THERMAL SYSTEMS FOR ENERGY CONVERSION AND STORAGE:

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AT CNR-ITAE

National Research Council of Italy -Institute for Advanced Energy Technologies «Nicola Giordano»

CNR ITAE/1

Fuel CellsHydrogen and

eco-fuels

Storage and rationaluse of energy

New technologies and integration of renewable

energies

WHAT: The Institute for Advanced Energy Technologies «N.Giordano» is part of the

National Research Council of Italy.

WHERE: The Institute is located in Messina and is divided

into 2 buildings: the main section, with offices and

laboratories devoted to basic research, and the

C E N T R O P R O V E, where the technologies with higher TRL

are tested.

MISSION: To promote

and develop research

activities on materials,

components and energy

systems.

STI GROUP: THERMAL ENERGY SYSTEMS

STAFF AND ACTIVITIES

MAIN RESEARCH TOPICS

Enza Brancato

Antonino Bonanno

Fabio Costa

Giuseppe Dino

Andrea Frazzica

Davide La Rosa

Walter Lombardo

Valeria Palomba

Alessio Sapienza

Salvatore Vasta

Lucio Bonaccorsi

Luigi Calabrese

Guido DI Bella

▪ Sorption heatpumps/chillers

▪ Waste heat re-use▪ Heat storage and recovery▪ Solar cooling▪ Heat Transfer

FACILITIES1 x Chemical LAB1 x Components development LAB2 x Testing bench for thermal technologies1 x Testing bench for PCM Storages1 x Climatic CHAMBER

STAFFResearcher

Researcher

Lab Technician

Researcher

Researcher

Researcher

Researcher

Researcher

Researcher

Researcher

Associated Professor

Associated Professor

Engineer @ NAVTEC

LATENT HEAT STORAGE: ACTIVITIES AT CNR ITAE

MATHEMATICAL MODELING AND

SIMULATION

LATENT HEAT STORAGE 25

MATERIAL SCREENING

MATERIALS CHARACTERI

ZATION

MATERIAL CYCLING

DESIGN OF STORAGES

TESTING OF LAB-SCALE

PROTOTYPES

ADSORPTION SYSTEMS FOR STORAGE AND

HVAC

MATERIAL CHARACTERIZ

ATION: ADSORPTION

CAPACITY

MATERIAL CYCLING

MATHEMATICAL MODELING AND

SIMULATION

TESTING OF LAB-SCALE AND

COMMERCIAL SYSTEMS

ADSORPTION STORAGE AND HEAT PUMPS: ACTIVITIES AT CNR ITAE

ADSORPTION DYNAMICSTESTING OF

SMALL-SCALE ADSORBERS

TESTING OF EVAPORATORS

Development and characterization of Sorbent and Phase change materials for heat storage and transformation

De-aluminated ZeolitesSilico-alumino-phosphates

Composite sorbentsMOFs

Activated Carbons

In cooperation with: UniME, UniRC, Boreskov IC, Uni Edinburgh, Fraunhofer ISE

- Cycling stability analysis- Increasing of thermal conductivity - Development of high temperature

salt mixtures

MATERIAL LEVEL

In cooperation with: Uni Lleida, Uni PG, Fraunhofer ISE, IEA SHC Task 58 / ECES Annex 33

SORBENTs

PCMs

Materials characterization equipment @ ITAE

DVS Vacuum: absorption / co-absorption of vapour on solids

and liquids Mettler DSC 1: melting enthaplyand specific heat measurements

for PCMs

Labsys Evo: TG/DSC under

saturated vapourpressure

conditions

Hydrothermal ageing of sorbent materials under real working

boundaries

Customized thermo-gravimetric system for sorption of alcohols on

porous materials

Mathis TCi: Transient plane thermal

conductivity measurement

MATERIAL LEVEL Development and characterization of Sorbent and Phase change materials for heat storage and transformation

COMPONENTSLEVEL AHP Components development LAB @ITAE

▪ G_LTJ method

▪ Testing of real small scale

adsorber

Sorption kinetics measurements

▪ Single adsorber adsorption chiller

▪ 1 kW peak cooling power capacity

▪ Real boundary conditions, VCP, COP, management strategy

Testing of adsorbers

Study of evaporation/condensation under vacum conditions

▪ Evaporation/condesation driven by

adsorption/desorption

▪ Testing of different Hex layout

▪ Water, ethanol, methanol

HEx 1

HEx 2

Development of components for heat storages and heat pumps

HEx 1

HEx 2

Existing testing rig for testingof evaporation under vacuumof tubes and representativepieces of fin-and-tube HEXs

TESTING RIG UNDER CONSTRUCTION

- Expected evaporation power: 2-4 kW.

- Maximum dimensions of the heat exchanger: 350 x

350 x 100 mm.- Connections: straight tubes Φ12.

- Flow rates: 5-40 kg/min.

- Pressure drops allowed : up to 100 kPa.

Testing of evaporators

✓ Suitable for systems with power of 35 kW

✓ Thermal and hybrid systemtesting possibilities

✓ Class A Electric meter for measurement of electricconsumption

SYSTEMLEVEL

Testing of commercial prototypes of adsorption chillers, heat pumps and hybrid sorption-compression chillers

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CONDENSER

EVAPORATOR

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Fluid port

Thermal port

AD

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AD

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Pilo

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MATERIAL MODELING IN COMSOL® MULTIPHYSICS

ADSORPTION MODULE MODELING IN MODELICA/DYMOLA

MODEL VALIDATION

AQ

SOA

FA

M Z

02

-2

LA

YER

S

✓ τ80%

SYSTEM MODELING IN TRNSYS

Mathematical modelling

PAST PROJECTS

Thermally OPerated Mobile Air Conditioning Systems+Overall volume 150 L

Overall weight 59 kg

Chilling capacity 2,3 kW

Min, air temperature 9 °C

COP 0,2

Regeneration temp. 80 °C

Adsorbent Zeolite

57

cm

Prototype Cabin installation

STRALIS 520

TORINO

✓ Automotive competitions✓ «Friction» reduction✓ Possible different installation

PAST PROJECTS Utilization of waste heat on board of fishing vessels for fish preservation and air conditioning

3D model

Ethanol-activated carbon refrigeration– 0.5 kW

50

60

70

80

90

100

110

120

130

140

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

SC

P [

W/k

g]

CO

P

Ratio τads/τdes

COP_90-30-15 SCP_90-30-15

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 250 500 750 1000 1250 1500

Tem

pera

ture

s ( C

)

Time (s)

T in Ads 1 T out Ads 1 T in Ads 2 T out Ads 2

Chiller acqua/AQSOA Z02-silica gel – 4 kWCONDENSER

EVAPORATOR

ADSORBERS

12

3

PAST PROJECTS

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Te

mp

era

ture

[ C

]

Time [h]

T tank [°C] T ave [°C] T tank [°C] T ave [°C]

Sensible Heat Storage Hybrid Heat Storage

400

450

500

550

600

650

60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74

DH

W e

qu

ivale

nt

pro

du

cti

on

[d

m3]

Temperature [ C]

Hybrid Sensible + Latent Heat Storage Sensible Heat Storage

~ 13 %

~ 8.5 %

PCM storage system with tank-in-tank design for DHW

Adsorption heat pump 10 kW

o Efficiency: 140%respect to the methane LCV

o ITAE activity:collaboration in the development and characterization of the adsorber reactor

PAST PROJECTS

2007- first study on coatings

2010-first design of adsorber

2013-machine commerciallyavailable

New coatingtechniqueunder development

Adsorption module developed

@ITAE

Milano Comfortexpo-

18/21 March 2014

PAST PROJECTS

In collaboration with UniTS

Development of a hybrid storage system for utilization and storage of engine waste heat on cruise ships

ONGOING PROJECTS

06/2017- 11/2019

Thermally drivenchiller with zeolite coating

Integrated unit: thermal chiller + heat pump +

dry cooler

Advanced solarthermal collectors

Target cost 2000 €/kW (with solar field and cooling, heating and thermal storage included)

Demo-site intallationin Athens

OBJECTIVES

http://zeosol.eu/

ONGOING PROJECTS

10/2017-09/2021

http://www.hybuild.eu/

ONGOING PROJECTS

Industrial Cooling through Hybrid system based on solar heat.

2 pilot plants: • Food industry: utilization of solar heat for

air conditioning of plant building• Chemical industry: utilziation of solar

heat for steam production and cooling of process equipment

ROLE OF CNR-ITAE: system modelling, design review of sorption chiller, testing of full-scale prototype

http://www.hycool-project.eu/

ONGOING PROJECTS

Deployment of novel GEOthermalsystems, technologies and tools for energy efficient building retroFITting.

http://www.geofit-project.eu/

ROLE OF CNR-ITAE: system modelling, hybrid sorption-compression heatpump design, testingof full-scale prototype

ONGOING PROJECTS

The SWS-HEATING project concept isto develop aninnovative Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage (STES) unit with anovel sorbent storagematerial embedded in a compactmultimodular sorption STES unit.

ROLE OF CNR-ITAE: system modelling, sorbentdevelopment and production, small-scale prototypes testing

http://www.swsheating.eu/

ONGOING PROJECTS

The main objective of SunHorizon is todemonstrate up to TRL 7 innovative andreliable Heat Pump solutions (thermalcompression, adsorption, reversible) thatacting properly coupled and managed withadvanced solar panels (PV, Hybrid, thermal)can provide heating and cooling to residentialand tertiary building with lower emissions,energy bills and fossil fuel dependency

ROLE OF CNR-ITAE: system modelling, prototype testing

ONGOING PROJECTS

ROLE OF CNR-ITAE: system modelling, prototypetesting

http://www.solbiorev.eu/

Solar-Biomass Reversible energy system for covering a large share of energy needs in buildings

The SolBio-Rev project concept is to develop a configuration based on renewables that allows covering all heating and cooling demand and a variable electricity demand (from zero up to even 100%) in a cost-effective manner. This configuration is based on solar, ambient and bioenergy, while it is suitable to be installed in various buildings types and sizes without any geographical restriction.

INDUSTRIAL Partners