Heat storage using Wigner energy or Frenkel defects

摘要

The principle of the invention consists in the utilisation of the formation of Frenkel pairs for the purpose of heat storage. The energy which can be stored, e.g. in graphite by irradiation with fast neutrons (up to 10 MeV) amounts to as much as 500 cal/g. This provides for the first time a method for loss-free heat storage at ambient temperature without insulation over any length of time. The stored energy can be released autocatalytically when the starting temperature of approx. 200 DEG C is reached at a point of the storage material of graphite.