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Influence of geometry on the thermal performance of water pit seasonal heat storages for solar district heating

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Abstract

The aim of the study is to investigate the influence of geometry on the thermal capacity and stratifications of a water pit heat storage for solar district heating. A TRNSYS component model for a truncated cone water pit was developed based on the coordinate transformation method and validated by experimental results from the water pit heat storage in Huangdicheng in 2018. The thermal performance of 26 water pits with different heights and side wall slopes was calculated for 10 consecutive years. It takes four to six years for the water pit to reach steady-state operation. The operation data from the tenth year was selected to evaluate the thermal performance of each configuration. The results show that because of the thermal insulation on top of the water pit, the height to diameter ratio of a water pit with minimum annual heat loss was always smaller than 1.0. The annual storage efficiency of a water pit increases with side wall slope due to the reduced side wall area. There is an almost linear increase in the thermal stratification number of a water pit with height. With an increase in the height, thermal stratification in water pits with a steeper slope increased more gradually than water pits with a lower slope. The findings in this paper are relevant for the design optimization of water pits as seasonal thermal energy storages.

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Abbreviations

A :

total surface area (m2)

c :

specific heat capacity (J/(kg·K))

d :

bury depth (m)

D :

diameter (m)

Depth:

calculation depth (m)

E :

energy (J)

Gr :

Grashof number

h :

heat transfer coefficient (W/(m2·K))

H :

height (m)

I g :

global irradiation (W/m2)

ṁ :

flow rate (kg/s)

n :

number

Pr :

Prandtl number

r :

radial direction

R 1 :

radius of the top wall (m)

R 2 :

radius of the bottom wall (m)

Radius:

calculation radius (m)

Ra :

Rayleigh number

Rt :

thermal resistant ((m2·K)/W)

Str :

Stratification number

T :

temperature (K)

u :

wind velocity (m/s)

V :

volume (m3)

y :

height direction

α :

thermal diffusivity (m2/s)

β :

thermal expansion coefficient (K−1)

γ :

increase factor

δ :

thickness (m)

Δ :

difference (m)

η :

efficiency (%)

θ :

side wall slope

λ :

thermal conductivity (W/(m·K))

ν :

kinematic viscosity (m2/s)

ξ :

horizontal direction in the new coordinates

ρ :

density (kg/m3)

τ :

time (s)

ϕ :

absorption factor

ϕ :

vertical direction in the new coordinates

− :

average

0:

initial

a:

air

bot:

bottom

bw:

water back from end user

ch:

charging

con:

concrete

dc:

discharging

G:

down side node

end:

end of the experiment

env:

environment

exp:

experiment

i, j, k :

grid number

ini:

start of the test

insu:

insulation

L:

left side node

nup:

upper opening node

nlow:

lower opening node

num:

numerical

p:

profile

R:

right side node

s:

soil

U:

up side node

w:

water

CFD:

computational fluid dynamics

FVM:

finite volume method

FEM:

finite element method

FDM:

finite difference method

KPI:

key performance indicator

STES:

seasonal thermal energy storage

WPTES:

water pit thermal energy storage

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDA21050200), the Guangdong Innovative and Entrepreneurial Research Team Program (No. 2013N070) and the State Grid Corporation Science and Technology Project “Research on Comprehensive Development and Utilization Technology of Renewable Energy in Multi-format Ecological Development Zone” for funding this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Solar Thermal Energy and Photovoltaic Systems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Yakai Bai, Ming Yang, Longfei Chen, Guofeng Yuan & Zhifeng Wang

  2. Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Yakai Bai, Ming Yang, Guofeng Yuan & Zhifeng Wang

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Yakai Bai & Zhifeng Wang

  4. Department of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Brovej 118, 2800, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

    Yakai Bai & Jianhua Fan

  5. Joint Laboratory, Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Guangdong Five Star Solar Energy Co., Ltd., Beijing, 100190, China

    Ming Yang, Guofeng Yuan & Zhifeng Wang

  6. Lanzhou University of Technology, Gansu, 730050, China

    Xiaoxia Li

Authors
  1. Yakai Bai
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  2. Ming Yang
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  3. Jianhua Fan
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  4. Xiaoxia Li
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  5. Longfei Chen
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  7. Zhifeng Wang
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Correspondence to Zhifeng Wang.

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Bai, Y., Yang, M., Fan, J. et al. Influence of geometry on the thermal performance of water pit seasonal heat storages for solar district heating. Build. Simul. 14, 579–599 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-020-0671-9

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