Modelling thermal energy storage by adsorption

Abstract

Papers presented to the 11th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, South Africa, 20-23 July 2015.In this paper, thermal energy storage by using adsorption of moisture from air for application of space heating is discussed. We were able to achieve energy storage capacities of 200-250 kWh/m3 in a lab scale applications. Mechanistic modelling of the process has been developed. This energy storage technology can be used for solar thermal systems, as well as for systems that have low quality excess thermal energy. Although the results obtained so far are applied to space heating, this technology can also be used for space cooling. Recent results obtained for experiments carried out under different operating conditions are discussed in this paper, together with the results obtained for the verification of the mathematical model.