ARTICLES AND DEVICES FOR THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE AND METHODS THEREOF

摘要

The present invention relates to articles 2 and heat storage devices 80 for storage of thermal energy. The articles 2 include a metal base sheet 12 and a metal cover sheet 14, wherein the metal base sheet and the metal cover sheet are sealingly joined to form one or more sealed spaces 18, The articles 2 include a thermal energy storage material 16 that is contained within the sealed spaces 18. The sealed spaces preferably are substantially free of wafer or includes liquid water at a concentration of about 1 percent by volume or less at a temperature of about 25 °C, based on the total volume of the sealed spaces 18. The articles include one or more of the following features: a) the pressure 36 in a sealed space is about 700 Torr or less, when the temperature of the thermal energy storage material is about 25 °C; b) the metal cover- sheet 14 includes one or more stiffening features 34, wherein the stiffening features Include indents into the sealed space, protrusions out of the sealed space, or both, that are sufficient in size and number to reduce the maximum von Mises stress in the cover sheet during thermal cycling; c) the metal cover sheet 14 and/or the metal base sheet 12 includes one or more volume expansion features 62; or d) the metal cover sheet has a thickness, tc, and the metal base sheet has a thickness, tb, wherein tc is greater than tb; so that the article is durable. For example, the article does not leak after thermal cycling between about 25 °C and about 240 °C, for 1,000 cycles.