Experimental assessment of a sorption storage for integration in industrial processes

Thermal energy storage systems are becoming central components of several processes, due to the requests for high efficiency in the residential, industrial and mobility fields. Among the various technologies available for thermal storage, thermochemical storage with sorption materials presents some interesting features for the application in the industrial field: theoretically infinite storage time, possibility of recovering waste heat for the supply of cold to the user, high energy density if compared to sensible and latent heat storage. In this work an innovative sorption cold/heat storage, employing water (R718) as a refrigerant, and the experimental activity for its assessment is presented. The experimental set-up used consists of a vacuum chamber, in which is possible to install different sorption reactors, and an evaporator/condenser. This device is connected to a testing bench that allows managing and measuring energy flows and the temperature levels for charging and discharging phases. The application of the storage under different operating conditions and the effect of such parameters on its performance were evaluated.