| Popis: |
A thermocline thermal energy storage (TES) tank is the key element in storing thermal energy for concentrated solar power (CSP) plants. This paper focuses on the thermal analysis of the single-stage thermal energy storage (TES) tank by using molten Hitec salt, which is a eutectic mixture of 7 wt% NaNO3, 40 wt% NaNO2 and 53 wt% KNO3. This molten salt is used as heat transfer media and solid quartzite rock is used as filler materials. The Dispersion-Concentric model, based on energy equations and solved by the finite element method, is used to study the heat transfer module for the computational domain. The research presents the 3D temperature domain for heat transfer fluid (HTF) and filler materials inside the TES tank. The temperature profile of HTF and solid materials are also plotted as a tank height and time function. As the value of thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity of HTF is higher than that of the solid filler materials, we found that the temperature of HTF is greater than that of the solid rock at the same time at a specific tank height. |
