Sensible heat thermal storage energy and exergy performance evaluations

Sensible heat thermal energy storage has been drawing increasing attention for various applications for many years, which is an important technology for solving the time-discrepancy problem of waste or renewable energy utilization. This paper reviews available technologies for sensible heat storage under various operating conditions and storage tank geometries. Several aspects from sensible storage material, water stratification phenomenon, heat storage heat transfer modes, and various influencing factors, have been detailed for introduction. The influencing factors for energy and exergy performance were investigated and summarized from the fluid mass flow rate, storage tank geometrical structure, fluid properties, fluid inlet temperature, etc. The performance comparison with the latent thermal storage system was also briefly studied. The paper is beneficial for the researchers and engineers to design more efficient and optimized sensible storage systems. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.