Modeling of Transient Cyclic Behavior of a Solid Particle Thermal Energy Storage Bin for Central Receiver Applications

Results show that multi-cycle modeling is important, since it shows that the assumed initial temperature may not representative and may lead to inaccurate results. Furthermore, lessons learned from the first cycle of operation, especially excessive air leakage into the TES bin during nighttime depletion, help refine modeling of subsequent cycles. Energy loss at the end of the second cycle was found to be 4.3%. While considered large, this value is primarily due to the high surface-to-volume ratio of the prototype TES bin being investigated. Preliminary analysis shows that a utility-scale TES bin using the same concept will have an energy loss of less than 1%, which conforms to the current best practice, and shows that low-cost TES solutions can be used in conjunction with the falling particle receiver concept.