i-TES, an Italian deep-tech startup that develops innovative thermal storage solutions, announces the closing of a new €1.4 million funding round.
The joint investment effort is led by EUREKA! Venture SGR through “Eureka! Fund I – Technology Transfer”, together with CDP Venture Capital SGR through Tech4Planet, the National Hub for Technology Transfer focusing on Sustainability, set up to promote market access and the growth of new startups conceived within research labs, primarily in energy-tech, circular economy, sustainable manufacturing, intelligent mobility, and water management domains.
“i-TES’ strong competencies in the field have enabled the development of high-performance PCM thermal batteries. We’ve optimised key parameters like latent heat and thermal conductivity, enabling the deployment of these devices in practical applications,” says Michele Santovito, Co-founder and CEO.
He further reveals: “The new financial resources will be used to expand the customer portfolio by strengthening the facilities and the team, with new competencies related to production and commercialisation of products, and above all to invest in the technological development of new products such as thermochemical materials (TCM).”
Founded in 2016, the company operates within the 2i3T Business Incubator and Technology Transfer of the University of Turin. It focuses on developing thermal storage batteries with phase change materials (PCMs) and thermochemical materials (TCMs). These advanced materials exploit the physical phenomenon of change of state to accumulate and release large amounts of energy.
Essentially, they are able to absorb and release large amounts of heat when they pass from one physical state to another, e.g. from the liquid to the solid state and vice versa.
Massimo Gentili, Partner of Eureka! Fund, adds: “Thermal storage is a thriving field of research and offers many opportunities to face the challenges of electrification and renewable energy. i-TES’ thermal batteries are compact, in fact, they occupy ⅓ the volume of a classic water system, and they are modular, a feature that makes it easy to achieve energy demand, as they do not require special handling for installation and can be integrated into both existing and new systems. Thanks to these features, they can be used in multiple applications, including district heating, renewable energy sources, TLC radio base station air conditioning systems, and waste heat recovery in industrial processes”.
Despite considerable theoretical and lab-scale studies have investigated the use of PCM in thermal storage applications, PCMbased devices are not yet commonly used. Indeed, the relatively low thermal conductivity of most PCMs limits their power density and overall storage efficiency. To achieve both high power density and cooling capacity, PCMs with both high latent heat and high thermal conductivity are required. Moreover, cooling capacity is not an intrinsic property of the material and is highly dependent on geometry, boundary conditions, and temperature cycles.
