Research and development studies on solar thermal, energy storage, and desalination technologies
The team at CSEES has conducted a range of research and development studies at UNSW including
Experimental investigation of novel solar thermal collectors with built-in storage: CSEES developed a novel, medium temperature, low profile concentrated solar thermal collector integrated with latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES). By implementing an innovative optical concentration assembly and an internal linear tracking mechanism, the collector can concentrate beam radiation to the tube receivers during the highest flux hours of a day without any external or rotational motion. The design was patented and sold to a manufacturing company in China.
Numerical and Experimental investigation of phase change storage tank design for thermal applications: Taping CSEES expertise in thermal storage and phase change materials (PCMs), our team has investigated the use of thermocline/packed-bed and shell-and-tube configurations as an alternative to the commonly used two-tank molten salt storage in CSP plants. This study was conducted on two levels: at the component level, detailed CFD and Fortran numerical models were developed for component optimizations and experimental validations; and at the system level, an integrated model including a solar receiver, storage tank and the Rankine cycle was built using TRNSYS to systemically optimize the new generation of storage tanks that utilizes phase change materials.
Techno-economic feasibility of solar desalination plant: CSEES investigated the techno-economic feasibility of integrating a desalination process with a central receiver CSP plant. Given the scarcity of freshwater resources in arid climates, such as the MENA region and much of Australia, and the correlation with abundant solar resources, cogeneration of water and dispatchable electricity represent an emerging opportunity. The project examined potential heat extraction points from a CSP plant including steam, heat transfer fluid and storage cycles that can be used to drive a thermal desalination process in the most economical way. The project compared several desalination technologies that can be integrated with the CSP plant namely: Reverse Osmosis, Multi-Effect-Distillation (MED), and Membrane Distillation. The project uses a variety of simulation tools including TRNSYS, SAM, and MATLAB.