IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v12y2019i9p1821-d230785.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Long-Term Monitoring of Sensible Thermal Storage in an Extremely Cold Region

Author

Listed:
  • Getu Hailu

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alaska Anchorage, 3211 Providence Drive, ECB 301K, Anchorage, AK 99508, USA)

  • Philip Hayes

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alaska Anchorage, 3211 Providence Drive, ECB 301K, Anchorage, AK 99508, USA)

  • Mark Masteller

    (Bristol Bay Campus, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Box 1070, 527 Seward Street, Dillingham, AK 99576, USA)

Abstract

We present more than one-year of monitoring results from a thermal energy storage system located in a very cold place with a long winter season. The studied house is in Palmer city, Alaska (~62° N, ~149° W). The house is equipped with solar PV for electricity production and solar thermal collectors which were linked to a sensible thermal energy storage system which is underneath the house’s normally unoccupied garage and storage space. Sensors were installed in the thermal storage and solar thermal collector array to monitor system temperatures. In addition, TRNSYS was used for numerical simulation and the results were compared to experimental ones. The maximum observed garage ambient temperature was ~28 °C while the simulated maximum ambient garage temperature was found to be ~22 °C. Results indicate that seasonal solar thermal storages are viable options for reducing the cost of energy in a region with extended freezing periods. This is significant for Alaska where the cost of energy is 3–5 times the national average.

Suggested Citation

  • Getu Hailu & Philip Hayes & Mark Masteller, 2019. "Long-Term Monitoring of Sensible Thermal Storage in an Extremely Cold Region," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-19, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:9:p:1821-:d:230785
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/9/1821/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/9/1821/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Getu Hailu & Philip Hayes & Mark Masteller, 2017. "Seasonal Solar Thermal Energy Sand-Bed Storage in a Region with Extended Freezing Periods: Part I Experimental Investigation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-12, November.
    2. Flynn, Ciarán & Sirén, Kai, 2015. "Influence of location and design on the performance of a solar district heating system equipped with borehole seasonal storage," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 377-388.
    3. Baglivo, Cristina & Congedo, Paolo Maria, 2016. "High performance precast external walls for cold climate by a multi-criteria methodology," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(P1), pages 561-576.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Magdalena Nemś, 2020. "Experimental Determination of the Influence of Shape on the Heat Transfer Process in a Crushed Granite Storage Bed," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Caner Çuhac & Anne Mäkiranta & Petri Välisuo & Erkki Hiltunen & Mohammed Elmusrati, 2020. "Temperature Measurements on a Solar and Low Enthalpy Geothermal Open-Air Asphalt Surface Platform in a Cold Climate Region," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-16, February.
    3. Teguh Hady Ariwibowo & Akio Miyara, 2020. "Thermal Characteristics of Slinky-Coil Ground Heat Exchanger with Discrete Double Inclined Ribs," Resources, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-17, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Yang & Zhang, Shanhong & Chow, David & Kuckelkorn, Jens M., 2021. "Evaluation and optimization of district energy network performance: Present and future," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    2. Jin Zhou & Zhikai Cui & Feng Xu & Guoqiang Zhang, 2021. "Performance Analysis of Solar-Assisted Ground-Coupled Heat Pump Systems with Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage to Supply Domestic Hot Water for Campus Buildings in Southern China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-23, July.
    3. Cristina Baglivo & Paolo Maria Congedo & Matteo Di Cataldo & Luigi Damiano Coluccia & Delia D’Agostino, 2017. "Envelope Design Optimization by Thermal Modelling of a Building in a Warm Climate," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-34, November.
    4. Lobaccaro, G. & Croce, S. & Lindkvist, C. & Munari Probst, M.C. & Scognamiglio, A. & Dahlberg, J. & Lundgren, M. & Wall, M., 2019. "A cross-country perspective on solar energy in urban planning: Lessons learned from international case studies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 209-237.
    5. Rehman, Hassam ur & Hirvonen, Janne & Sirén, Kai, 2017. "A long-term performance analysis of three different configurations for community-sized solar heating systems in high latitudes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 479-493.
    6. Anna Bać & Magdalena Nemś & Artur Nemś & Jacek Kasperski, 2019. "Sustainable Integration of a Solar Heating System into a Single-Family House in the Climate of Central Europe—A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-20, August.
    7. Baglivo, Cristina & Congedo, Paolo Maria & Murrone, Graziano & Lezzi, Dalila, 2022. "Long-term predictive energy analysis of a high-performance building in a mediterranean climate under climate change," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PA).
    8. Ciampi, Giovanni & Rosato, Antonio & Sibilio, Sergio, 2018. "Thermo-economic sensitivity analysis by dynamic simulations of a small Italian solar district heating system with a seasonal borehole thermal energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 757-771.
    9. Giordano, Nicolò & Raymond, Jasmin, 2019. "Alternative and sustainable heat production for drinking water needs in a subarctic climate (Nunavik, Canada): Borehole thermal energy storage to reduce fossil fuel dependency in off-grid communities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C), pages 1-1.
    10. Guo, Fang & Zhu, Xiaoyue & Zhang, Junyue & Yang, Xudong, 2020. "Large-scale living laboratory of seasonal borehole thermal energy storage system for urban district heating," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    11. Mengting Jiang & Camilo Rindt & David M. J. Smeulders, 2022. "Optimal Planning of Future District Heating Systems—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-38, September.
    12. O’Dwyer, Edward & Pan, Indranil & Acha, Salvador & Shah, Nilay, 2019. "Smart energy systems for sustainable smart cities: Current developments, trends and future directions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C), pages 581-597.
    13. Rehman, Hassam ur & Hirvonen, Janne & Sirén, Kai, 2018. "Performance comparison between optimized design of a centralized and semi-decentralized community size solar district heating system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 1072-1094.
    14. Chu, Shunzhou & Sethuvenkatraman, Subbu & Goldsworthy, Mark & Yuan, Guofeng, 2022. "Techno-economic assessment of solar assisted precinct level heating systems with seasonal heat storage for Australian cities," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(P1), pages 841-853.
    15. Guo, Fang & Zhu, Xiaoyue & Li, Pengchao & Yang, Xudong, 2022. "Low-grade industrial waste heat utilization in urban district heating: Simulation-based performance assessment of a seasonal thermal energy storage system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PE).
    16. Carotenuto, Alberto & Figaj, Rafal Damian & Vanoli, Laura, 2017. "A novel solar-geothermal district heating, cooling and domestic hot water system: Dynamic simulation and energy-economic analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 2652-2669.
    17. Haleh Boostani & Polat Hancer, 2018. "A Model for External Walls Selection in Hot and Humid Climates," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-23, December.
    18. Renaldi, Renaldi & Friedrich, Daniel, 2019. "Techno-economic analysis of a solar district heating system with seasonal thermal storage in the UK," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C), pages 388-400.
    19. Szczęśniak, Arkadiusz & Milewski, Jarosław & Dybiński, Olaf & Futyma, Kamil & Skibiński, Jakub & Martsinchyk, Aliaksandr, 2023. "Dynamic simulation of a four tank 200 m3 seasonal thermal energy storage system oriented to air conditioning at a dietary supplements factory," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    20. Kyriakidis, A. & Michael, A. & Illampas, R. & Charmpis, D.C. & Ioannou, I., 2019. "Comparative evaluation of a novel environmentally responsive modular wall system based on integrated quantitative and qualitative criteria," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:9:p:1821-:d:230785. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.