IEA SHC Task74 – Components for Thermal Energy Storage

The main objective of Task 74 is to bridge the gap between research on storage materials and practical implementation, with the focus on three key pillars: component design and integration, determination of the state-of-charge and application-oriented case studies.
These pillars are also the subtasks into which the work is divided.

We work on compact thermal energy storage technologies, with PCM (phase change materials) and TCM (thermochemical materials) and on high-temperature sensible storage.
By making a systematic inventory of the possible applications a basis is given to choose those applications with the earliest chances of market adoption. These form the basis for the design parameters of the main components for a thermal storage: heat exchangers for sensible and PCM and reactors for TCM. We make an inventory of the design approaches used in industry and academia, and try to refine best approaches for the component design. In parallel, the robustness of doing experiments on components is tested in a round-robin test of a simple heat exchanger. Several laboratories will perform tests on the same component and the comparison and analysis of the outcome will help to understand the flaws and weaknesses in the process.
Furthermore, the methods and techniques to determine the state-of-charge of PCM and TCM storages will be further improved and demonstrated.