fig8

Figure 8. Simulated thermal performance of composite TES beds with five candidate dopants. (A-E) TEG-side boundary temperature as a function of charging time for uniform and layered configurations at 10%, 20%, and 30% dopant volume fractions; (F) Three-dimensional temperature field of the pure sand baseline at t = 5 h; (G) Three-dimensional temperature field of the 30 vol% layered configuration at t = 5 h. Comparison of panels (F) and (G) illustrates the redistribution of stored thermal energy toward the TEG boundary enabled by the phase-change front in the layered Solar Salt configuration. TES: Thermal energy storage; TEG: thermoelectric generator.