Thermal energy storage system goes online at IIT Kanpur

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Prof. Abhay Karandikar, director of the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur), recently launched the operation of a thermal energy storage system with a 775 tonnes-of-refrigeration (TR) heat rate at the institute’s Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering building. 

The system is part of an urban pilot under a joint Indo-US project called UI-ASSIST on Smart Grid and Storage Technology. The project, led by IIT Kanpur, is being funded by the Department of Science and Technology. 

Under this project, five demonstration pilot units are being set up in rural, semi-urban, and urban/institutional settings. 

The thermal storage system is based on the latest concept of using a phase-change material with a Brine solution as coolant, which takes low-cost energy during the off-peak period to achieve the coolant temperature up to -4 degree Celsius. The stored energy is withdrawn to support the air-conditioning load during peak period to the tune of 77.5 TR for 10 hours.

Speaking about the system, Prof. Karandikar said, “This is another step that we took towards an effective  energy management solution that can also be adopted in smart city and data center applications. The technology reduces the air-conditioning load and minimizes the peak electricity demand in the system.”

The project is led by Prof. S. C. Srivastava, Prof. Santanu Mishra, and Prof. Ankush Sharma from the Electrical Engineering department of IIT Kanpur and primarily executed by Vinay Kumar Tiwari, Executive engineering IWD (Institute Works Department) and Shiv Kumar Singh, Research Establishment Officer, Electrical Engineering Department IIT Kanpur, with Kehems Technologies Indore as a service provider.

Prof Sameer Khandekar from mechanical engineering department provided periodic guidance for the selection of the technology.

 

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