A prototype of thermochemical heat storage system for space heating in building

Energy storage is the capture of energy produced at one time for use at a later time. It comes in multiple forms, such as chemical energy, electrical power, elevated temperature, latent and sensible heat, kinetic and gravitational potential energy. Thermochemical energy is used to drive a reversible endothermic chemical reaction, storing energy as chemical potential, and it is cost effective methods to provide a thermal comfort to improve living condition for people. Thermochemical energy storage (TES) materials normally have very high energy density and low regeneration temperature for energy saving. Solar energy is a very good heat source for the thermochemical energy storage system for regeneration in this project. In this project, V-MgSO4-CaCl2 has been chosen as the optimal TES material for use in our prototype, based on previous tests and analysis. V-MgSO4-CaCl2 shows the highest energy density of 1173.5kJ/kg and the lowest regeneration temperature of 62 °C. In this prototype, the operation condition was under a low relative humidity level (60%) with the highest reaction temperature at about 37.44 °C for more than 3.5 hours. The COP of the TES system for heating reaction was 1.11.