Modeling and analysis of Carnot batteries and thermodynamic cycles in Julia

The continuous growing demand of energy has led to the necessity of new technology for energy storage. Based on the current climate change dialogue the use of sustainable materials for energy storage is of paramount importance. One possible approach to solving this problem is the conception of Carnot Battery more specifically Pumped Thermal Energy Storage (PTES) system. The working cycle of a PTES system is divided in three phases Charging Phase, Storage Phase, and Discharging Phase. In the Charging Phase excess generated electricity is stored in the thermocline in form of heat with the help of a heat pump. In the storage phase the heat is stored in the thermocline for future use. And finally in the Discharge Phase this heat is converted back to electricity by means of a heat engine.
The detailed study of these processes requires robust numerical and modelling tools. Such simulation codes need component based modelling and the softwares that deal with such problems are not generally open source. Hence the goal of this study is the development of a robust simulation software in Julia for the modelling of Thermodynamic Cycles. The simulation software is able to dynamic simulation specifically ODE solvers using ModelingToolKit.jl. It has modularity to include multiple models of components used in the cycles ( eg: thermocline. compressor, expander, condenser, heat exchangers etc ... ) as well as flexibility to implement additional models with minimal change to existing code. It also allows for the study of various power cycles as well as different Energy systems configurations.
The choice of Julia as a programming language is motivated by its high-level interface with performance of a low-level language. It has a package based framework and for this study a package is developed. This package will be registered in the Julia Library in the future. It is based on ModelingToolkit.jl. In later stages the simulation results of the software shall be compared with existing experimental results for specific configurations. This will allow for the fine tuning of parameters and models in the simulation code to capture realistic results. Finally, the described simulation software can be used by engineers for modeling Thermodynamic and Energy systems