On the design of a solar heat storage tank at 120°C

This work presents the materials selection process, the design and the dimensioning process of a latent heat storage tank that works between a high temperature heat pump and an Organic Rankine Cycle unit. The selected heat storage material is the S117 Phase Change Material that has a melting point at 117 & DEG;C matches the operational temperature of the system at approximately 120 & DEG;C. The tank configuration is selected for optimised heat transfer process, resulted from practical experience of the project partners and it is described in details in the document. The simulation results from the Computational Fluid Dynamic study of the tank are also presented here. This work should be useful for engineers designing compact heat storage tanks for medium temperature applications.

Automated summary

This article presents the materials selection, design, and dimensioning process of a latent heat storage tank that operates between a high-temperature heat pump and an Organic Rankine Cycle unit. The chosen heat storage material is the S117 Phase Change Material, with a melting point at 117°C, which matches the system's operational temperature at approximately 120°C. The tank configuration is optimized for efficient heat transfer, based on practical experience and is described in detail. Additionally, simulation results from the Computational Fluid Dynamic study are presented. This work should be beneficial for engineers designing compact heat storage tanks for medium-temperature applications.