FR2742218A1 - Transportable storage for heat or cold - Google Patents

Abstract

The heat or cold is produced at a site remote from the distribution site. The heat or cold is stored in a transportable storage container. The storage is provided by a vessel or vehicle (10) fitted with an insulated storage area (13), such as a lighter or barge on a waterway (11), a lorry, semi-trailer, railway wagon, ship or aircraft. The insulated storage area has external connections to an internal heat exchanger. At the production site the heat exchange is provided from the plant (1) to heat or cool the storage. At the distribution site the connection to the internal heat exchanger takes the stored heat or cold from the storage.

Description

The present invention relates to a mobile heat or cold storage device making it possible to distribute thermal or cooling energy remotely on a site remote from the production plant.

Heat and cold distribution systems are already known from thermal and refrigeration plants supplying an urban network of users by piping (La Défense plants, Paris, Lyon, as well as in many cities in the United States , in Great Britain etc ...).

These power plants have a certain number of drawbacks such as the use of expensive and difficult to acquire surfaces due to the situation generally in the city center, whether in the basement or on the terrace of a building.

In addition, the resulting industrial activity generates various types of pollution in critical areas: aesthetic, acoustic, thermal (discharge of heat into the air or water of rivers), smoke (boilers or cooling towers) and at risk resulting from it.

Finally, such installations must be distributed in substations at several locations on the network to compensate for losses and allow regular distribution.

It is generally an object of the invention to allow these thermal relays, by replacing these fixed production plants with mobile, preferably river, but also rail or road storage.

Thermal production (hot or cold) is carried out at the periphery of critical dense areas by traditional means, using all possible storage techniques.

It takes place outside the place of use and the instant when it is required, at the most advantageous hours of electrical pricing and by spreading this production over a longer period, thus reducing the subscribed electrical power.

Distribution is ensured by river by barges or barges, railway wagons, trucks, in bulk or in containers, specially equipped to allow their connection to the production station and the use station.

Barges or barges provide access to the city center, or to any site, with economical transport and pollution free of any kind.

Their buoyancy level is very low on the water without unsightly protuberance.

No pollution is generated.

For the sites closest to the river, the invention offers independence and an alternative to the heat distribution network supplied by thermal power plants.

The supply thus produced also makes it possible to satisfy: -all of the needs of a user, -the temporary surplus of need at certain critical peak hours in the day.

-fast and reliable rescue.

The advantage of the process also makes it possible to: - Install heat and cold production and serorefringants outside of cities - No technical premises in urban areas (cost per m2 and danger).

- No steam plumes - Refrigeration units close to power plants that can benefit from the same coolers - Limited network losses - NH3 refrigerant = zero direct greenhouse effect and higher performance coefficient - Development of waterways
The invention allows the development of a new communication channel and a skippers activity.

Rail or road transport allow access to areas far from waterways and generally for more modest needs due to their weight, and can be combined and complement each other.

The originality of the device makes it possible to combine proven techniques of transport and thermal production, to combine their economic and ecological advantages and satisfy a real need of actuality.

The invention will be better understood from the following description given by way of example and with reference to the appended drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a diagram of an installation according to the invention comprising a single
exchanger and represented in the storage phase on the production site.

Figure 2 is a diagram of an installation according to the invention comprising a single
exchanger and shown in the destocking phase on the site of use.

Figure 3 is a variant of the invention comprising ice storage in
loose.

Figure 4 is a variant of the invention comprising two separate exchangers
for storage and clearance
FIG. 5 is a variant comprising an exchanger for storage and a
direct circulation for destocking
FIG. 6 is a variant of the invention in which the storage is chemical.

The figures have been represented for an application to river distribution and for the distribution of cold, it is obvious that the invention applies to other modes of transport and to the distribution of heat by using for example paraffin to the place of water. In the following description, we will only describe the system in production and use of cold, for hot it will be exactly the opposite.

An installation according to the invention in Figures 1 and 2 comprises a box (10) such as a barge or barge, comprising thermal insulation (13). The barge circulates on a waterway (11), it comprises an exchanger (9) immersed in a tank comprising a liquid with a liquid / solid phase change (12) such as water. This exchanger is connected by two pipes to the connection devices (7) and (8). The exchanger (9) consists of a set of metal or plastic pipes judiciously distributed in the storage tank and around which the ice will form; it may also be made up of parallel vertical plates, each comprising an integrated circuit and connected together, each plate being distant from its neighbor in the range of 5 to 10 cm. In the storage phase, FIG. 1, the barge is moored at production site, the connections (7) and (8) can be stop valves or automatic connections, they are connected to the respective connections (4) and (5). A circulation means (2) makes it possible, via the pipes (3) and (6), to circulate a cooling fluid such as glycol water or a refrigerant with change of liquid / gas phase between the refrigeration unit (1 ) and the exchanger (9).

The water contained in the barge will gradually solidify into ice around the exchanger (9). Once all the water has frozen, the storage phase is complete. The barge is then disconnected at the cold production site, the connections (7) and (8) are therefore uncoupled from the connections (4) and (5), and the barge can then set sail to head towards the site of use. That is shown in Figure 2, where the barge docked and where the connections (7) and (8) are connected to the respective fittings (14) and (15). Two pipes (16) and (17) and a circulation means (18) put the exchanger (9) in heat exchange relation with a cold use network (20) and (21). A possible exchanger (19) makes it possible to separate the circuits. In this destocking phase, ice water is produced in the exchanger (9) by melting the ice (12), this production of cold is distributed to the use until the ice in the barge is completely melted. It is then advisable to disconnect the barge at the site of use to make it navigate again to the storage site.

FIG. 3 represents another embodiment of a barge or barge in which the storage of ice (or water with added ice, such as a sorbet) is carried out in bulk in the hold. The barge is then filled with ice by mechanical means at the cold production site. This solution makes it possible to - connect the barge to the production center only for a short time, since the ice will have been previously stored in silos placed on the bank, for example. Once filled with ice, the barge navigates to the site of use, where the fittings (25) and (26) play the role of the fittings (7) and (8) shown in Figure 2 to which we refer. 18) then sends water at about 5 "C into the sorbet (12) via the piping (27), after passing through the tank, the water has cooled and is taken up at a temperature close to of 00C by the piping (28) to be distributed towards the use.

Figure 4 is an alternative embodiment of storage with two separate exchangers (34) and (35), the second being assigned to storage on the production site, the first to destocking on the site of use. This technique eliminates the need for an exchanger (19) during the destocking phase (the exchanger (34) playing this role) and allows direct expansion operation in the exchanger (35) in the storage phase. The two exchangers will preferably be in direct thermal contact with each other, such as for example two circuits of the same plate (or of an assembly). The connections (30) and (33) are put in relation on the storage site with the fittings (4) and (5); The fittings (31) and (32) are connected at the site of use with the fittings (14) and (15);
FIG. 5 is also an alternative embodiment of storage with a single exchanger (35) intended for the storage of ice, the destocking being effected by direct circulation of water, on the site of use, via the connections ( 36) and (37) which are related to the fittings (14) and (15) of the site of use. The fittings (30) and (33) are connected on the storage site with the fittings (4) and (5).

Figure 6 corresponds to another concept of cold or heat storage since it uses chemical sorption. The system then comprises at least two chemical reactors (45) and (46) each comprising a reagent composed of a salt of a binder and a heat exchanger (44) and (47). The two reactors are connected via a valve (48). In the cold storage phase, the reactor (45) is regenerated by a heat source connected to the exchanger (44) via the connections (40) and (41). The heat causes the reagent contained in the reactor (45) to decompose (Minci2 for example). The ammonia releases the contained ammonia which then goes to the reactor (46) passing through the valve (48). reacts then chemically with the reactant of the reactor (46) (CaCI2 for example) the reaction being exothermic, the heat will be evacuated by the exchanger (47) either directly to the river by a d-positive with natural flow or by pump , or towards any other medium. Once the reactor regeneration is complete, the valve (48) is then closed and the reactor (45) cooled. The barge is then transported to the site of use. In the destocking phase, the fittings (42) and (43) are connected with the fittings (14) and (they), the valve (48) is again open, the differences in equilibrium between the two salts cause the reactant of the reactor (46) to decompose following the effect of water at around 10 "C penetrating through the fitting (42),
The water then cools to exit at 5 "C through the fitting (43) towards use; at the same time the ammonia is released from the reagent (46) and goes to the reactor (45) where it enters reaction with the Minci2 the heat of reaction is then evacuated by the exchanger (44) and the fittings (40) and (41), either directly to the river by a natural flow device or by pump, or to any other medium. It should be noted that the chemical cold device can also be used as a heat pump, at the site of use one of the reactors will draw its reaction heat from the river with which it is in direct heat exchange relationship, and the released ammonia will then react with the other reactor which is then in heat exchange relation with the use.The reverse will occur on the production site.

The invention allows numerous applications both in the use of heat and of cold. There should be a production site outside urban areas and use in urban areas; For example, for the city of Paris, production points are possible along the Seine several kilometers from Paris, or less than an hour's access (25 km / h) by waterway, and there is no shortage of potential users. like La Défense, the Climespace network in Paris, the Ministry of Finance, the large library, Bercy, the Maison de la Radio, for which the invention provides economic support or assistance. The position of the fngorific production sites will allow several rotations per day. Several possible moorings for the barges will allow the supply of sectors using large frigonfic powers for air conditioning needs. The ships sailing on the Seine have capacities ranging from 600 to 2600 tonnes and a useful loading volume of up to 4000 m3. The energy stock of 2600 tonnes of ice is 264 Mwh of cold. As an indication, four ships per day will be able to provide air conditioning for the entire urban area of La
Defense, the hottest day of summer. The invention applies both in France and abroad where almost all major cities or capitals are crossed by large rivers or by the sea, such as the Universal Exhibition of
Lisbon in 1998, the heat distribution networks in Chicago, and New York,
Hong Kong, Saigon, London etc. where the same problems as in Paris also arise.

The present invention is generally applicable on all sites with a river, maritime, rail, road or other transport network, wherever the installation of a thermal or refrigeration plant raises technical, regulatory or environmental.

Claims (10)

1. A mobile heat or cold storage device characterized in that the  production of heat or cold is located at a site far from that of use  of this heat or this cold, and that it includes the means of connection  allowing storage and destocking. 2. Installation according to claim 1 characterized in that said device is a  barge or barge comprising the means of thermal insulation of the storage. 3. Installation according to claim 1 characterized in that said device is a  truck, semi-trailer, wagon, swap body, other transportation  road, rail, river, sea or air. 4. Installation according to claim 1 characterized in that the device comprises  at least one heat exchanger intended to connect the device  heat exchange with production and or use. 5. Installation according to claim 4 characterized in that the exchanger or exchangers  consist of parallel tubes or plates connected together by  collectors. 6. Installation according to claims 4 or 5 characterized in that the or the  exchangers are immersed in a container containing ice and that their role is  to form or melt this ice. 7. Installation according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the  destocking is carried out by direct circulation of water in the device. 8. Installation according to claim 1 characterized in that the fluid allowing the  storage and destocking is placed in a bin and uses phase change  liquid / solid. 9. Installation according to claim 4 characterized in that each plate is at  double circuit, one for storage, the other for destocking.  reagent.  comprises at least two reactors, or a double reactor, each comprising a  or cold is carried out by solid / gas chemical reaction and that the device  10.1 installation according to claim 1 characterized in that heat storage and  direct relationship of heat exchange with the river.  cooling and / or heat removal from the reactor (s) is underway  il Installation according to claim 10 characterized in that the system of