Investigation of an innovative three-phase thermochemical reactor for building’s application

To tackle climate change worldwide, increasing the share of renewable energy in buildings sector is essential. While the dynamic nature of the renewables is an obstacle for improving its efficiency. In this context, thermal energy storage technologies are to store the renewables and act as a continuous clean energy supply to meet building’s demand. Thermochemical energy storage stands out in advantages including high energy storage density and low thermal loss in long term storage. For a thermochemical energy storage system, the thermochemical reactor is critical. This paper illustrates the drawback of the current thermochemical reactors applied in buildings, including: (1) high air flow pressure drop of air flow while providing robust support for thermochemical material, (2) low thermal conductivity of the material reducing reactor performance, (3) the extract/supply energy from/to the reactor effectively in charging and discharging. To tackle these challenges, this paper proposes an innovative three-phase thermochemical reactor and numerically investigates its performance in charging and discharging processes. The reactor features side opening for air flow and thermochemical material support. To extract heat effectively and enhance heat and mass transfer within the reactor, a fin copper pipe is integrated in the reactor. The reactor performance analysis show that the heat and mass transfer performance has been improved by 129% and 55% in charging and by 77% for COP and 13% mass transfer performance in discharging.