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Ejector driven systems have the ability to operate at high efficiencies, utilizing recycled thermal energy as a power source. For a typical ejector heat pump system, the increase of the condenser temperature reduces the coefficient of performance (COP). In addition, if the condenser temperature is higher than the critical temperature, the ejector may not function. In this situation, the condenser temperature must be reduced, and an additional heater will be utilized to heat the production water from the condenser temperature to the desired temperature. In this investigation, a single-stage gas-fired ejector heat pump (EHP) is investigated and thermodynamically modeled in order to optimize the system COP for the purpose of heating water by utilizing the thermal energy from the ambient air. The effects of the high-temperature evaporator (HTE) and low-temperature evaporator (LTE) temperatures on the ejector critical back pressure and the EHP system performance are examined for a HTE temperature range of 120–180 °C and LTE temperatures of 15.5, 17.5, and 19.5 °C. Results show that an optimized COP of the EHP system exists which depends on HTE and LTE temperatures, primary nozzle throat diameters. In addition, it is found that the EHP COP is independent of the ejector COP. From this investigation a maximum EHP COP of 1.31 is able to be achieved for a HTE temperature of 160 °C and a LTE temperature of 19.5 °C with a total heat capacity of 15.98 kW.

Grid integration of the increasing distributed energy resources could be challenging in terms of new infrastructure investment, power grid stability, etc. To resolve more renewables locally and reduce the need for extensive electricity transmission, a community energy transaction market is assumed with market operator as the leader whose responsibility is to generate local energy prices and clear the energy transaction payment among the prosumers (followers). The leader and multi-followers have competitive objectives of revenue maximization and operational cost minimization. This non-cooperative leader-follower (Stackelberg) game is formulated using a bi-level optimization framework, where a novel modular pump hydro storage technology (GLIDES system) is set as an upper level market operator, and the lower level prosumers are nearby commercial buildings. The best responses of the lower level model could be derived by necessary optimality conditions, and thus the bi-level model could be transformed into single level optimization model via replacing the lower level model by its Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) necessary conditions. Several experiments have been designed to compare the local energy transaction behavior and profit distribution with the different demand response levels and different local price structures. The experimental results indicate that the lower level prosumers could benefit the most when local buying and selling prices are equal, while maximum revenue potential for the upper level agent could be reached with non-equal trading prices.

In the U.S., building sector is responsible for around 40% of total energy consumption and contributes about 40% of carbon emissions since 2012. Within the past several years, various optimization models and control strategies have been studied to improve buildings energy efficiency and reduce operational expenses under the constraints of satisfying occupants’ comfort requirements. However, the majority of these studies consider building electricity demand and thermal load being satisfied by unidirectional electricity flow from the power grid or on-site renewable energy generation to electrical and thermal home appliances. Opportunities for leveraging low grade heat for electricity have largely been overlooked due to impracticality at small scale. In 2016, a modular pumped hydro storage technology was invented in Oak Ridge National Laboratory, named Ground Level Integrated Diverse Energy Storage (GLIDES). In GLIDES, employing high efficiency hydraulic machinery instead of gas compressor/turbine, liquid is pumped to compress gas inside high-pressure vessel creating head on ground-level. This unique design eliminates the geographical limitation associated with existing state of the art energy storage technologies. It is easy to be scaled for building level, community level and grid level applications. Using this novel hydro-pneumatic storage technology, opportunities for leveraging low-grade heat in building can be economical. In this research, the potential of utilizing low-grade thermal energy to augment electricity generation of GLIDES is investigated. Since GLIDES relies on gas expansion in the discharge process and the gas temperature drops during this non-isothermal process, available thermal energy, e.g. from thermal storage, Combined Cooling, Heat and Power system (CCHP), can be utilized by GLIDES to counter the cooling effect of the expansion process and elevate the gas temperature and pressure and boost the roundtrip efficiency. Several groups of comparison experiments have been conducted and the experimental results show that a maximum 12.9% cost saving could be achieved with unlimited heat source for GLIDES, and a moderate 3.8% cost improvement can be expected when operated coordinately with CCHP and thermal energy storage in a smart building.

Concurrent production of electrical and thermal energy from a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) device is an attractive tool to address the growing energy needs of the planet. Micro CHP (µCHP) systems can reduce a building’s primary energy consumption, reduce carbon footprint, and enhance resiliency. Modeling of the µCHP helps understand the system from multiple perspectives and helps discover errors earlier, improves impact analysis and simulation of system solutions for ease of integration with the building. Consequently, there is a need for analysis of the impact of µCHP modeling approach on its reliability and flexibility. The primary objective of this paper is to review the state-of-the art models in the µCHP space with a focus towards internal combustion engine as the primary mover (PM) and limit the study to system modeling, calibration, and validation methodologies. Based on the analysis, recommendations for further model considerations and refinements are presented.

In recent times, there has been a significant increase in intermittent renewable electricity capacity additions to the generation mix. This, coupled with an aging electrical grid that is poorly equipped to handle the ensuing mismatch between generation and use, has created a strong need for flexible, advanced bulk energy storage technologies. In this paper, one such technology recently invented and demonstrated at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is introduced and characterized. Similar to compressed-air energy storage, the Ground-Level Integrated Diverse Energy Storage (GLIDES) technology is based on gas compression/expansion, however, liquid-piston compression and expansion are utilized. In common with pumped-storage hydroelectricity, hydraulic turbomachines (pump/turbine) are utilized for energy storage and recovery, however, pressure vessels are utilized to create artificial elevation (head) difference, allowing pressure head of several thousands of feet to be reached. This paper reports on the experimental performance of the first GLIDES proof-of-concept prototype, and presents formulation and results from a validated physics-based simulation model.

With the effort to use alternative refrigerants with lower global warming potential (GWP), the majority of these alternative refrigerants are classified as slightly flammable. In this paper we report on the numerical evaluation of a catastrophic leak scenario of R-32 refrigerant from a 3-ton roof top air conditioning unit (RTU) which serves a 12.2 × 9.14 × 2.4 m room. A full rupture of a 6.35 mm (¼ inch) pipe downstream of the evaporator coil is simulated. Two separate cases with refrigerant releases of 1.81 kg and 3.62 kg charge have been studied. The two charges are released in 10.2 and 20.4 s, respectively, just after the end of a unit cooling cycle. The flammable volume inside the room existed only for about 40 s with a maximum flammable volume inside the room of 1.12% of the total room volume for the 3.62 kg charge case.

With the increasing penetration of renewable energy, the need for advanced flexible/scalable energy storage technologies with high round-trip efficiency (RTE) and high energy density has become critical. In this paper, a techno-economic model of a novel energy storage technology developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is presented and used to estimate the technology’s capital cost. Ground-Level Integrated Diverse Energy Storage (GLIDES) is an energy storage technology with high efficiency which can store energy via input of electricity and heat and supply dispatchable electricity. GLIDES stores energy by compressing and expanding a gas using a liquid piston. GLIDES performance has been extensively studied analytically and experimentally. This study aims to develop a comprehensive combined performance and cost modeling environment. With the desired system storage capacity kilowattage, storage time (hours), and an initial RTE guess as inputs, the model optimizes the selection of system components to minimize the capital cost. The techno-economic model described in this paper can provide preliminary cost estimates and corresponding performance for various system sizes and storage times.

A self-powered furnace is defined as one that imports no electricity: a power cycle integrated into the furnace generates all the electrical power needed, and the heat rejected by the power cycle contributes to space heating. This paper presents criteria for selection of suitable power generation technology for such a furnace. A weighting system was presented to assign weight to each criterion based on its importance to the success of a self-powered furnace implementation. Power generation candidates were reviewed and scored based on the selection criteria. The top five candidates were analyzed to quantitatively compare the additional heat exchange requirements they impose on a baseline furnace. Air-cooled internal combustion engines and microturbine generators had negligible impact on the heat exchange requirement compared to a baseline furnace. Liquid-cooled internal combustion engines increased the heat exchange requirement by a factor of 1.5. Thermoelectric generators and thermophotovoltaic increased the heat exchange requirement by a factor of roughly 2.5. Organic Rankine cycle increased the heat exchange requirement by a factor of 5.

Due to the increasing generation capacity of intermittent renewable electricity sources and an electrical grid ill-equipped to handle the mismatch between electricity generation and use, the need for advanced energy storage technologies will continue to grow. Currently, pumped-storage hydroelectricity and compressed air energy storage are used for grid-scale energy storage, and batteries are used at smaller scales. However, prospects for expansion of these technologies suffer from geographic limitations (pumped-storage hydroelectricity and compressed air energy storage), low roundtrip efficiency (compressed air energy storage), and high cost (batteries). Furthermore, pumped-storage hydroelectricity and compressed air energy storage are challenging to scale-down, while batteries are challenging to scale-up. In 2015, a novel compressed gas energy storage prototype system was developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In this paper, a near-isothermal modification to the system is proposed. In common with compressed air energy storage, the novel storage technology described in this paper is based on air compression/expansion. However, several novel features lead to near-isothermal processes, higher efficiency, greater system scalability, and the ability to site a system anywhere. The enabling features are utilization of hydraulic machines for expansion/compression, above-ground pressure vessels as the storage medium, spray cooling/heating, and waste-heat utilization. The base configuration of the novel storage system was introduced in a previous paper. This paper describes the results obtained from a transient, analytical, physics-based thermodynamic system model used for the system design and evaluation of three design configurations (including base configuration). The system model captures real gas effects and all loss mechanisms. The model demonstrates an energy storage roundtrip efficiency of 82% and energy density of 3.59 MJ/m3. Experimental evaluation of system performance and detailed cost-analysis will be presented in future publications.

Energy storage systems (ESS) have emerged to play an increasingly important role in modern, complex electricity grid systems due to their potential to balance power supply and demand. Furthermore, ESS systems offer the potential to smooth out electricity supply from variable sources such as wind and solar power. Beyond the technical value they bring to the design and operation of modern power systems, ESS also offer the potential to create economic value to owners through many use cases such as demand charge reduction through peak load shaving, and energy arbitrage, also known as time-of-use shifting. The potential to achieve widespread adoption of ESS systems is largely dependent on demonstrating value to would-be consumers. In this study, the value of one potential use case for ESS systems - “behind-the-meter” energy storage for buildings - is explored. Specifically, this value is explored through the lens of a case study of an academic building located on the Stellenbosch University campus in Western Cape, South Africa.

For this study, we authored a new air source integrated heat pump (AS-IHP) model in EnergyPlus, and conducted building energy simulations to demonstrate greater than 50% average energy savings, in comparison to a baseline heat pump with electric water heater, over 10 US cities, based on the EnergyPlus quick-service restaurant template building. We also assessed water heating energy saving potentials using ASIHP versus gas heating, and pointed out climate zones where AS-IHPs are promising.

In this paper, a techno-economic model / cost reduction analysis of a low-cost, dispatchable / scalable, efficient Ground-Level Integrated Diverse Energy Storage (GLIDES) system is analyzed, along with a review of existing state-of-the-art energy storage technologies. The introduced technology, GLIDES, which was invented at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), stores energy by compression and expansion of air using water as a liquid piston inside high-pressure reservoirs. GLIDES is introduced by combining Pumped Hydroelectric Storage (PHS) and Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) technologies. By replacing inefficient gas compressor and turbine with higher efficiency liquid turbomachines for liquid-piston compression/expansion, GLIDES achieves higher roundtrip efficiency than other gas compression-based energy storage technologies and is a scalable energy storage system. For cost reduction purposes, various pressure reservoirs including steel vessels, carbon fiber vessels, pipe segments, and underground pressure reservoirs are analyzed in this paper. Based on the analyzed data using the models discussed in this paper, energy storage costs as low as ∼$14/kWh and ∼$346/kWh (roundtrip efficiency (RTE) ∼80%) can be achieved for a grid-scale GLIDES using depleted oil/gas reservoirs and high-pressure pipe segments respectively.

In this work, a novel Ground-Level Integrated Diverse Energy Storage (GLIDES) system which can store energy via input of electricity or heat and deliver dispatchable electricity is presented [1]. The proposed system is low-cost and hybridizes compressed air and pumped-storage approaches that will allow for the off-peak storage of intermittent renewable energy for use during peak times. A detailed control-volume energy analysis of the system is carried out, yielding a set of coupled differential equations which are discretized using a finite difference scheme and used to model the transient response during charging and discharging. The energy analysis includes coupled heat transfer and pressure drop analysis used to predict system losses for more accurate round trip efficiency (RTE) calculations and specific energy density (ED) predictions. Preliminary analysis of the current prototype indicates an electric-to-electric RTEE of 66% (corresponding to shaft-to-shaft mechanical RTEM of 78%) and ED of 2.5 MJ/m3 of air, given initial air volume and pressure of 2 m3 and 70 bar. The electric power output ranges from a max of 2.5 kW to a min of 1.2 kW and the output current ranges from a max of approximately 21 amps to approximately 10 amps at 120 V, 60 Hz dispatchable electricity, over a period of approximately 50 minutes. Additionally, it is shown that heat transfer enhancement to the point of a 5-fold increase in air heat transfer rates results in a near 5% improvement in RTEE (70% considering all component losses). Additional component efficiency improvements and efficiency gains due to system scale-up could see higher achievable RTEs.Copyright © 2015 by ASME