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Design and Development of Cost efficient solar Receiver Tube for Medium and High Temperature Solar Thermal Application

Subcategory (under Clean Energy): Solar (Thermal)
Technology Readiness Level (TRL): TRL 4 - Early prototype
Technology Outline (Process Description)

Renewable energy sources are often limited for commercial use due to their intermittent nature, i.e., inconsistent energy supply and demand. A metal hydride (MH)-based thermochemical energy storage (TCES) is developed to solve the problem. An annular metal hydride reactor is designed and developed for thermal energy storage applications, which offers a system level gravimetric storage density of 560 kJ/kg of system. Further, a coupled reactor system is developed and experimented for thermal energy storage application in the temperature range of 250-400°C. Two alloy pairs: magnesium-nickel alloy/ LaNi5 and magnesium-nickel alloy/ La0.7Ce0.1Ca0.3Ni5 are tested. The charging and discharging times are obtained within 360 min, which is a major requirement for the real time thermal energy storage system. Also, a compressor-driven MH-based TES system is proposed to produce an additional cooling effect and heat upgradation. From the experiments, it was demonstrated that a cooling effect was produced at 20°C and the thermal energy was released at an average temperature of 310°C. Further, heat is upgradation limit of 10°C is achieved from the initial experiments.

Salient Features/Advantages

  • Thermal energy is stored/ released by the magnesium- nickel alloy in the temperature range of 250-400°C within 6 h of duration.
  • The developed coupled reactor system offers trigeneration i.e., thermal energy storage (250-350°C), heat upgradation (up to 380°C), and cooling (10-20°C).
  • Full control over the temperature and rate of heat release. No environmental encroachment.

Key Outcomes

  • Simple annular reactor that offers superior rate of charging and discharging.
  • The developed annular reactor offered a system- level gravimetric storage density of 560 kJ/kg, much higher than the present sensible and latent heat storage systems.
  • Can be extended to any scale with the modular design.

IP Protection details

  • Patent filed (Title, national/International): Nil
  • Patents Granted: Nil.
  • Copyrights obtained /progress on commercialisation /Pl. specify connect with industry: Nil.

Contact details (for more information)

Supporting Photographs/Images

Organizations involved in the development (logo/name)

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati Guwahati-781039, India

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