09.10.2023
Source: Energy & Management Powernews
In a large-scale collaborative research project design 13 German universities, innovative battery storage systems. It is funded for three years with 6.5 million euros.
Innovative battery storage systems for the integration of renewable energy source in future energy supply systems are the subject of a large-scale research network project. Involved are 13 German universities, including the Technical University of Ilmenau. So-called Carnot batteries, store electricity in the form of heat. They are considered in the sign of the energy transition as a promising technology, which help to secure a permanent power supply.
A Carnot battery converts electricity with the help of high-temperature heat pumps into heat, stores the heat and converts it back into electricity when needed. The storage media used, water or molten salt, not only have a high heat capacity, they are also environmentally friendly and cost-effective. However, although the functional principle of Carnot batteries has been known for a long time, there has been little reliable data on energy storage efficiencies, costs or even the concrete application potential of such batteries in energy markets.
Contribution of TU Ilmenau
The Department of Technical Thermodynamics at TU Ilmenau is now researching how the efficiency of the thermal energy storage device, a key component of Carnot batteries, can be increased. In the priority program "Carnot batteries: Inverse Design from Market to Molecule" of the German Research Foundation (DFG), 13 German universities and the German Aerospace Center, under the scientific leadership of the University of Duisburg-Essen, are designing components for optimal Carnot batteries for future energy systems.
At the University of Ilmenau, research is being conducted specifically into how flows in the storage devices negatively affect their performance. Researchers led by Prof. Christian Cierpka, head of the Department of Technical Thermodynamics at TU Ilmenau, investigated this with DLR Cologne and Stuttgart. The results were published in the renowned physics journal PRX Energy of the American Physical Society.
The goal is to scientifically describe so-called thermal stratified storage systems, in which liquid salt serves as a storage medium at temperatures of around 300 degrees Celsius, and to derive design rules for sustainable energy systems. Novel laser technologies will be used for the first time to measure velocity and temperature in these salts.
DFG project receives 6.5 million euros
The collaborative project "Carnot Batteries," funded by the German Research Foundation, will start in October 2023 with a kick-off meeting. With a duration of three years, it has a total volume of 6.5 million euros, of which TU Ilmenau will receive 350,000 euros for its research work. In the project, an interdisciplinary team is working hand in hand: scientists from the fields of thermodynamics, energy system analysis, heat transfer, fluid energy machines, numerical optimization and physical chemistry.
In doing so, they are turning the previous approach to energy research on its head: starting with the requirements of the market, the components - machines, storage and fluids - are optimized accordingly. Cierpka's expectations are high: "Thermal storage units are the key technology for storage systems of the future." They could secure a permanent power supply and use existing infrastructure such as steam power plants to do so. "With new thermal storage systems, we can get closer to the climate protection targets we have set - and at moderate cost," says Cierpka.
The technical article in English is available on the Internet.
Author: Susanne Harmsen
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