Storage Gravitational Energy for Small Scale Industrial and Residential Applications
1
Department of Production Engineering, Technology Center, Federal University of Santa Maria, Av. Roraima 1000, 97105-900 Santa Maria, Brazil
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Polytechnic School, University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Av. Unisinos 950, 93020-190 São Leopoldo, Brazil
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Inventions 2019, 4(4), 64; https://doi.org/10.3390/inventions4040064
Received: 27 August 2019 / Revised: 16 October 2019 / Accepted: 17 October 2019 / Published: 31 October 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermophysical Approach for the Designing of Devices Inenergy and Biomedical Engineering)
Photovoltaic cells produce electric energy in a short interval during a period of low demand and show high levels of intermittency. One of the well-known solutions is to store the energy and convert it into a more stable form, to transform again into electricity during periods of high demand, in which the energy has a higher value. This process provides economic viability for most energy-storage projects, even for the least efficient and most common, such as batteries. Therefore, this paper aims to propose a storage system that operates with gravitational potential energy, considering a small-scale use. The development of this methodology presents the mathematical modeling of the system and compares the main characteristics with other systems. The dimensions of the considered system are 12-m shaft, 5-m piston height, and 4 m of diameter; it presented an energy storage of 11 kWh. Also, it has an efficiency of about 90%, a lifetime of 50 years, and higher storage densities compared to other systems.
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Keywords:
solar energy; gravitational energy; storage system
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MDPI and ACS Style
Ruoso, A.C.; Caetano, N.R.; Rocha, L.A.O. Storage Gravitational Energy for Small Scale Industrial and Residential Applications. Inventions 2019, 4, 64.
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