Experimental comparison of the dynamic operations of a sensible heat thermal energy storage and a latent heat thermal energy storage system

Due to the time-dependency of the supply of solar energy which may not necessarily match the demand for the energy resource, storage systems have been designed to cater for the resulting mismatch. Thermal energy storage systems may be used to store thermal energy from the sun which can be used for the provision of the heat necessary to cook during periods of low or no solar radiation. The thermal performances of two types of storage media in a storage tank are compared experimentally. The first storage medium is sunflower oil which is used both as the heat transfer fluid and the storage medium. Encapsulated erythritol is the second storage medium with sunflower oil as the heat transfer fluid. The thermal performances of the two thermal storages were evaluated during charging and discharging at different flow rates of the heat transfer fluid. The performance parameters such as the average charging rate, the cumulative thermal energy stored, the average discharging rate and the cumulative energy discharged in the storage tank are studied in detail. Results indicate that the thermal performance of the storage is enhanced by the encapsulated erythritol. The charging times of storage system using encapsulated erythritol were, however, longer due the increased thermal capacity.