Heat exchange system to transfer waste heat from electrical load to compressed air energy storage system
A system includes a renewable energy source (RES) configured to provide 100% carbon free electrical power and cooling without the need for chillers and evaporative cooling towers to a co-located data center, a compressed air energy storage (CAES) system including compressed air storage configured to store compressed air, a compressor train configured to receive electrical power from the RES to compress ambient air into the compressed air storage, and an expander train configured to decompress the compressed air from the compressed air storage to provide electrical power to the co-located data center, and a heat exchange system comprising a heat pump configured to transfer waste heat from the co-located data center to the expander train of the CAES system to heat the compressed air from the compressed air storage.
1 . A system comprising:
a renewable energy source (RES) configured to provide electrical power to a co-located data center;
a compressed air energy storage (CAES) system comprising:
compressed air storage configured to store compressed air;
a compressor train configured to receive electrical power from the RES to compress ambient air into the compressed air storage; and
an expander train configured to decompress the compressed air from the compressed air storage to provide electrical power to the co-located data center; and
a heat exchange system comprising a heat pump configured to transfer waste heat from the co-located data center to the expander train of the CAES system to heat the compressed air from the compressed air storage, wherein the heat pump upgrades the waste heat by collecting the waste heat at a lower temperature from the co-located data center and delivering the waste heat at a higher temperature to the expander train.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the heat exchange system receives electrical power from one or more of the CAES system and the RES.
3 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising an absorption chiller configured to provide cooling using heat generated by the compressor train of the CAES system.
4 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a second heat pump to transfer heat generated by the compressor train of the CAES system to one or more of a thermal energy storage and a heat load.
5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the heat load comprises an ethanol or other process plant.
6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the compressed air storage comprises one or more of a subterranean cavern, compressed air tanks, and liquid air tanks.
7 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising thermal storage configured to store heat received from the heat exchange system.
8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the heat pump is configured to transfer heat from the thermal storage to the expander train of the CAES system.
9 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising storage to store a thermal transfer medium.
10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the thermal transfer medium is heated using one or more of waste heat from the co-located data center and the heat pump.
11 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the storage includes a cold storage portion storing the thermal transfer medium at a lower temperature and a hot storage portion storing the thermal transfer medium at a higher temperature.
12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the RES and the CAES system are configured to provide continuous electrical power to the co-located data center.
13 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the compressor train is sized differently than the expander train.
14 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the heat pump is configured to transfer heat from ambient air to the expander train of the CAES system to heat the compressed air from the compressed air storage.
15 . The system of claim 1 , the compressed air storage to provide the compressed air to the co-located data center to cool the co-located data center.
16 . A system comprising:
a compressed air energy storage (CAES) system comprising:
compressed air storage configured to store compressed air;
a compressor train configured to receive electrical power from a renewable energy source (RES) to compress ambient air into the compressed air storage; and
an expander train configured to decompress the compressed air from the compressed air storage to provide electrical power to a co-located data center; and
a heat pump configured to transfer waste heat from the co-located data center to the expander train of the CAES system to heat the compressed air from the compressed air storage, wherein the heat pump upgrades the waste heat by collecting the waste heat at a lower temperature from the co-located data center and delivering the waste heat at a higher temperature to the expander train.
17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the heat pump receives electrical power from one or more of the CAES system and the RES.
18 . The system of claim 16 , further comprising thermal storage including a hot storage portion to store heat from the heat pump and provide heat to the heat pump and a cold storage portion to cool the co-located data center.
19 . A system comprising:
a renewable energy source (RES) configured to provide electrical power to a co-located data center and an air energy storage (AES) system comprising:
high-potential air storage configured to store high-potential air;
a first energy converter configured to receive electrical power from the RES to convert ambient air into high-potential air for storage in the high-potential air storage; and
a second energy converter configured to convert potential energy of the high-potential air into electrical energy for the co-located data center; and
a heat exchange system configured to transfer waste heat from the co-located data center to the second energy converter of the AES system to heat the high-potential air during conversion of the potential energy of the high-potential air into electrical energy, wherein the heat pump upgrades the waste heat by collecting the waste heat at a lower temperature from the co-located data center and delivering the waste heat at a higher temperature to the expander train.
20 . The system of claim 19 , further comprising thermal storage including a hot storage portion to store heat from the co-located data center provided by the heat exchange system.
21 . The system of claim 19 , wherein the first energy converter and the second energy converter are disaggregated such that heat from the first energy converter is not provided to the second energy converter.
22 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the first energy converter has greater capacity than the second energy converter.
23 . The system of claim 22 , wherein excess high-potential air or heat from the first energy converter is provided to a co-located industrial load.
24 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is configured to exchange electrical energy with a utility grid.