Rondo Energy
Rondo Energy has developed a modular heat battery, called the Rondo Heat Battery (RHB), as a large-scale thermal energy storage system for use across many industries. It’s primarily designed for use in industrial sites as a replacement for fossil-fuel boilers. The RHB has been designed to charge off cheap, renewable energy during the day (6-8 hours charging time), and the energy is converted to heat inside the RHB for use on site. There are two configurations that the RHBs can adopt depending on the intended application: producing heat and steam or producing heat and power.
The main building block of the RHB is a refractory brick that is stacked inside the battery and is heated up using joule heaters (that are powered by renewable energy). The joule heaters convert electricity into thermal radiation during charging, which heats up the thousands of bricks inside a RHB to 1500°C. These bricks can store this heat for days with less than 1% loss per day.
When the heat is needed, it can be discharged by flowing air through the brick stack. The air becomes superheated to over 1000°C and the delivery rate of the heated air is modified by changing the air flow and is delivered at specific temperatures using a control system. The air is eventually recirculated back through the system to minimise heat loss and maximise efficiency.
