This open-source Modelica package contains models for particle-based silica-sand thermal energy storage (TES) in heating applications. Silica sand is an abundant, low-cost, and efficient storage medium for concentrated solar power and electricity generation. As an emerging technology, solid particle TES could benefit building and district heating systems, particularly as building electrification and renewable energy penetration increases. To enable heating system design and evaluation with sand TES, this package contains base classes through complete systems with physical equipment, controls, and ready-to-use scripts for simulating and plotting.
Software Download
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The development site of this software is at: https://github.com/sbslab/modelica-sand.This package uses the Modelica Buildings Library v9.0.0:Release Notes
- 07/26/2023: v1.0 released.
- First release of the library. It contains component and system models supporting particle-based sand TES in heating applications.
- 07/26/2023: v1.0 released.
Acknowledgement
This research was supported in part by an appointment with the IBUILD Graduate Student Research Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and Building Technologies Office. This program is managed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). This program is administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) for the DOE. ORISE is managed by ORAU under DOE contract number DESC0014664. All opinions expressed in this paper are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the policies and views of DOE, ORNL, ORAU, or ORISE. This material is also based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Solar Energy Technologies Office Award Number 38394. Lastly, this work emerged from the IBPSA Project 1, an international project conducted under the umbrella of the International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA). Project 1 will develop and demonstrate a BIM/GIS and Modelica Framework for building and community energy system design and operation.
Related Publications
- K. Hinkelman, D. Milner, W. Zuo 2023. “Open-Source Models for Sand-Based Thermal Storage in Heating Applications.” The 15th International Modelica Conference. October 9-11, Aachen, Germany.
- D. Milner, K. Hinkelman, J. Gifford, W. Zuo, Z. Ma 2023. “Sand-based Thermal Storage for Building Heating Applications: A District Energy Case Study.” The 7th International Energy Conference (ASTECHNOVA 2023). October 4-5, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.