US 11,953,271 B2
Thermal energy storage apparatus
Gabriele Bianchi, Novara (IT); Carla Lazzari, Novara (IT); Carmen Sama', Novara (IT); and Tamara Passera, Novara (IT)
Assigned to ENI S.P.A., Rome (IT)
Appl. No. 17/419,023
Filed by ENI S.P.A., Rome (IT)
PCT Filed Dec. 23, 2019, PCT No. PCT/IB2019/061297
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jun. 28, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/136558, PCT Pub. Date Jul. 2, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 102018000021106 (IT), filed on Dec. 27, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2022/0082336 A1, Mar. 17, 2022
Int. Cl. F28D 17/00 (2006.01); F28D 20/02 (2006.01)
CPC F28D 20/02 (2013.01) 22 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A thermal energy storage apparatus comprising
at least one hollow tube comprising an inner cavity and two ends, wherein each end provides a through opening, and
at least one basic module placed inside said inner cavity of said at least one hollow tube,
wherein said at least one basic module comprises at least one slab and at least one pair of spacer bars, at least one through channel adapted for the passage of a heat transfer fluid from one end to the other of said two ends of said at least one hollow tube,
wherein said pair of spacer bars are arranged parallel to each other and are arranged parallel with respect to a longitudinal axis passing along a longitudinal direction of said at least one hollow tube,
wherein at least one couple of slabs of said at least one slab are stacked up one on the other and each slab of said at least one couple of slabs comprises two faces, an upper face and a lower face, wherein each pair of spacer bars is placed between the upper face of a lower slab and the lower face of a higher slab of at least one couple of stacked up slabs, wherein each slab of said at least one couple of slabs comprises two transverse edges and each spacer bar of said at least one pair of spacer bars is placed at one of the two transverse edges of the slab so that said through channel comprises a transverse dimension which is as long as the maximum transverse dimension comprised between said walls of said pair of spacer bars.