Huan Guo, Yujie Xu, Xinjing Zhang, Yilin Zhu, Haisheng Chen,

Finite-time thermodynamics modeling and analysis on compressed air energy storage

systems with thermal storage,
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,
Volume 138,
2021,
110656,
ISSN 1364-0321,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2020.110656.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032120309400)
Abstract: The charging and discharging processes of compressed air energy storage
(CAES) systems are operated separately, and their characteristics depend on time
strongly. In addition, CAES systems typically consist of certain scales of thermal
storage and air storage units. The size of these units has a significant effect on
system performance. As time and size factors are usually involved and analyzed
through finite-time thermodynamics, it can be applied for analyzing and optimizing
CAES systems properly. In this paper, the finite-time thermodynamics models for
CAES systems with thermal storage (TS-CAES) including single-stage and multi-stage
configurations are first established. Equations of TS-CAES system efficiency are
innovatively derived, with time and size items being clearly expressed and
decoupled. Moreover, the well-built unbalanced factors among compressor/expander
stages are used for investigating the coupling relationship. The system
efficiencies with charging/discharging time, heat exchange area, unbalanced factors
and other key parameters are calculated. The finite-time thermodynamic boundary of
TS-CAES system is obtained. It is found that the effect of finite time and finite
size on the system efficiency is in a certain range, and the optimal heat transfer
conductance under a certain finite storage/release time is attained. System
efficiency decreases obviously with the increase of pressure/expansion ratio
unbalance. The equilibrium of the pressure loss coefficient rather than the
absolute value of the pressure loss can achieve higher efficiency. Positive
matching of pressure ratio/expansion ratio and compressor efficiency/expander
efficiency can result in obvious positive effects.
Keywords: Compressed air energy storage; Finite-time thermodynamics; System
efficiency; Optimization