Energy storage systems including thermal storage tanks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11015877-B2
Application number	US-201816484401-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 19, 2018
Priority date	Feb 7, 2017
Publication date	May 25, 2021
Grant date	May 25, 2021

Abstract

Energy storage systems include a heat source and a thermal energy storage system to store thermal energy produced by the heat source. The thermal energy storage system includes a first tank containing a first salt having a first melting temperature and a second tank containing a second salt having a second melting temperature. At least one input conduit is configured for transferring thermal energy from the heat source to the first tank and second tank. A first output conduit is in thermal communication with the first tank. A second output conduit is in thermal communication with the second tank. Additional energy storage systems include a heat booster positioned and configured to add thermal energy to a heated heat transfer fluid prior to reaching a tank containing at least one thermal storage material. Methods include transferring thermal energy from a thermal energy source to a plurality of thermal energy storage tanks.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An energy storage system, comprising:
a heat source;
a thermal energy storage system operatively coupled to the heat source to store thermal energy produced by the heat source, the thermal energy storage system comprising a plurality of tanks containing a respective plurality of different thermal storage materials exhibiting different melting temperatures;
at least one input conduit configured to convey a heated heat transfer fluid from the heat source to the at least one tank;
at least one output conduit in thermal communication with the at least one tank and configured to transfer another heated heat transfer fluid from the at least one tank to at least one heat consumption system; and
a heat booster positioned and configured to add thermal energy to the heated heat transfer fluid prior to the heated heat transfer fluid reaching the at least one tank.

2. The energy storage system of claim 1 , wherein the thermal storage material comprises at least one of a salt and a metal.

3. The energy storage system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of tanks containing the respective plurality of different thermal storage materials comprises tanks containing thermal storage materials arranged in descending order of melting temperatures in a downstream direction relative to the at least one input conduit.

4. The energy storage system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one output conduit comprises:
a first output conduit in thermal communication with a first tank of the plurality of tanks; and
a second output conduit in thermal communication with a second tank of the plurality of tanks.

5. The energy storage system of claim 4 , wherein the first output conduit is configured to transfer heat from the first tank to a first thermal process system and the second output conduit is configured to transfer heat from the second tank to a second thermal process system different from the first thermal process system.

6. The energy storage system of claim 4 , wherein the first output conduit is configured to transfer heat from the first tank at a first temperature and the second output conduit is configured to transfer heat from the second tank at a second temperature different from the first temperature.

7. The energy storage system of claim 1 , wherein at least one thermal storage material of the plurality of different thermal storage materials comprises a first salt and a second salt, comprising a combination of salts selected from the group consisting of: NaF and Na 2 CO 3 ; LiF and Li 2 CO 3 ; Li 2 CO 3 and K 2 CO 3 ; LiF and K 2 CO 3 ; LiF, NaF, and KF; LiF, NaF, Li 2 CO 3 , and K 2 CO 3 ; KCl and MgCl 2 ; LiF, NaF, and K 2 CO 3 ; LiF, KF, and K 2 CO 3 ; Li 2 CO 3 , Na 2 CO 3 , and K 2 CO 3 ; KF and ZrF 4 ; LiF, Na 2 CO 3 , and K 2 CO 3 ; LiF, NaF, Na 2 CO 3 , and K 2 CO 3 ; NaNO 3 and KNO 3 ; and NaNO 3 , KNO 3 , and Ca(NO 3 ) 2 .

8. The energy storage system of claim 1 , wherein the heat booster comprises at least one of an electrical heater or a flame heater.

9. The energy storage system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of tanks are located within about 8.05 km from the at least one heat consumption system.

10. The energy storage system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of tanks are located within about 1.61 km from the at least one heat consumption system.

11. The energy storage system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of tanks are located within about 0.8 km from the at least one heat consumption system.

12. A method of storing heat from at least one thermal energy source, the method comprising:
transferring thermal energy from the at least one thermal energy source to a plurality of thermal energy storage tanks using a heat transfer fluid, the plurality of thermal energy storage tanks including at least a first thermal energy storage tank and a second thermal energy storage tank downstream of the first thermal energy storage tank relative to a flow of the heat transfer fluid;
heating a first thermal storage material within the first thermal energy storage tank to a first temperature;
heating a second thermal storage material within the second thermal energy storage tank to a second temperature lower than the first temperature;
transferring thermal energy at the first temperature from the first thermal energy storage tank to a first heat consumption system; and
transferring thermal energy at the second temperature from the second thermal energy storage tank to a second heat consumption system.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
heating the heat transfer fluid with the at least one thermal energy source; and
further heating the heat transfer fluid with a heat booster upstream of the first thermal storage material relative to the flow of the heat transfer fluid.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein heating the heat transfer fluid with a heat booster comprises heating the heat transfer fluid with at least one of an electrical heater or a flame heater.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein heating the first thermal storage material comprises heating the first thermal storage material having a first melting temperature and heating the second thermal storage material comprises heating the second thermal storage material having a second melting temperature lower than the first melting temperature.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein transferring the thermal energy at the first temperature to the first heat consumption system comprises transferring the thermal energy to a thermal power conversion system.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein transferring the thermal energy at the second temperature to the second heat consumption system comprises transferring the thermal energy to an industrial chemical process system.

18. The method of claim 12 , wherein heating the first thermal storage material and heating the second thermal storage material comprises heating at least one salt material.

19. The method of claim 12 , wherein transferring thermal energy from the at least one thermal energy source to the plurality of thermal energy storage tanks comprises transferring thermal energy from multiple thermal energy sources to the plurality of thermal energy storage tanks.

Assignees

• Battelle Energy Alliance Llc
• Stoots Christa

Inventors

• Mckellar Michael
• Boardman Richard D
• O'Brien James E
• Stoots Carl M
• Sabharwall Piyush
• Bragg-Sitton Shannon

Classifications

• F24S10/45

  the enclosure being cylindrical · CPC title

• F28D2020/0047

  using molten salts or liquid metals · CPC title

• Y02E60/14

  Thermal energy storage · CPC title

• F28D2020/0082

  Multiple tanks arrangements, e.g. adjacent tanks, tank in tank · CPC title

• F28D20/02 Primary

  using latent heat · CPC title