Abstract: A method of optimizing thermocline zone within a thermal storage system including a plurality of storage tanks fluidly coupled to one another m series, to effectively form a single tank having an equivalent height of the combined height of the plurality of storage tanks. The method including identifying a thermocline zone, computing an average temperature (Tave) of the thermocline zone, directing thermal storage fluid from a bottom of an initial storage tank through a heat source heat exchanger, and terminating fluid flow from the bottom of the initial storage tank and directing thermal storage fluid from a bottom of a first subsequent storage tank when a temperature of the thermal storage fluid exiting the bottom of the initial storage tank reaches Tave.

Abstract: A method of optimizing thermocline zone within a thermal storage system including a plurality of storage tanks fluidly coupled to one another m series, to effectively form a single tank having an equivalent height of the combined height of the plurality of storage tanks. The method including identifying a thermocline zone, computing an average temperature (Tave) of the thermocline zone, directing thermal storage fluid from a bottom of an initial storage tank through a heat source heat exchanger, and terminating fluid flow from the bottom of the initial storage tank and directing thermal storage fluid from a bottom of a first subsequent storage tank when a temperature of the thermal storage fluid exiting the bottom of the initial storage tank reaches Tave.

Abstract: Methods of encapsulating a phase change material in a capsule including suspending a particle of the phase change material in an air stream, coating an entire surface of the suspended particle with at least one layer of a sacrificial compound, coating an entire surface of the layer of the sacrificial compound with at least one layer of a second material, and encapsulating the phase change material within a shell formed by the second material. The step of encapsulating comprising heating the particle coated with the sacrificial compound and the second material, thermally decomposing the sacrificial compound, and vaporizing the sacrificial, wherein the sacrificial compound has a decomposition temperature less than a phase change temperature of the phase change material and a phase change temperature of the second material.