Utilization Through Ultrasound-Enhanced Desorption of Activated Alumina/Water for Thermal Energy Storage

Author(s):  
Hooman Daghooghi Mobarakeh ◽  
Keshawa Bandara ◽  
Liping Wang ◽  
Robert Wang ◽  
Patrick E. Phelan ◽  
...  

Abstract Sorption thermal energy storage (TES) seems to be an auspicious solution to overcome the issues of intermittent energy sources and utilization of low-grade heat. Ultrasound-assisted adsorption/desorption of water vapor on activated alumina is proposed as a means of low-grade heat utilization through TES. The effects of ultrasonic power on the storing stage (desorption of water vapor) were analyzed to optimize the desorption and overall efficiencies. To determine and justify the effectiveness of incorporating ultrasound from an energy-savings point of view, an approach of constant total (heat plus ultrasound) input power of 25 W was adopted. To measure the extent of the effectiveness of using ultrasound, ultrasonic-power-to-total power ratios of 0.2 and 0.4 were investigated and the results compared with those of no-ultrasound (heat only) at the same total power. The regeneration temperature and desorption rate were measured simultaneously to investigate the effects of ultrasonication on regeneration temperature and utilization of low-grade heat. The experimental results showed that using ultrasound facilitates the regeneration of activated alumina at both power ratios without increasing the total input power. With regard to regeneration temperature, incorporating ultrasound decreases the regeneration temperature hence justifying the utilization of low-grade heat for thermal energy purposes. In terms of overall energy recovery of the adsorption thermal storage process, a new metric is proposed to justify incorporating ultrasound and any other auxiliary energy along with low-grade heat.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hooman Daghooghi ◽  
Keshawa Bandara ◽  
Liping Wang ◽  
Robert Wang ◽  
Mark Miner ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Yang Chen ◽  
Ahmad Abu-Heiba ◽  
Saiid Kassaee ◽  
Chenang Liu ◽  
Guodong Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract In the U.S., building sector is responsible for around 40% of total energy consumption and contributes about 40% of carbon emissions since 2012. Within the past several years, various optimization models and control strategies have been studied to improve buildings energy efficiency and reduce operational expenses under the constraints of satisfying occupants’ comfort requirements. However, the majority of these studies consider building electricity demand and thermal load being satisfied by unidirectional electricity flow from the power grid or on-site renewable energy generation to electrical and thermal home appliances. Opportunities for leveraging low grade heat for electricity have largely been overlooked due to impracticality at small scale. In 2016, a modular pumped hydro storage technology was invented in Oak Ridge National Laboratory, named Ground Level Integrated Diverse Energy Storage (GLIDES). In GLIDES, employing high efficiency hydraulic machinery instead of gas compressor/turbine, liquid is pumped to compress gas inside high-pressure vessel creating head on ground-level. This unique design eliminates the geographical limitation associated with existing state of the art energy storage technologies. It is easy to be scaled for building level, community level and grid level applications. Using this novel hydro-pneumatic storage technology, opportunities for leveraging low-grade heat in building can be economical. In this research, the potential of utilizing low-grade thermal energy to augment electricity generation of GLIDES is investigated. Since GLIDES relies on gas expansion in the discharge process and the gas temperature drops during this non-isothermal process, available thermal energy, e.g. from thermal storage, Combined Cooling, Heat and Power system (CCHP), can be utilized by GLIDES to counter the cooling effect of the expansion process and elevate the gas temperature and pressure and boost the roundtrip efficiency. Several groups of comparison experiments have been conducted and the experimental results show that a maximum 12.9% cost saving could be achieved with unlimited heat source for GLIDES, and a moderate 3.8% cost improvement can be expected when operated coordinately with CCHP and thermal energy storage in a smart building.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 3129
Author(s):  
Jewon Oh ◽  
Daisuke Sumiyoshi ◽  
Masatoshi Nishioka ◽  
Hyunbae Kim

The mass introduction of renewable energy is essential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. We examined an operation method that combines the surplus energy of photovoltaic power generation using demand response (DR), which recognizes the balance between power supply and demand, with an aquifer heat storage system. In the case that predicts the occurrence of DR and performs DR storage and heat dissipation operation, the result was an operation that can suppress daytime power consumption without increasing total power consumption. Case 1-2, which performs nighttime heat storage operation for about 6 h, has become an operation that suppresses daytime power consumption by more than 60%. Furthermore, the increase in total power consumption was suppressed by combining DR heat storage operation. The long night heat storage operation did not use up the heat storage amount. Therefore, it is recommended to the heat storage operation at night as much as possible before DR occurs. In the target area of this study, the underground temperature was 19.1 °C, the room temperature during cooling was about 25 °C and groundwater could be used as the heat source. The aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) system in this study uses three wells, and consists of a well that pumps groundwater, a heat storage well that stores heat and a well that used heat and then returns it. Care must be taken using such an operation method depending on the layer configuration.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chongshan Yin ◽  
Qicheng Liu ◽  
Qing Liu

Abstract How to convert heat energy into other forms of usable energy more efficiently is always crucial for our human society. In traditional heat engines, such as the steam engine and the internal combustion engine, high-grade heat energy can be easily converted into mechanical energy, while a large amount of low-grade heat energy is usually wasted owing to its disadvantage in the temperature level. In this work, for the first time, the generation of mechanical energy from both high- and low-temperature steam is implemented by a hydrophilic polymer membrane. When exposed to water vapor with a temperature ranging from 50 to 100 °C, the membrane repeats rolling from one side to another. In nature, this continuously rolling of membrane is powered by the steam, like a miniaturized “steam engine”. The differential concentration of water vapor (steam) on the two sides of the membrane generates the asymmetric swelling, the curve, and the rolling of the membrane. In particular, results suggest that this membrane based “steam engine” can be powered by the steam with a relatively very low temperature of 50 °C, which indicates a new approach to make use of both the high- and low-temperature heat energy.


2017 ◽  
Vol 135 ◽  
pp. 304-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oleksandr Skrylnyk ◽  
Emilie Courbon ◽  
Nicolas Heymans ◽  
Marc Frère ◽  
Jacques Bougard ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (3 Part B) ◽  
pp. 2077-2088 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weifeng Wu ◽  
Qi Wang ◽  
Zhao Zhang ◽  
Zhijun Wu ◽  
Xiaotian Yang ◽  
...  

The trilateral flash cycle shows a greater potentiality in moderate to low grade heat utilization systems due to its potentiality of obtaining high exergy efficiency, compared to the conventional thermodynamic cycles such as the organic Rankine cycles and the Kalina cycle. The main difference between the trilateral flash cycle and the conventional thermodynamic cycles is that the superheated vapor expansion process is replaced by the two-phase expansion process. The two-phase expansion process actually consists of a flashing of the inlet stream into a vapor and a liquid phase. Most simulations assume an equilibrium model with an instantaneous flashing. Yet, the experiments of pool flashing indicate that there is a flash evaporating rate. The mechanism of this process still remains unclear. In this paper, the flash evaporating rate is introduced into the model of the two-phase expansion process in the reciprocating expander with a cyclone separator. As such, the obtained results reveal the influence of evaporating rate on the efficiency of the two-phase expander.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document