Energy and Thermodynamical Study of a Small Innovative Compressed Air Energy Storage System (micro-CAES)

There is a growing interest in the electrical energy storage system, due to the high penetration of the energy produced by renewable sources, the possibility of leveling the absorption peak of the electric network (peak shaving) and the advantage of separating the production phase from the exertion phase (time shift). Compressed air energy storage systems (CAES) are one of the most promising technologies of this field, because they are characterized by a high reliability, low environmental impact and a remarkable energy density. The main disadvantage of big systems is that they depend on geological formations which are necessary to the storage. The micro-CAES system, with a rigid storage vessel, guarantees a high portability of the system and a higher adaptability even with distributed or stand-alone energy productions. This article carries out a thermodynamical and energy analysis of the micro-CAES system, a result of the mathematical model created in a Matlab/Simulink® environment. New ideas will be discussed, as the one concerning the quasi-isothermal compression/expansion, through the exertion of a biphasic mixture, that will increase the total system efficiency and enable a combined production of electric, thermal and refrigeration energies. This is something promising for the development of an experimental device.