Gunter Gartler, Dagmar Jahnig, Gottfried Purkarthofer, Waldemar Wagner
AEE-INTEC, A-8200 Gleisdorf, Feldgasse 19, Austria
Phone: +43/3112/5886/64, Fax: +43/3112/5886/18, Email: g. gartler@aee. at

Long-term heat storage enables a major technical break-through for an effective year round use of solar thermal energy. Thermo-chemical processes as used in sorption storage systems give a new chance to store the heat with a high energy density and for extended periods. The project MODESTORE (Modular High Energy Density Sorption Heat Storage) is being supported by the European Commission since April 2003. The major objectives of this project are the monitoring of a first generation system installed in the past and the development of a second generation prototype. The main improvement is the integration of key components (evaporator/condenser and the reactor) into one single container. A modular design enables to operate in a wide variety of applications in the near future. Test runs of the installed first generation system have been done under controlled conditions to gain operation experience and to assure a detailed characterisation of the complete system. A control program was written in order to operate the storage in a reliable and automatic way. Detailed experimental data of all tests were obtained, analysed and evaluated. Furthermore a simulation model was developed. The validation of the simulation model was done comparing simulated and measured charging and discharging cycles. The model represents well the basic performance of the adsorption heat store. The newly developed second generation prototype will be engineered and extensively tested, analysed and evaluated under practical conditions to allow the finalisation of the product development and identification of the most attractive market.