HYSTORE on Thermal Energy Storage Design and Optimization with Heat Pumps at Real Building-Scale
Researchers from Civil and Architectural Engineering (BYV, ABE school), Energy Technology (EGI, ITM school) and KTH Live-in-Lab (LIL, ITM school) join forces in a new Horizon project HYSTORE, for finding innovative thermal energy storage solutions in combined operation and optimization with heat pumps. The project is a constellation of 18 European partners, including universities, research institutes and industrial stakeholders representing both thermal energy storage (TES) and heat pump aspects.
The technical tasks of the project are led by Dr. Qian Wang at BYV, while the tasks at EGI are led by Dr. Saman Nimali Gunasekara , and at KTH LIL led by Dr. Jonas Anund Vogel , joining forces with Assoc. Prof. Justin Ningwei Chiu , Assoc. Prof. Samer Sawalha (EGI), Dr. Marco Molinari and Dr. Davide Rolando (EGI & LiL).
The project will evaluate a number of TES- heat exchanger configurations numerically, whereby an optimal configuration (starting from an existing configuration shown in e.g. Figure 1) will be chosen for real pilot-scale installation. To choose optimal phase change material candidates for this system, material testing at bench-scale level (using the rig shown in Figure 2) will also be performed at EGI. Combining these numerical and experimental results, a final optimal TES- heat exchanger configuration using the identified optimal PCM candidate will be designed, commissioned and installed at LiL, integrated with a heat pump. This solution is referred to as the HYSTORE PCM Heating solution, catering to Nordic climate conditions. This HYSTORE PCM Heating solution will be then operated for covering part of the space heating demand of the Testbed KTH at LiL, and will be optimized for appropriate control strategies for peak shaving and load shifting. The interactions and synergies this HYSTORE PCM Heating solution has with the building energy management system will be therein mapped, projected to similar building modules, and then benchmarked against similar building energy system models obtained via other heating/cooling solutions tested by other HYSTORE partners during the last phases of the project. These benchmarked models on synergizing the thermal and electrical systems in buildings are expected to enable robust peak shaving and load shifting strategies. This will also lead to an increased penetration of renewables into building energy mixes, by means of using such TES and Heat pump combination solutions.
