Abstract:

The necessary thermal energy storage systems are critical to the solar thermal collectors. The efficiency of the storage and retrieval of the solar heat relies on precepts involving the balance of energy and principles of transfer of heat. Some of the factors of influence on heat transfer are the conductivity of heat, the temperature difference, the surface area, the quality of insulation and properties of the medium of storage. The important parameter to be selected in TES systems is storage media. Water, rocks, molten salts and organic liquids comprise sensible storage media. The phase change materials or PCMs are paraffin wax, salt hydrates and organic salts used in latent storage. In thermochemical storage, chemical reaction heat storage and release are used. Some factors guide the selection process in determining an appropriate medium storage, including the energy storage capacity, heat transfer properties, temperature range, cost, environmental impact, durability, safety and compatibility with the collector. The areas to be optimized for such systems as TES include material selection, system design, integration with the solar collector and control strategies. All these factors and principles must be understood to enable engineers to make use of a well-designed TES system for their applications. In this paper, daily improvements in thermal efficiency based on the energy captured and stored by the TES system has been analyzed