Compact Thermal Energy Storage: Material Development for System Integration (IEA SHC Task42 Storage-Materials)

This task deals with advanced materials for latent and chemical thermal energy storage, and excludes materials related to sensible heat storage. Sensible materials for heat storage are only used as reference cases. The task deals with these materials on three different scales:

• material scale, focused on the behavior of materials from the molecular to the ‘few particles’ scale, including e.g. material synthesis, micro-scale mass transport, and sorption reactions;
• bulk scale, focused on bulk behavior of materials and the performance of the storage in itself, including e.g. heat, mass, and vapor transport, wall-wall and wall-material interactions, and reactor design;
• system scale, focused on the performance of a storage within a heating or cooling system, including e.g. economical feasibility studies, case studies, and system tests.

The project is organized in a matrix-like structure and is divided in the application areas mentioned above and 5 materials working groups.

• Materials Engineering
• Materials Processing
• Tests und Characterization
• Numerical Modeling
• System Integration