Tanks and Accumulators

Pressurized chambers for hydraulic energy storage and pulsation smoothing

Use these blocks to model storage systems in the thermal liquid domain.

Simscape Blocks

Gas-Charged Accumulator (TL)	Gas-charged accumulator in a thermal liquid network
Tank (TL)	Thermal liquid container with variable fluid volume
Tank (G-TL)	Pressurized tank with variable gas and thermal liquid volumes

Featured Examples

EV Battery Cooling System

This demo shows an Electric Vehicle (EV) battery cooling system. The battery packs are located on top of a cold plate which consists of cooling channels to direct the cooling liquid flow below the battery packs. The heat absorbed by the cooling liquid is transported to the Heating-Cooling Unit. The Heating-Cooling Unit consists of three branches to switch operating modes to cool and heat the battery. The Heater represents an electrical heater for fast heating of the batteries under low temperature conditions. The Radiator uses air-cooling and/or heating when the batteries are operated stably. The Refrigerant system is used for cooling the overheated batteries. The refrigeration cycle is represented by the amount of heat flow extracted from the cooling liquid. The system is simulated under either FTP-75 drive cycle or fast charge scenarios with different environment temperatures.

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Photovoltaic Thermal (PV/T) Hybrid Solar Panel

Model the cogeneration of electrical power and heat using a hybrid PV/T solar panel. The generated heat is transferred to water for household consumption.

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Liquid Air Energy Storage System

Models a grid-scale energy storage system based on cryogenic liquid air. When there is excess power, the system liquefies ambient air based on a variation of the Claude cycle. The cold liquid air is stored in a low-pressure insulated tank until needed. When there is high power demand, the system expands the stored liquid air to produce power based on the Rankine cycle.

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Hydraulic Oil System with Thermal Control

A hydraulic oil system with a thermal control using Simscape™ Fluids™ Thermal Liquid blocks. The hydraulic oil system consists of an oil storage tank represented by the Tank (TL) block with two inlets, a pump represented by a Mass Flow Rate Source (TL) block, and pipelines represented by Pipe (TL) block.

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Aircraft Fuel Supply System with Three Tanks

Model an aircraft fuel supply system consisting of three tanks and an engine.

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House Heating System

Model a simple house heating system. The model contains a heater, a controller, and a house structure with four radiators and four rooms. Each room exchanges heat with the environment through its exterior walls, roof, and windows. Each path is simulated as a combination of a thermal convection, thermal conduction, and the thermal mass. It is assumed that heat is not transferred internally between rooms. The heater consists of a furnace, a boiler, an accumulator, and a pump to circulate hot water in the system. The controller starts admitting fuel into the furnace if the overall average temperature of rooms falls below 21 degree C and it stops if the temperature exceeds 25 degree C. The simulation calculates the heating cost and indoor temperatures.

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Engine Cooling System

Model an engine cooling system with an oil cooling circuit.

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Residential Ground Source Heat Pump

Models a ground source heat pump system that is used to heat a residential building having hot-water radiators for heat distribution. The ground source heat pump uses R410a, a two-phase fluid refrigerant, as the working fluid. The heat pump takes up the naturally existing heat stored in the ground and transfers the heat to the hot-water radiators. The compressor drives the refrigerant through a condenser, a thermostatic expansion valve, and an evaporator. An accumulator ensures that only vapor returns to the compressor. A receiver ensures that only liquid returns to the thermostatic expansion valve.

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Stratified Hot Water Storage Tank Example

Model a hot water storage tank with temperature variations from top to bottom. The tank has a cold water inlet on the bottom and a hot water outlet on the top. This design allows the top of the tank and the outgoing water to remain hot even as the tank refills and cools the bottom of the tank.

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