Multiscale Evaluation of an Electrically Heated Thermal Battery for High-Temperature Industrial Energy Storage

Munevver Elif Asar (), Daniel McKinley, Bao Truong, Joey Kabel and Daniel Stack
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Munevver Elif Asar: Electrified Thermal Solutions, Inc., Medford, MA 02155, USA
Daniel McKinley: Electrified Thermal Solutions, Inc., Medford, MA 02155, USA
Bao Truong: Electrified Thermal Solutions, Inc., Medford, MA 02155, USA
Joey Kabel: Electrified Thermal Solutions, Inc., Medford, MA 02155, USA
Daniel Stack: Electrified Thermal Solutions, Inc., Medford, MA 02155, USA

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 17, 1-22

Abstract: Industrial processes such as cement, steel, and glass manufacturing rely heavily on fossil fuels for high-temperature heat, presenting a significant challenge for decarbonization. To enable continuous thermal output from intermittent renewable electricity, Electrified Thermal Solutions, Inc. is developing the Joule Hive™ Thermal Battery (JHTB), an electrically heated energy storage system capable of delivering process heat up to 1800 °C. The system employs electrically conductive firebricks (E-Bricks) as both heating elements and thermal storage media, arranged with insulating bricks (I-Bricks) to facilitate gas flow and heat exchange. The work combines experimental and numerical studies to evaluate the thermal, electrical, and structural performance of the JHTB. A small-scale charging experiment was conducted on a single E-Brick circuit in a 1500 °C furnace, showing good agreement with coupled thermal-electric finite element models that account for Joule heating, temperature-dependent properties, radiation, and natural convection. Structural modeling assessed stress induced by thermal gradients. In addition, a high-fidelity conjugate heat transfer model of the full JHTB core was developed to assess system-scale discharge performance, solving conservation equations with SST k-ω turbulence and radiation models. Simulations for two air channel geometries demonstrated the battery’s ability to deliver 5 MW of heat for at least five hours with air temperatures higher than 1000 °C, validating its potential for industrial decarbonization.

Keywords: thermal battery; electrification; heat storage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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