The use of sand deposits in buildings for energy storage

Abstract

The aim of the research is to prepare data for the design of heat stores with sand filling. In buildings without basement, spaces between foundation walls are filled with material easily compacted, which forms a solid and durable basis for the ground level of the building. As a rule, this material is sand of various grain size, and foundation walls are insulated. In this way, a space filled with a granular material is formed, which, with a properly designed heat exchanger attached, may be used as sensible-heat storage. Such a store makes a good lower level source for heat pumps - source of heat at the time of low temperatures outside, which significantly raises the coefficient of efficiency of the system. Low construction cost of the heat exchanger is an additional argument for the use of the space between the foundation walls for the purpose of building a heat store. This paper presents the results of studies that allow of the appropriate design of the heat exchanger in a heat store with a granular deposit. The deposit temperature changes in time have been studied, dependent on the distance from the source of heat and humidity of the material. Study was carried out for the sands used for filling the space between the foundation walls.