• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.178-184
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• 2011

Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) is a combination of energy storage and generation by storing compressed air using off-peak power for generation at times of peak demand. In general, both charging and discharging of high-pressure vessel are unsteady processes, where the pressure is varying. These varying conditions result in low efficiencies of compression and expansion. In this paper, a new constant-pressure CAES system to overcome the current problem is proposed. An energy analysis of the system based on the concept of exergy was performed to evaluate the energy density and efficiency of the system in comparison with the conventional CAES system. The new constant-pressure CAES system combined with pumped hydro storage requires the smaller cavern with only half of the storage volume for variable-pressure CAES and has a higher efficiency of system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.287-294
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• 2002

CAES which is called as a compressed air energy storage was firstly developed at Huntorf, German in 1978. The capacity of that system was 290MW, and it can be treated as a first commercial power plant. CAES has a lot of merits, such as saving the unit price of power generation, averaging the peak demand, improvement of maintenance, enlarging the benefit of dynamic use. According to the literature survey, the unlined rock cavern should be proposed to be a reasonable storing style as a method of compressed air storage in Korea. We decided the hill of the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources as CAES site. If we construct the underground spaces in this site, the demand for electricity nearby Taejon should be considered. So we could determine the capacity of the power plant as a 350MW, This capacity needs a underground space of 200,000㎥, and we can conclude 4 parallel tunnels 550m deep from the surface through the numerical studies, Design parameters were achieved from 300m depth boring job and image processing job.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.1511-1519
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• 2014

The objective of this paper is to propose a modelling of a small compressed air energy storage system, which drives an induction generator based on a field-oriented control (FOC) principle for a renewable power generation. The proposed system is a hybrid technology of energy storage and electrification, which is developed to use as a small scale of renewable energy power plant. The energy will be transferred from the renewable energy resource to the compressed air energy by reciprocating air compressor to be stored in a pressurized vessel. The energy storage system uses a small compressed air energy storage system, developed as a small unit and installed above ground to avoid site limitation as same as the conventional CAES does. Therefore, it is suitable to be placed at any location. The system is operated in low pressure not more than 15 bar, so, it easy to available component in country and inexpensive. The power generation uses a variable speed induction generator (IG). The relationship of pressure and air flow of the compressed air, which varies continuously during the discharge of compressed air to drive the generator, is considered as a control command. As a result, the generator generates power in wide speed range. Unlike the conventional CAES that used gas turbine, this system does not have any combustion units. Thus, the system does not burn fuel and exhaust pollution. This paper expresses the modelling, thermodynamic analysis simulation and experiment to obtain the characteristic and performance of a new concept of a small compressed air energy storage power plant, which can be helpful in system designing of renewable energy electrification. The system was tested under a range of expansion pressure ratios in order to determine its characteristics and performance. The efficiency of expansion air of 49.34% is calculated, while the efficiency of generator of 60.85% is examined. The overall efficiency of system of approximately 30% is also investigated.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.77-85
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• 2009

Flexible and lined segment air-tight tunnelling technology for Compressed Air Energy Storage-Gas Turbine(CAES-G/T) power generation was introduced. The distinguished characteristics of the air-tight tunnel system can be summarized by two facts. One is that the high inner pressure due to compressed air is sustained by surrounding rock mass with allowing sufficient displacement of lining segment. The other is that the air-tightness of storage tunnel was enhanced by adopting a specially designed rubber sheet. The flexible lined air-tight underground tunnel can be constructed at a comparatively shallow depth and near urban area so that the locally distributed CAES-G/T power generation can be accomplished. In addition, this air-tight tunnelling technology can be applied to a variety of energy underground storage tunnels such as Compressed Natural Gas(CNG), Liquifed Petroleum Gas(LPG), DeMethyl Ether(DME) etc.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.297-306
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• 2011

In this paper, we performed thermodynamic energy balance analysis of the underground lined rock cavern for compressed air energy storage (CAES) using the results of multi-phase heat flow analysis to simulate complex groundwater-compressed air flow around the cavern as well as heat transfer to concrete linings and surrounding rock mass. Our energy balance analysis demonstrated that the energy loss for a daily compression and decompression cycle predominantly depends on the energy loss by heat conduction to the concrete linings and surrounding rock mass for a sufficiently air-tight system with low permeability of the concrete linings. Overall energy efficiency of the underground lined rock caverns for CAES was sensitive to air injection temperature, and the energy loss by heat conduction can be minimized by keeping the air injection temperature closer to the ambient temperature of the surroundings. In such a case, almost all the heat loss during compression phase was gained back in a subsequent decompression phase. Meanwhile, the influence of heat conductivity of the concrete linings to energy efficiency was negligible.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.319-325
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• 2013

The objective of this study is to assess risks which might occur in connection with the storage of the highly compressed air in underground opening. Risk factors were selected throughout literature survey and analysis for the characteristic of CAES. Large risk factors were categorized in three components; planning and design phase, construction phase, and operation & maintenance phases. Large category was composed of 8 medium risk groups and 24 sub-risks. AHP technique was applied in order to analyze the questionnaires answered by experts and high-risk factors were selected by evaluating the relative importance of risks. AHP analysis showed that the operation & maintenance phases are the highest risk group among three components of large category and the highest risk group of eight medium risk groups is risk associated with the quality and safety. Risk having the highest risk level in 24 sub-risks is evaluated to be a failure of tightness security of inner containment storing compressed air.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.446-454
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• 2010

CAES-G/T (Compressed Air Energy Storage - Gas Turbine) power generation is a likely option for the buffer facility stabilizing the fluctuation of the renewable powers, such as wind and solar powers. Considering the geological conditions, the underground CAES facility is most probable if the CAES-G/T generation is planed in Korea. In this kind of facility, a concrete plug is installed to seal the compressed air in the container, so that the selection of the shape and dimension of concrete plug could be a critical design factor. The stability evaluation of two types of plug was carried out by investigating the distribution of the factor of safety in the plugs and the distribution of contact pressure over the contact surface. The analysis result shows that the taper-shaped plug is more structurally stable than the wedge-shaped plug for the given geological condition. Possible separation of the rock-concrete interface around the spring line of the wedge-shaped plug is anticipated, which means the possible leakage of compressed air through the side wall and also means the poor mobilization of frictional resistance on that area.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.287-296
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• 2011

We performed a numerical modeling study of thermodynamic and multiphase fluid flow processes associated with underground compressed air energy storage (CAES) in a lined rock cavern (LRC). We investigated air tightness performance by calculating air leakage rate of the underground storage cavern with concrete linings at a comparatively shallow depth of 100 m. Our air-mass balance analysis showed that the key parameter to assure the long-term air tightness of such a system was the permeability of both concrete linings and surrounding rock mass. It was noted that concrete linings with a permeability of less than $1.0{\times}10^{-18}\;m^2$ would result in an acceptable air leakage rate of less than 1% with the operational pressure range between 5 and 8 MPa. We also found that air leakage could be effectively prevented and the air tightness performance of underground lined rock cavern is enhanced if the concrete lining is kept at a higher moisture content.

• 전기의세계
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• v.61 no.8
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• pp.41-44
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• 2012

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.394-405
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• 2011

In this paper, we applied coupled non-isothermal, multiphase fluid flow and geomechanical numerical modeling using TOUGH-FLAC coupled analysis to study the complex thermodynamic and geomechanical performance of underground lined rock caverns (LRC) for compressed air energy storage (CAES). Mechanical stress in concrete linings as well as pressure and temperature within a storage cavern were examined during initial and long-term operation of the storage cavern for CAES. Our geomechanical analysis showed that effective stresses could decrease due to air penetration pressure, and tangential tensile stress could develop in the linings as a result of the air pressure exerted on the inner surface of the lining, which would result in tensile fracturing. According to the simulation in which the tensile tangential stresses resulted in radial cracks, increment of linings' permeability and air leakage though the linings, tensile fracturing occurred at the top and at the side wall of the cavern, and the permeability could increase to $5.0{\times}10^{-13}m^2$ from initially prescribed $10{\times}10^{-20}m^2$. However, this air leakage was minor (about 0.02% of the daily air injection rate) and did not significantly impact the overall storage pressure that was kept constant thanks to sufficiently air tight surrounding rocks, which supports the validity of the concrete-lined underground caverns for CAES.