Search results for "Thermal Energy"
showing 10 items of 126 documents
Economic impact of Ice Thermal Energy Storage Systems in residential buildings in presence of double-tariffs contracts for electricity
2009
Thermal energy storage is one of the most important methods of demand-side load management, thanks to the capacity of reducing significantly the peak power demand for air conditioning in buildings. Thermal Energy Storage Systems (TESS) are indeed used for producing and storing cooling capacity during off-peak hours (in particular during night hours) to meet the following day's air conditioning requirements. The current paper presents a study on the effects of the installation of Ice TESS for cooling on the power daily profile of residential buildings, and examines the economic repercussions on the electricity billing. With reference to this second theme, the paper examines, in particular, t…
Alternative energy storage options for heat pump water heater coupled with photovoltaic plant for domestic hot water production
2019
The present work relies on the topic of energy storage for Heat and Electricity applied to Heat Pump Water Heaters coupled with photovoltaic plants for Domestic Hot Water production. The main idea is to evaluate the possibility to exploit the water tank as heat storage for the produced photovoltaic energy and, where appropriate combined with electrical storage. For this reason, two heat pumps with different volume size have been chosen and smart control strategies have been applied while monitoring the water temperature in the tank. Calculations account on tapping profile inferred from monitored data of a representative end-user in a Mediterranean small island. Results show how the combinat…
On multi-scale percolation behaviour of the effective conductivity for the lattice model with interacting particles
2015
Recently, the effective medium approach using 2x2 basic cluster of model lattice sites to predict the conductivity of interacting droplets has been presented by Hattori et al. To make a step aside from pure applications, we have studied earlier a multi-scale percolation, employing any kxk basic cluster for non-interacting particles. Here, with interactions included, we examine in what way they alter the percolation threshold for any cluster case. We found that at a fixed length scale k the interaction reduces the range of shifts of the percolation threshold. To determine the critical concentrations, the simplified model is used. It diminishes the number of local conductivities into two main…
A dish-stirling solar concentrator coupled to a seasonal thermal energy storage system in the southern mediterranean basin: A cogenerative layout hyp…
2020
Abstract In the future, renewable energy sources will increasingly represent an efficient energy source capable of meeting the demands of residential and industrial buildings avoiding the emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In this paper, a heat and electric power cogeneration plant implementing a field of dish-Stirling collectors, a seasonal geothermal storage and a system of water-to-water heat pumps is proposed for the first time. The cogeneration plant has been designed both to supply thermal energy to the heating system of Building 9 of the Department of Engineering in Palermo and to produce electricity. The operation of the plant has been tested by means of hourly-based…
Realization of an Energetic Hub Based on a High-Performance Dish Stirling Plant
2018
In this work the realization of an energetic hub based on a high-performances dish Stirling system, at the DEIM of the University of Palermo, is presented. The realized system is the first top rated solar thermodynamic plant directly connected to the national electric grid. The connection permits the electricity injection into the grid and allows to access to national renewable energy incentives regime. The system realization was possible thanks to an international cooperation between the University of Palermo and the private company Horizon S.r.l., official partner of Ripasso Energy AB, owner of this technology. Initial data of the plant energy production and the foreseen improvements for …
A Procedure for the Producibility Curve Identification of a Dish-Stirling Plant, Starting from Experimental Data
2019
This article presents a procedure for the producibility curve identification of a dish-Stirling plant, starting from experimental data. The producibility data was measured, recorded, analysed, filtered and monthly aggregated. Moreover, the incidence of the ambient temperature and of the mirrors cleaning on producibility data is highlighted and a procedure to normalize the measured data in temperature and cleaning level was developed. To provide a validation of the developed procedure the producibility curves at 25 °C have been obtained and compared with the one issued by the manufacturer. The two curves are in good agreement, presenting a maximum deviation of the 7 %.
Coupling sustainable energy with membrane distillation processes for seawater desalination
2010
Desalination technologies nowadays is a very interesting and emerging alternative to conventional water sources; their high energy consumption, however, generates some problems in adopting them, especially in remote areas where electric grid is not available and fuel transportation is not always sustainable. In this paper a short overview of possible couplings between the membrane distillation technology for desalination and the use of sustainable thermal energy sources is presented. Two case studies of ongoing research projects at Universita di Palermo are also presented.
Sea Wave Energy. A Review of the Current Technologies and Perspectives
2021
The proposal of new technologies capable of producing electrical energy from renewable sources has driven research into seas and oceans. Research finds this field very promising in the future of renewable energies, especially in areas where there are specific climatic and morphological characteristics to exploit large amounts of energy from the sea. In general, this kind of energy is referred to as six energy resources: waves, tidal range, tidal current, ocean current, ocean thermal energy conversion, and saline gradient. This review has the aim to list several wave-energy converter power plants and to analyze their years of operation. In this way, a focus is created to understand how many …
Innovative Compact Solar Air Conditioner based on Fixed and Cooled Adsorption Beds and Wet Heat Exchangers
2014
Abstract In this work, a new all-in-one compact solar air conditioner concept is presented. The system is mainly based on a new DEC process which utilises fixed and cooled adsorption beds operating in a batch process and two wet heat exchangers. The proposed innovative adsorption bed is a fin and tube heat exchanger commonly used in the air conditioning sector, wherein the spaces between the fins are filled with silica gel grains. The main feature of this component is to allow simultaneous dehumidification and cooling of air. Furthermore, since the component hosts a considerable amount of adsorption material, solar energy can be efficiently stored in the desiccant media in terms of accumula…
Optimizing the generation system in a microgrid with power, thermal energy and mobility demands
2021
Microgrids are widely known to be the future of generation and distribution systems. This paper presents a method to optimize the size of the main components in a microgrid to supply the demands for electricity, heating and hydrogen for mobility through an Energy Hub model. The electricity production from a wind turbine, a CHP and a fuel cell satisfies the local electricity demand. The green hydrogen produced in the hub from renewable power in off-peak hours is used to feed the fuel cell or to meet the mobility demand. The heating power from CHP and fuel cell is used to feed the local district heating network.