Transient response of a packed bed for thermal energy storage

Conference · Tue Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1983 · Am. Soc. Mech. Eng., (Pap.); (United States)

OSTI ID:6780415

Beasley, D E; Clark, J A

An analysis, with experimental results, for the transient response of a packed bed thermal storage unit is presented. The analysis is in two-spatial dimensions and considers the influence of both axial and radial thermal dispersion for an arbitrary time and radial variation in the inlet fluid temperature. Both charging and recovery modes are included. Spatial variations in void fraction are found to have significant effect on the dynamic response of both fluid and solid temperatures. The influence of radial velocity variations, wall heat capacity and wall thermal losses are considered. The analysis is valid for fluids of various Prandtl numbers. Experimental measurements of temperature distributions in a randomly packed bed of uniform spheres, with air as the working fluid, compare favorably with the analytical results over a broad range of Reynolds numbers. Results are presented for full-sized rock beds which indicate pronounced effects of void distribution in such systems.

• Research Organization: Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
• OSTI ID: 6780415
• Report Number(s): CONF-831111-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Am. Soc. Mech. Eng., (Pap.); (United States) Journal Volume: 83-WA/SOL-4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
142000* -- Solar Energy-- Heat Storage-- (1980-)
25 ENERGY STORAGE
250600 -- Energy Storage-- Thermal
DYNAMICS
ENERGY TRANSFER
EQUIPMENT
FLUIDS
HEAT FLUX
HEAT TRANSFER
HEAT TRANSFER FLUIDS
MECHANICS
PACKED BED
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
REYNOLDS NUMBER
TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE EQUIPMENT
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
WALLS