German Research Foundation (DFG) Approves Major Project on Carnot Batteries
To ensure a sustainable energy supply in the future with the help of wind and sun, we need large quantities of energy storage systems. They provide the energy needed when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing. One promising technology is Carnot batteries, which store sustainably generated electricity in the form of heat; when needed, the heat is converted back into electricity. As part of the DFG Priority Program 2403, the "MultiPCM" project is starting at the DLR Institute of Technical Thermodynamics.
The Carnot battery storage system
Sustainable energy sources already provide electricity in large quantities that is not always used immediately. A Carnot battery offers the possibility to store electricity as heat. In the first step, the storage system converts the electricity into heat. Then the heat is stored using molten salts or high-temperature ceramics, and then converted to electricity using a steam or gas turbine. The process is also known as power-to-heat-to-power technology.
Unusual approach
In
Priority Program 2403 'Carnot Batteries
: Inverse design from market to molecule', members of the priority program at 15 sites across Germany are taking a different approach than usual. They are developing what the market needs and building on economic targets for future energy markets to implement them technically. Carnot battery storage systems have numerous design parameters, but until now there has been no systematic methodology to optimize and evaluate them.
In the subproject MultiPCM, the DLR Institute of Engineering is developing a comprehensive multi-scale simulation for PCM storage systems. The material used, in this case salt, changes its aggregate state from solid to liquid and vice versa.
The simulation will enable the design of the storage device to be optimized and its performance within a Carnot battery storage system to be optimized. DLR will subsequently validate the simulation experimentally. The common goal of all project participants is to combine the results of the subprojects within the Priority Program 2403 and to develop a framework Carnot battery concepts.
The priority program is led by
(University of Duisburg-Essen) and the coordination team consisting of
Prof. Dr. Francesca Di Mare, Prof. Dr. Valentin Bertsch
(both Ruhr-Universität Bochum),
(University of Kassel), and
(DLR and University of Stuttgart).