High temperature thermal energy storage system
OwnerPeter Feherinventor
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Abstract
High temperature thermal energy storage system comprised of solid-liquid phase change material that is fully encapsulated in helically grooved, sealed, thin-wall, metal tubes. Multitude of horizontally oriented, pressure-rated steam pipes or vessels filled with PCM tube capsules form a battery of thermal storage system. The steam pipes in the battery are connected through a common liquid-side distribution header system and a common steam-side distribution header system. Multitude of steam pipes stacked up to fill a block-shaped container space. This insulated enclosure provides the basis for simple fabrication, transport and filed-erection and forms the basic building block for a modular thermal storage system.
Claims6
A helically or axially grooved metal tube capsule wherein the ratio of the length to the diameter of the tube is from 6 to 300 and wherein the capsule may be formed from a thin wall tube and wherein the helical grooving along the length of the tubes may be formed by rolling or other metal-forming procedure and wherein the grooved tubes may resemble the rifled barrel of guns and wherein the profile of the groove is curved to facilitate radial and axial flexibility of the tube-capsule and wherein the number of the grooves on the tube may be from 2 to 12 and wherein the ratio of the depth of the groove to the diameter of the tube may be from 0.02 to 0.4 and wherein the angle between the tangent of the helix of the grooves and the axis of the tube may be from 0 to 30 degrees.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.