Passive Thermal Energy Storage [P-TES]™
Whether in a greenhouse or an indoor grow facility, managing both temperatures and energy usage represents one of the most extreme and toughest challenges. Yet these severe changing conditions represent an ideal opportunity for phase change materials.
Templok™ uses PHASE CHANGE MATERIALS to absorb and release that thermal heat within your building naturally.
It works just like ice inside a cooler, but it freezes and melts at the temperature you need to sustain your facility. Templok™ can be installed over walls inside greenhouses and grow rooms, or can be used within our proprietary duct solution.
DURING DAYTIME: Templok is used to absorb free heat from the sun in winter, or unwanted heat in summer as the PCM inside the tiles goes through a melting phase.
DURING NIGHTIME: Templok is used to release this heat back to the facility to save energy in winter, or can exhaust heat or recharge using fresh air or cheap cooling in summer.
Photo credit: Sweet Annie’s Essentials – sweetanniesessentials.com
Wall Mount - PASSIVE
Templok PCM is mounted to framing spaced approx 24″ c/c horizontally or vertically. The Templok panels have a 3/4″ flange, which is secured to the framing.
Insulation is suggested behind the PCM to protect from exterior conditions.
PCM is then covered for protection. Recommended is a metal or aluminum wall panel. Green helps absorb heat from sun, silver/galvanized helps reflect sun to boost sunlight on plants.
PCM Sizing Information
Greenhouse Insulation & Design:
We typically recommend having as much insulation and energy efficiency in greenhouse design as possible, to increase the capability of PCM cycling. Hoop house / poly type greenhouses for instance, can sometimes be challenging to get enough heat in winter to melt PCM. They also suffer from significant heat loss compared to more passive solar greenhouse designs.
How Much PCM is Enough?
Many greenhouses suffer from significant heat loss in winter. PCM can be used to extend of improve the growing season, or can be used to help reduce how much energy is using to maintain growing conditions.
Wall Applications:
A typical Templok™ tile contains 100 btu’s of thermal storage potential per square foot. Or 2,500 joules per m2.
Therefore, a case of (x10) tiles is equal to:
- 4,000 btu’s
- 4,200 kJ
- 1,172 Watthours
Templok™-AIR Duct System:
Insolcorp offers a standard sized duct unit which can be co-ordinated with your project. This unit is 24″x24″x48″ in size, and can be linked to a 500 to 750cfm fan (by others). For more customized approaches, talk with our team and we’ll help you design the right solution.
A 24″x24″x48″ unit will typically provide the following energy outputs
- 6,000btu/h Output
- Average 10ºF drop or rise in temperature with 500cfm of air flow.
- Average 36,000 btu’s (3 tons, 10kWh) of total energy storage per day,
PCM vs Water Storage
Assuming a temperature difference (Delta-T) of 20ºC or 36ºF, a 55 gallon drum of water could store approximately 9,000 to 10,000 btu’s of thermal energy. However this energy would not be concentrated at any one temperature, and would instead be evenly distributed across all temperature ranges.
With just 24 Templok™ tiles, the same amount of energy could be stored. However the PCM in Templok ensures this energy is concentrated at a much narrower range. Helping keep greenhouse and grow-houses closer to target temperature.
Furthermore, the 1/4″ thick profile of Templok helps significantly improve thermal conductivity compared to the slow process of extracting energy from a large water barrel.
The result? A more efficient storage solution that takes up ZERO growing floor space.
