Low temperature thermal energy storage

Publisher Summary Low temperature thermal energy storage (TES) has been defined as the storage of heat that enters and leaves the reservoir at temperatures below 120 o C. Storage of this type may permit efficient utilization of heat that otherwise would have been partially or entirely wasted. In principle, low temperature TES permits the storage of heat obtained from solar radiation from day to night or from summer to winter. It permits the storage of heat from central power plants, from hours of low to hours of high demand on both a diurnal and seasonal basis. It permits the storage of heat from industrial processes for later use. Furthermore, low temperature TES presents no significant materials problems. This chapter describes the low temperature heat storage schemes, and identifies the economical, engineering, and operational problems. The problems include storage and containment materials, the charging and the discharging process, storage efficiency, and monitoring, controlling, and planning of the charge, storage, and discharge processes.