Heat Battery State of Charge Determination through a Network of Sensors

Generating heat causes around one third of UK greenhouse emissions. The 2011 Carbon Plan requires virtually zero carbon buildings in UK by 2050. Heat storage is a key component when generating heat from intermittent renewable sources or to shift heat production to off-peak periods while heat consumption remains on-peak. Today, water-based thermal stores are commmon in the UK, but their large size make them undesirable or impossible to fit in smaller dwellings. Sunamp's Heat Battery technology uses Phase Change Materials to shrink heat storage to around one quarter the size of equivalent hot water thermal stores. This project allows Sunamp to develop a network of sensors that can accurately measure the State of Charge of Heat Batteries. This refined measurement will allow Sunamp to optimise the control strategy of the whole system, improving performance, energy saving and financial payback.