Compressed
Air Energy Storage
This
describes, a method to store energy using compressed air under sea.
It uses a submerged tank and air is pumped to it. This compressed air
will be released to obtain energy. The tank is the store of energy.
This system is already used to store energy. See Compressed
air: the battery of the future and Wikipedia
- Compressed air energy storage.
Even now this system is used to
store energy. Further experimental articles exist how it can be done
Compressed
Air Energy Storage (CAES) and
Underwater
Compressed Air Energy Storage: Fantasy or Reality?.
Good article about the
process of Compressed
Air Energy Storage (CAES) done by Boise
State University, Office of Energy Research, Policy and Campus
Sustainability
is available in the web. Currently operating
power plants by utilizing Compressed Air Energy Sources are also
available in the web by Bine
Informationsidenst.
Further article is available by The
Greenage UK.
The principle of storing
energy by utilizing compressed air is an accepted method of power
storage. What I intend in this article is hither to unknown method of
storing energy. Usually there are methods of storing energy by
compressing
air in under water, some details are given in this article.
The current methods in
storing energy under water utilities under water fixed natural tanks
or artificial tanks. Some suggested method use underwater balloons.
In all these cased the tanks are fixed.
Hydrostor Inc. has developed an
energy storage solution that addresses intermittent (solar &
wind), load balancing, reserve capacity, and peak-shaving. Some
other articles are available in the web Compressed
Air Energy Storage (CAES) .
The main difference
form other methods is, this method utilizes a floating tank. This
tank is an underwater tank that floats like submarines. The density
of the tank will be made equal to that of the water outside it. The
advantage is the pressure inside the tank by the compressed air is
balanced by outside pressure of the water. The tank will float up
when the pressure is low and it will sink to compensate the pressure
when the pressure is high. The advantage of this system is since
there is a very little pressure between inside the tank and out,
there will be no necessity to have pressure resistance. In other
words the cost of the tank can be greatly reduced, because floating
will take care of the pressure. Usually high pressure tanks are
dangerous and difficult to build. Bigger tanks that can store large
amounts of energy will be very expensive. This problem is solved by
the floating tank method. The weight of the air will be little
compared to the weight of the tank therefore the engineering
challenge in building the tank to float in the water will be
sufficient.
The novel method will
utilize concrete tank to store pressurized air. Need for concrete is
necessary because the weight given by the concrete to balance the
buoyancy. Concrete
was use to make ships in the past. Therefore it is a well proven
technology.
This tank can be
conceptually thought as an air bubble that will sink and float as the
pressure inside the bubble changes, balancing with outside pressure.
But, it will be necessary to have a tank to add weight to the bubble
to make it sink.
It will be necessary to
have a system to change the buoyancy of the tank to make it sink or
float depending on the inside pressure. It may need a system to
change the density of the system. A system like an old diving bell
where air will push out the water, increasing the volume and reducing
the density of the system. Air from the tank may be utilized to do
this.
