A large amount of energy is rejected by the industry at low temperature level (between 0 and 150 ° C). Indeed, considering all the French industrial processes, the amount of energy lost in this temperature range is estimated at 75 TWh / year. In order to improve the overall energy efficiency of these processes, it is possible to re-use this waste heat. However, in a large number of industrial processes, there is time delay between the process step at which the energy is lost and the process step at which this energy could be recovered. A thermal storage system should then be integrated in the process to match the energy demand and the production. This would lead to a reduction in the consumption of primary energy. The thermal energy storage technology included Phase Change Material (PCM) appears particularly attractive in this particular application. It combines large volume and mass storage capacity and constant charge and discharge temperature. These two parameters are particularly suitable for heat recovery in batch processes. However, the implementation of these storage systems is determined by scientific and technological bottleneck. These are at different levels: thermal storage material, system and its command control, integration in industrial processes…. Within a framework of industrial research, the objective of the project Thermal Storage for Eco-Efficient Process (STEEP) is to develop a storage system based on solid-liquid PCM technology in a temperature range between 80 and 140 ° C. The consortium to develop this system is composed of two laboratories and three companies. The project coordinator is the Laboratory of Thermal Energy and Processes (LaTEP) specializes in energy storage systems by latent heat. Other partners include the Eco Efficiency and Industrial Processes Department of EDF, the Institute of Materials, Microelectronics and Nanosciences de Provence (IM2NP), the R & D department of CRISTOPIA Company, and the R&I center of the Industrial Thermal Applications Company (CIAT). STEEP project aims to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of a storage system adapted to the energy recovery in industrial process and using a solid-liquid PCM technology. It revolves different tasks ranging from materials development to their implementation in a pilot plant. The numerical evaluation of the performance of an industrial process incorporating a storage module for PCM will also be done. These performances will be expressed in terms of energy, economic and life cycle analysis (LCA).

The buildings of tomorrow will be, at least, energy-saving Buildings. The important reduction of the necessary powers in this type of buildings raises the crucial problem of the spatial distribution of the low flow rates of air which we will have to be injected in the rooms of life. The air quality and the thermal comfort will be strongly threatened if the problem of the mixture of the air injected into the ambient air is not effectively controlled. A typical finalized technological solution which allows a consequent improvement of the mixture was proposed within the framework of the project ANR-PREBAT 2005 "INDUBAT". It will be of use as base to this project. It is about an innovating diffuser with high induction based on the passive control of the mixture of the jet air in the ambient air. This is obtained, in particular, by the use of original geometries integrated into the conception of the diffuser. As for the other devices, the performance is qualified in Laboratory, in configuration of free and isothermal jet today what is not a common situation in the building. In a realistic building situation, the qualification of the driving flows is inevitably going to ask the question of the interaction between the jet and the room in which is going to develop a 3D low speed flow. Furthermore, the coupling air jet / internal thermal flow field is hardly qualified while the control of the ambient conditions underlies an effort in the direction of a control of the driving flow. The absence of an effective tool of diagnosis of the in the room makes then difficult the analysis of the performance of these new technologies in real situations. To remedy it, we suggest developing a new experimental means of characterization of the 3D internal thermal flow field: a 3D tracking of particles (3D Particle tracking Velocimetry) by using different types of cameras to obtain a description of the whole dynamics in the room, so allowing the qualification of innovative solutions. The second stage of this project will consist in exploiting the 3D PTV in the case of the diffuser. The aim is to understand the interaction of the jet of this diffuser with the room. A set of 12 configurations of injection will be analyzed, producing a knowledge which will be given to the simulation community working in the field of the thermal of the building.