Solid media cannot leak or freeze and many are inexpensive. Heat moves in and out through embedded pipes (concrete), a flowing gas or air (packed beds, bricks) or by moving the solid itself (sand and particles).
Temperatures range from a few hundred °C in concrete to over 1,000 °C in refractory bricks and ceramics — suiting high-temperature industrial heat.
Key facts
- Sand (bulk)
- ≈ 0.83 kJ/kg·K · ≈ 1,500 kg/m³
- Concrete
- ≈ 0.9 kJ/kg·K · up to ≈ 500 °C
- Refractory
- up to ≈ 1,300 °C
- Heat transfer
- Air, steam tubes, moving particles
Media6
- Silica sand and solid particles
- Crushed rock and gravel (packed bed)
- Concrete and castables
- Refractory and magnesia bricks
- Ceramic honeycombs
- Graphite and carbon blocks
Configurations5
- Packed bed with air flow
- Concrete with embedded tube bundles
- Brick stacks with resistive heating
- Falling or fluidised particle systems
- Sand silos with heat exchangers
Engineering points5
- Pressure drop through the bed
- Thermal ratcheting of containment
- Air or gas leakage
- Insulation and refractory design
- Thermal cycling fatigue
Related calculators
Calculators are available to staff / admin only.
Related topics
- Thermal BatteryIntegrated systems that turn electricity — often cheap renewable power — into stored high-temperature heat for steam, hot air or power.
- High-TemperatureSalts, solids, ceramics and PCMs storing heat at 400–1,300 °C for steel, cement, glass, chemicals and power.
- Sensible HeatThe simplest and most deployed principle: energy is stored by heating water, salts, oils or solids without a change of state.
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