Thermal energy storage with fluid flow insulation
AssigneeRondo Energy, Inc.
InventorsJohn Setel O'Donnell, Peter Emery von Behrens, Matthieu Jonemann, Robert Ratz
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Abstract
A thermal energy storage system with fluid flow insulation, the system including heated thermal storage blocks positioned within a housing, and a method for operating the thermal energy storage system, including providing a flow of fluid into the housing, the fluid convectively extracting heat from a top region, a side region and a bottom region of the thermal energy storage system, to generate heated fluid that insulates the thermal storage blocks from the housing and a foundation of the thermal energy storage system.
Claims24
A method of operating a heated thermal storage unit, comprising:
- providing a flow of fluid through a fluid passage along at least two sides of an interior surface of an outer housing of the thermal storage unit and an outer surface of an inner housing of the thermal storage unit, to form an insulating layer, wherein one or more thermal storage assemblages are positioned within the inner housing;
- and
- directing the flow of fluid into the thermal storage unit and extracting heat from the thermal storage unit to generate heated fluid at a temperature that is cooler than a temperature of the thermal storage unit.
A method of operating a heated thermal storage unit, comprising:
- providing a flow of fluid through a fluid passage along at least two sides of an interior surface of an outer housing of the thermal storage unit and an outer surface of an inner housing of the thermal storage unit, to form an insulating layer, wherein one or more thermal storage assemblages are positioned within the inner housing;
- directing the flow of fluid into the thermal storage unit and extracting heat from the thermal storage unit to generate heated fluid at a temperature that is cooler than a temperature of the thermal storage unit;
- and
- using louvers to independently control flow of fluid from one fluid passage into different subsets of fluid pathways in the thermal storage unit.
A method of operating a heated thermal storage unit, comprising:
- providing a flow of fluid through a fluid passage along at least two sides of an interior surface of a housing of the thermal storage unit to form an insulating layer, wherein the thermal storage unit includes structural supports outside the fluid passage;
- and
- directing the flow of fluid into the thermal storage unit and extracting heat from the thermal storage unit to generate heated fluid at a temperature that is cooler than a temperature of the thermal storage unit, wherein the temperature of the generated heated fluid is selected to prevent overheating of the structural supports.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.