HEATED ENERGY ACCUMULATION SYSTEM CONTAINING AN INTEGRATED REFRIGERATING AND HEATING UNIT, AND METHOD FOR USING SUCH SYSTEM

摘要

1. A thermal energy storage system comprising an energy accumulator (2) having a vertical temperature gradient and an internal combined refrigeration-heating machine (15) adapted to remove a fluid having a first temperature from said accumulator, while returning the heated fluid, having a second, higher temperature, and a cooled fluid having a third, lower temperature, wherein said machine (15) contains at least two heat pumps, each of which comprises at least two compressors, and is configured to alternate connection of at least two compressors in series or parallelno.2. A system according to claim 1, further comprising a high-pressure electric steam boiler installed in said system with the possibility of converting the excess electric power available in the power grid into thermal energy of steam suitable for direct injection of thermal energy into the accumulator (2). 3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising at least one immersion heater inserted into the energy accumulator (2). 4. A system according to claim 1, further comprising at least one heat-absorbing system (3, 4) .5. A system according to claim 4, wherein at least one heat-absorbing system (3) is a low-temperature system. A system according to claim 4, wherein at least one heat-absorbing system (4) is a high-temperature system. A system according to any one of the preceding paragraphs, further comprising a heat producing system (7) .8. The system of claim 7, wherein the heat producing system (7) comprises a co-production unit