Thermal Energy Storage:Analysis and Application

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze and determine the feasibility of a cold thermal storage system in manufacturing Industries. Cooling loads and actual plant data for some manufacturing facilities will be examined and the benefits of implementing thermal storage will be weighed against its absence. In this paper, two cases of thermal storage use in industry will be analyzed. The first case will deal with thermal storage use for process cooling in a facility. The second case will deal with thermal storage use for air conditioning.

In case one, the use of a thermal storage system for the process cooling of gases before they undergo compression proved to be beneficial since the work done by the compressors on the gas is significantly reduced. The payback for the installation of a thermal storage system is 4 years.

Case two dealt with the most common use of thermal storage in industry, air conditioning. The payback and cost savings from operating the thermal storage system at different operational schedules were analyzed. Of the three analyzed schedules, Load Shifting a type of partial storage operating schedule had the shortest payback of 16 years.