The concept of Thermal Energy Storage ( TES) for sustainable energy management and to provide competitive scheme operating costs has been accepted and proven to-date both locally and internationally . Essentially thermal energy storage bridges the gap between energy generation and energy use within building services cooling and heating systems including district distribution schemes by way of storage . The output for a TES system is always thermal.
TES schemes can be used as full or partial load thermal solutions for HVAC installations. In full storage systems, the entire load for the design day is generated off peak and stored for use during the following usage or drawdown period. In partial storage systems, only a portion of the daily load is generated during the previous off peak period and retained in storage for the daily usage drawdown period. During the daily usage period, the load is satisfied by a simultaneous balancing operation of the installed plant and stored energy in order to satisfy the overall daily design duty.
Crystal Air PCM Products Ltd uses savE® range of innovative phase change materials ( PCM`s ) as the storage media within our thermal energy storage systems. The savE® phase change material is encapsulated in HDPE containers which are then placed in battery format within atmospheric or pressurised storage vessels . The phase change material selection is system specific in terms of temperature and this allows our thermal energy storage system to be considered for new projects and retrofits without the need for any major disruption of the systems design or the need to select low temperature chillers and high glycol content installations.
PCM Thermal Energy Storage provide the following installation benefits.
* Reduction in cooling system running costs by up to 40% .
* Reduction in Max Demand charges , utility charges and plant capacity.
* Offers higher cooling scheme capacities.
* Increased energy efficiency rating for cooling plant
* Cooling and heating system peak lopping .
* High cooling system storage capacity.
* Waste heat Storage
The potential for the incorporation of a financially sustainable PCM TES scheme within most installations is considerable typically achieving paybacks within three years and thereby achieving double digit Internal Rate of Returns. Crystal Air PCM can help achieve the system benefits as described and where applicable by the incorporation of thermal energy storage schemes.