Abstract
One significant reason limiting the widespread application of compressed air energy storage is the high cost of ground-level air storage devices. Previous work by the authors’ team proposed a novel variable-volume air storage (VVAS) device based on working fluid phase change, effectively increasing the air storage capacity. However, the early study only focused on thermodynamic performance analysis. Therefore, this study established an experimental platform for the VVAS device to test its feasibility and developed a cost assessment model to analyze its economic performance. The results demonstrate that the VVAS device allows the air in the storage tank to continue near-isobaric release under the displacement of gaseous R134a at the other side of the bladder when the air pressure in the storage tank decreases to equal the air pressure at the throttle valve outlet. The effective air storage density of the VVAS device can be increased by over 50% under the different air storage pressures. The efficient utilization of the air storage device can significantly reduce its volume and lower storage costs. The cost analysis indicates that the unit air storage cost for the VVAS device is 50.20 $/kg, which is significantly lower than the conventional device (80.34 $/kg).
Published Version
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