Storage Design

Thermischer Versuchsspeicher
© Fraunhofer ISE
Experimental thermal storage with molten salt, integrated into a demo solar thermal power plant.
Auslegung des Speichers eines solarthermischen Kraftwerks mittels Systemsimulation
© Fraunhofer ISE
Design of the storage tank of a solar thermal power plant using system simulation.

We design both sensible and latent storage systems for diverse applications in industry and thermal power plants. For this purpose, we use, among others, our simulation tools »Comsol Multiphysics©«, »Modelica« and the internal software »ColSim«. Depending on the requirements, we combine the different storage technologies to hybrid systems and thus design storage systems specifically for a given load profile.

Our R&D services include:

  • Answering design and dimensioning questions with respect to specific conditions such as load and heat supply requirements.
  • Storage optimization by simulating its thermal, energetic and hydraulic characteristics
  • Design of single-tank stratified storage systems with and without fillers
  • Design of two-tank systems
  • Design of latent heat and cold storage systems
  • Characterization of charging and discharging performance and heat losses
  • Development of hybrid storage systems