Finite fossil fuel resources, as well as the instability of renewable energy production, make the sustainable management of energy production and consumption some of the key challenges of the 21st century. It also involves threats to the state of the natural environment, among others due to the negative impact of energy on the climate. In such a situation, one of the methods of improving the efficiency of energy management – both on the micro (dispersed energy) and macro (power system) scale, may be innovative technological solutions that enable energy storage. Their effective implementation will allow it to be collected during periods of overproduction and to be used in situations of scarcity. These challenges cannot be overestimated - modern science has a challenge to solve various types of problems related to storage, including the technology used or the control/ /management of energy storage. Heat storage technologies, on which research works are carried out regarding both storage based on a medium such as water, as well as storage using thermochemical transformations or phase-change materials. They give a wide range of applications and improve the efficiency of energy systems on both the macro and micro scale. Of course, the technological properties and economic parameters have an impact on the application of the chosen technology. The article presents a comparison of storage parameters or heat storage methods based on different materials with specification of their work parameters or operating costs.
One of the little described problems in hydrostatic drives is the fast changing runs in the hydraulic line of this drive affecting the nature of the formation and intensity of pressure pulsation and flow rate occurring in the drive. Pressure pulsation and flow rate are the cause of unstable operation of servos, delays in the control system and other harmful phenomena. The article presents a flow model in a hydrostatic drive line based on fluid continuity equations (mass conservation), maintaining the amount of Navier-Stokes motion in the direction of flow (x axis), energy conservation (liquid state). The movement of liquids in a hydrostatic line is described by partial differential equations of the hyperbolic type, so modeling takes into account the wave phenomena occurring in the line. The hydrostatic line was treated as a cross with two inputs and two outputs, characterized by a specific transmittance matrix. The product approximation was used to solve the wave equations. An example of the use of general equations is presented for the analysis of a miniaturized hydrostatic drive line fed from a constant pressure source and terminated by a servo mechanism.