Thermal Energy Storage (TES)

This thermal energy storage (TES) model assumes the tank is at a uniform temperature (similar to a continuous stirred tank) and supports steady-state only. It also assumes that both the heat transfer fluid and the storage fluid are the same and are water as default.

Model Structure

This TES model consists of 4 StateBlocks (as 4 Ports in parenthesis below). Two ports connect to the the external heat exchanger which adds heat to the TES and two ports connect to the process side and provide heat to the treatment process.

  • Heat exchanger inlet (tes_hx_inlet)

  • Heat exchanger outlet (tes_hx_outlet)

  • Process inlet (tes_process_inlet)

  • Process outlet (tes_process_outlet)

Sets

Description

Symbol

Indices

Time

\(t\)

[0]

Phases

\(p\)

[‘Liq’, ‘Vap’]

Components

\(j\)

[‘H2O’]

Degrees of Freedom/Variables

The TES model has 4 degrees of freedom that should be fixed for the unit to be fully specified in addition to the state variables at the inlet and outlet. Typically the variables listed below define the heat exchanger and process ports inlet and outlet.

Variables

Variable name

Symbol

Valid range

Unit

Temperature

temperature

\(T_{f}\)

298.15 - 372.15

\(\text{K}\)

Pressure

pressure

\(P\)

\(Pa\)

Mass flow rate of vapor phase

flow_mass_phase_comp[0,'Vap','H2O']

\(m_{v}\)

\(kg/s\)

Mass flow rate of liquid phase

flow_mass_phase_comp[0,'Liq','H2O']

\(m_{l}\)

\(kg/s\)

The following variables should also be fixed. An initial temperature is assigned to the outlet stream at the heat exhanger and process loop.

Variables

Variable name

Symbol

Valid range

Unit

Initial temperature

tes_initial_temperature

\(T_{0}\)

298.15 - 372.15

\(\text{K}\)

Time step

dt

\(dt\)

\(h\)

Hours of storage

hours_storage

\(h_{storage}\)

0-24

\(h\)

Heat load

heat_load

\(heat_{load}\)

\(MW\)

Parameters

The following parameters are used as default values and are mutable.

Description

Parameter Name

Symbol

Value

Units

Heat transfer fluid density

heat_transfer_fluid_density

\(\rho_{htf}\)

1000

\(kg/m^{3}\)

Heat transfer fluid specific heat capacity

heat_transfer_fluid_csp

\(C_{sp,htf}\)

4184

\(J/kg/K\)

Pump power

pump_power

\(P_{pump}\)

1

\(W\)

Pump efficiency

pump_eff

\(\eta_{pump}\)

1

\(\text{dimensionless}\)

Design temperature

temperature_design

\(T_{design}\)

372.15

\(\text{K}\)

Cold temperature

temperature_cold

\(T_{cold}\)

293.15

\(\text{K}\)

Equations

Description

Equation

TES volume

\(V_{TES} = \text{Thermal Energy Capacity} / (C_{sp,htf}*\rho_{htf}*(T_{design}-T_{cold}))\)

Thermal energy capacity

\(\text{Thermal Energy Capacity} = h_{storage} * heat_{load}\)

Electricity

\(electricity = P_{pump}/\eta_{pump}\)

Tank temperature

\(T_{tank} = T_{0} + (Q_{in} - Q_{out})*dt/(V_{TES}*C_{sp,htf}*\rho_{htf})\)

Costing

The TES capital cost includes direct costs, indirect costs and sales tax. The direct costs include cost storage and a contingency factor. The indirect costs are a fraction of the direct cost. A fixed operating cost is calculated as a linear function of heat load of TES.

Description

Variable Name

Equation

Direct capital costs

direct_capital_cost

\(Capital Cost_{direct} = (V_{TES} * \text{Cost per }m^{3}\text{ storage})*(1 + \text{Contingency fraction})\)

Indirect capital costs

indirect_capital_cost

\(Capital Cost_{indirect} = Capital Cost_{direct}*\text{Indirect capital cost fraction}\)