Patent ID: 8931277
Filing Date: 2015-01-13
Classification: C02F,F01K,F03G,F24S,F28B,F28D,F28F,Y02B,Y02E,Y02W

Abstract:
1. A method, comprising: combining a heat pump cycle and a heat engine cycle within a system comprising: a cold storage tank; water, an alkylene glycol, or combination thereof within the cold storage tank; an external pump that is fluidly coupled to the storage tank; an external heat exchanger that is fluidly coupled to the external pump, wherein the external heat exchanger is capable of supercooling the water, the alkylene glycol, or combination thereof to form an ice slurry; a vapor expander and compressor device mechanically coupled to a motor/generator device, which is electrically coupled to a power grid or a power source, a phase-change heat exchanger fluidly coupled to the vapor expander and compressor device; an insulated sensible heat storage tank comprising a cold fluid in a first end of the insulated sensible heat storage tank and a hot fluid in a second end of the insulated sensible heat storage tank, the insulated sensible heat storage tank being fluidly coupled to the phase-change heat exchanger; a reversible flow pump that fluidly couples the insulated sensible heat storage tank to the cold storage tank; such components being fluidly coupled to define a first fluid loop having a working fluid that flows there through; a second fluid loop that passes through the phase-change heat exchanger of the first fluid loop; and wherein the second fluid loop contains a fluid medium, the fluid medium being capable of exchanging thermal energy with the working fluid; operating the system by circulating the working fluid there through; embedding sensible heat storage in a compression cycle of the working fluid; and using the stored sensible heat during an expansion cycle of the working fluid to increase round-trip efficiency of the system.