This paper investigates an innovative energy storage concept which combines gravity energy storage (GES) with a hoisting device based on a wire rope with an aim to enhance the system performance. A sizing method was performed to determine the proper sizing of the hoisting system's components, mainly the wire rope and the drum.
Finally, the energy capacity of GESH has been found equal to 0.43 kWh; this is almost the double of the energy capacity of GES without a hoisting system. To validate the developed model, the experimental prototype developed by the University of Innsbruck has been used in this case study.
The additional hoisting system is composed of a wire rope and a drum connected to a motor/generator. To store energy, both the pump-motor and the drum motor use excess electricity to make the piston move in an upward motion.
This paper has investigated the idea of improving the performance of gravity energy storage system by the addition of a wire rope hoisting device to support the lifting of the piston. First of all, the appropriate size of the hoisting system's components was first determined. The type of the rope and the required safety factor were identified.
There are several types of energy storage systems, which can be classified into five fundamental groups, namely thermal, electrochemical, chemical, mechanical, and electrical energy storage . Another classification divides ES systems into two main categories including distributed and bulk ES.
In the same context, two different dry gravity storage based on hoisting methods was also proposed by Botha et al., namely the traditional drum winder hoist, and the ropeless hoisting method. This latter relays on the concept of a linear electric machine as hoist .