For All Tanks Prone to Store Energy
Abstract
Two decades’ data analysis from a molten salt fully instrumented tank has led to significant advancements in methodologies and a deeper understanding of key phenomena related to molten salt energy storage. This includes new insights into the natural temperature decay of molten salt for the significant high melting point. The developed analytical solution for determining the thermal displacement of inertia phase provides evidence of a distinct core and the internal physical relationships of the tank. Controlling this phenomenon is essential for predicting and defining storage tank performance over time by optimally utilizing the thermal inertia of the molten salt core, and it serves as a start point for both on-design modelling—optimal tank geometries and their components to ensure durability under specified operating conditions—and off-design scenarios, where predetermined geometries and boundary conditions allow for computation of operational parameters for an improved storage tanks, its internal heat exchanger or insulation ageing prediction. The presented analytical solution demonstrates strong correlation with empirical observations and introduces improved control via the Navier-Stokes-Fourier equations and Law of the Wall. Additionally, the study proposes reliable simplifications through a lumped-circuit approach, drawing a novel analogy to a junction diode for wall and skin condition analyses. A coupled fluid dynamic solution employing the Lewis number further enhances the accuracy of computations based on the physical properties of the control volumes.
Keywords
Storage, Performance, Lumped Circuit, Lewis Number, Navier-Stokes-Fourier, Law of wall, CSP