Thermal performance analysis of evacuated tubes solar air collector in Indian climate conditions

The thermal performance of one-ended evacuated tubes solar air collector is experimentally investigated during the winter season at NIT Kurukshetra, India [29 ° 58^′(latitude) North and 76 ° 53 ^′ (longitude) East]. The collector consists of 15 one-ended evacuated tubes with different lengths of directional inner aluminium tubes (inserted tubes) and a manifold channel, with air used as a working fluid. The inlet air flows through the directional inner aluminium tubes as a result of forced convection. In this experiment, evacuated tubes are used for producing hot air corresponding to different lengths of directional aluminium tubes without using any intermediate fluid. The temperature of the outlet air depends on the air flow rate, length of the directional aluminium tube and solar intensity. The maximum temperature difference between outlet air and inlet air at solar intensity 904 W/m² was found to be 72.7 °C with a flow rate of 5.06 kg/h and length of 0.83 m.     

An Analytical Study on global radiation and meteorological parameters for India

ABSTRACT

A study is carried out for global radiation (global horizontal and global tilted radiation) and meteorological parameters (humidity and temperature) recorded for a period of one year (2011) at the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), Gwal Pahri (28.42°N, 77.15°E), India. Maximum global horizontal radiation of 7.22?kWh/m² is recorded in the month of June while minimum of 0.91?kWh/m² is observed in February. The highest value of the tilted radiation 7.27?kWh/m² is recorded in March and the lowest value 0.90?kWh/m² is noticed in February. The maximum temperature of 36.5°C and humidity of 87.6% are observed in the months of June and July, respectively. Conversely, minimum temperature of 6.1°C and humidity 21.7% are noticed in the months of January and April, respectively. Furthermore, meteorological parameters have been correlated with global radiation on horizontal and tilted surface. The study is vital for the performance analysis of different solar energy applications.     

A comparative performance analysis of solar heat exchangers for solar hot water application under controlled laboratory conditions

The paper presents the experimental performance evaluation of a novel retrofit heat exchanger (‘SolaPlug’) developed for solar hot water storage applications. The performance of this system was compared with a traditional dual-coil (‘Coil’) solar cylinder under controlled operating conditions. The tests were conducted under different solar-simulated conditions with a 30 and 20 evacuated tube collector. The results showed that after a 6-h test period, the average water temperatures within the store for the ‘SolaPlug’ system were 58.8°C and 40.5°C at 860 and 459?W?m^?2, respectively, and for the ‘Coil’ system were 60.5°C and 40.6°C when a 30 tube collector was used. The performance of the ‘SolaPlug’ system was marginally better than the ‘Coil’ system under the low solar input condition. Under high insolation condition, the overall ‘SolaPlug’ system efficiency was found to be 4.3% lower than that of the ‘Coil’ system. The ‘SolaPlug’ heat exchanger rating was 222?W?K^?1.     

Experimental analysis of thermal performance of evacuated tube solar air collector with phase change material for sunshine and off-sunshine hours

An experimental investigation of an evacuated tube solar air collector coupled to a latent thermal energy store for generating hot air when no solar radiation is incident was undertaken. Acetamide was used as a phase change material (PCM). The latent thermal energy store was integrated with the manifold of the solar collector and water was used as the working fluid transferring solar gain to the air being heated. The maximum measured temperature differential between the heated air and the ambient air was 37°C and 20.2°C during conditions of incident and non-incident solar radiation, respectively. This occurred using a circular fin configuration at a flow rate of 0.018?kg?s^?1. The efficiency at low (0.018?kg?s^?1) air flow rates was 0.05–0.50 times less as compared to high (0.035?kg?s^?1) air flow rates. This system has advantages over systems using sensible storage as it can be used after sunset due to better heat storing capacity of the PCM.     

A case study of ground source direct cooling system integrated with water storage tank system

Energy consumption for the commercial buildings has increasingly gained attentions, due to the significant electricity consumption and peak power demand. To solve this problem, this paper focuses on performance on the Ground Source Direct Cooling (GSDC) system integrated with a Water Storage Tank System (WSTS) in the summer, which directly utilizes the low-grade energy to supply high temperature water for the radiant floor cooling system and make full use of the electric rate difference between on-peak and off-peak periods. In summer, the indoor air temperature is controlled between 23 and 26 °C, resulting in a comfortable thermal environment. The total cooling capacities in 2014 and 2015 were 32.6 kWh/m² and 30.7 kWh/m², respectively. The annual energy consumptions for Electricity Unit Intensity (EUI) in 2014 and 2015 were 33.0 kWh/(m²·yr) and 32.1 kWh/(m²·yr), and the cooling energy consumptions only consumed 4.19 kWh/(m²·yr) and 4.55 kWh /(m²·yr), respectively. The annual operating cost of this cooling system only reaches 9 yuan/(m²·yr) through the analysis of 5 years’ operation. Compared to a conventional air cooled heat pump system, this cooling system has a larger initial cost, but its recovery period is less than 4.3 years, due to the extremely low operating cost. Overall, this GSDC system integrated with WSTS in the summer has remarkable advantages in thermal comfort and energy efficiency.     

Collector characterisation and heat loss tests on a novel batch solar water heater with CPC reflector for households

ABSTRACT

This solar water-heating unit is an integration of the older concept of batch water heating with the modern trends in solar water-heating technologies i.e. incorporating a concentrator in the design. The concentrator used is the compound parabolic type (CPC) which is a non-imaging device having wider acceptance angle (64°) and supported on a wooden cradle, which comprises the two arms of the parabola. To suppress the heat loss, an air gap has been introduced in the arms of the CPC. The collector is a single larger diameter drum which serves both as an absorber and storage unit positioned at the focus of CPC. The parametric study of the model showed the thermal efficiency of the collector as high as 38% and maximum water temperature attained was 53°C. Heat loss tests performed on the collector on a 24-hr cycle period showed good long time performance estimates. The response time of collector computed and performance characteristic curve plotted to predict system response under any given conditions of solar insolation and ambient temperature.     

Build-up and performance test of a novel solar thermal roof for heat pump operation

Global increase in energy demand and fossil fuel prices loaded ever-increasing pressure on identifying and implementing new means to utilise clean and efficient energy resources. Due to the environmental benefits, technical and economic possibilities of Solar-Assisted Heat Pump Systems, there has been a growing interest for such hybrid systems with a variety of system configurations for various climates. International Energy Agency Task 44 of the Solar Heating and Cooling Programme has recently started working on finding methods to most effectively use solar heat pump systems for residential use. In the present study, a novel solar thermal roof collector was developed by primarily exploiting components and techniques widely available on the market and coupled with a commercial heat pump unit. The proposed indirect series Solar-assisted Heat Pump system was experimentally tested and system performance was investigated. Yet, the analysis based on indoor and outdoor testing predominantly focuses on the solar thermal roof collector. A detailed thermal model was developed to describe the system operation. Also, a computer model was set up by using Engineering Equation Solver to carry out the numerical computations of the governing equations. Analyses show that the difference in water temperature could reach up to 18°C while maximum thermal efficiency found to be 26%. Data processing of the series covering the test period represents that Coefficient Performance of the heat pump (COP_HP) and overall system (COP_SYS) averages were attained as COP_HP?=?3.01 and COP_SYS?=?2.29, respectively. An economic analysis points a minimum payback period of about three years for the system.     

Effect of mass recovery evaporator temperature and condenser temperature on the performance of a solar adsorption-based desalination plant

Water scarcity increases alarmingly as the population increases. Over the years, a number of salt water desalination techniques have been proposed and reached limitations. The requirement of minimum energy is very well satisfied by an adsorption system, since it can operate with low-grade energy and waste heat exhaust from most industries. The first part of this work discusses the effect of condenser and evaporator temperatures on the performance of silica-gel adsorption cycle mathematically. The second part discusses the performance variations due to mass recovery in the two-bed adsorption system mathematically. It was found that the reduction in condenser temperature and increase in the evaporator temperature both increase the fresh water productivity and cooling capacity of a plant. A desalination plant with mass recovery assistance is superior in performance than the conventional plant. Portable water productivity of 8?m³/day/ton is achieved with the condenser temperature of 15°C and the evaporator temperature of 30°C.     

Investigating the performance of scenario-based model predictive control of space heating in residential buildings

This paper investigates the performance of scenario-based model predictive control (SB-MPC) for space heating operation to address the inherent uncertainty of weather forecasts and predictions of occupancy. In contrast to existing reported studies, this study relied on a sophisticated meteorological model and a higher order Markov chain occupancy model to generate stochastic disturbance scenarios. When applying the SB-MPC scheme for energy-efficient operation, simulation results suggested a slight increase in energy consumption (from approx. 27.7?kWh/m² to 28.0?kWh/m²) when using one and 100 disturbance scenarios, respectively, while thermal comfort violations were reduced significantly (from 60°Ch to 10°Ch). Furthermore, the SB-MPC scheme was tailored to provide demand response and thereby achieved cost savings of 16.1% and 13.1% compared to conventional proportional-integral control when considering one and 100 disturbance scenarios, respectively. Choosing the appropriate number of disturbance scenarios thus relies on a consideration of the trade-off between the acceptable thermal comfort violations and energy-related benefits.     

Optimization of electro-oxidation and electro-Fenton techniques for the treatment of oilfield produced water

Electrochemical advanced oxidation processes are the most promising methods for destroying and degrading organic and inorganic pollutants present in produced water effluents. This study presents the electro-oxidation process using graphite electrodes and electro-Fenton process using iron electrodes for the treatment of real produced water. The effect of operating parameters such as current density on chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency was addressed. The result showed that electro-Fenton process was more efficient than electro-oxidation process where it gave 98% as maximum COD removal efficiency with energy consumption of 1.9 kWh/dm³ at H₂O₂ concentration of 12 mM, current density of 10 mA/cm², temperature of 25°C, pH of 3, and treatment time of 80 min compared with 96.9% as maximum COD removal efficiency with energy consumption of 3 kWh/dm³ at pH of 6, current density of 10 mA/cm², temperature of 40°C, and reaction time of 80 min when using electro-oxidation process. These results demonstrated that electrochemical technologies are very promising methods for the treatment of produced water from oil/gas industry, so it can be safely disposed of or effectively reused for injection and irrigation.     

Cost-effectiveness of solar thermal and electrical energy production

Solar electricity and also solar thermal energy at moderate temperatures, typically 80 to 90°C, can be used for operating systems to provide cooling and water desalination. We analyze the techno-economic viability of converting solar energy to thermal or electrical form.

The analysis shows that, when compared with the conventional process of electricity production, the conversion of solar energy to electrical form is highly uneconomical. On the other hand, conversion of solar energy to thermal form can compete with oil based thermal energy production.     

Mathematical modelling of solar radiation incident on tilted surface for photovoltaic application at Bhopal,M.P., India

In general, solar radiations are the combination of beam plus diffuse and ground-reflected radiation. The availability of recorded data on a tilted surface is very rare due to lack of measuring equipment and techniques involved. In this study, a standard procedure is adopted for estimation of solar radiation on a tilted surface for a location in Central region of India. Solar radiation is estimated for three tilted positions: First, solar collector tilt equal to latitude angle, second, solar collector tilt equal to latitude angle +15° and third, solar collector tilt at latitude ?15°. Total global solar radiation estimated on the inclined surface for various photovoltaic (PV) modules was used to obtain the annual energy yield based on the estimated value. It was found that on an average, 14?kWh/m² of annual energy output can be obtained for monocrystalline solar PV module corresponding to the inclination of 23.26° latitude at Bhopal.     

A review on technology and promotional initiatives for concentrated solar power in world

Concentrated solar power (CSP) is a hopeful area of research for higher efficiency sun heat extraction. Due to this, it has attracted the attention of researchers and scientist in last few years. It can be operated in the clear sky condition for a good performance. However, it is difficult to operate in cloudy days and off sunshine hours. It cannot give energy in night hours except using thermal storage system. The temperature of a system is about to 300–550°C and the efficiency of the plant is 25–30% approximately. The biggest issue of CSP plant is to balance between the production and requirement if storage provision is not there. The primary concern is to improve the quality of reflector, collector, power production and thermal storage. This review paper will become reference material for the researchers and scientists who are working in this field of research.     

Thermal performance analysis and economic evaluation of roof-integrated solar concrete collector

This paper examines the thermal performance of a roof-integrated solar concrete collector for reducing heat gain to a house and providing domestic hot water. The solar concrete collector is made of PVC pipes embedded in deck slab or concrete roof. No glazing on the top of the solar concrete collector or insulation at the back has been used as in conventional solar water heaters. To compare the energy saving, two test rooms of 2.3 m width, 2.5 m length and 2.5 m height were built. In the first room, the reinforced cement concrete (R.C.C.) slab was used as deck slab whereas the second room was equipped with a cement concrete solar collector. The experimental results showed that the cement concrete solar collector is extremely interesting as it can produce up to 40 l of hot water per day at water temperatures ranging from 40 to 50 °C. A mathematical model based on the conservation equations of energy is developed to predict the performance of the cement concrete solar collector. There is reasonable agreement from the comparison between measured data and predicted results. The economic analysis indicates that the payback period is rather fast.     

Modeling and comparative thermal performance of ground air collector and earth air heat exchanger for heating of greenhouse

The potential of using the stored thermal energy of ground for space heating has been investigated with the help of two buried pipe systems, i.e., ground air collector and earth air heat exchanger, integrated with the greenhouse located in the premises of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India. The total length of the buried pipes in both the arrangements was kept same for making a comparative study. A complete numerical model has been developed to predict and compare their thermal performance for choosing a suitable heating method in the composite climate of India. Experiments were conducted extensively during winter period from November 2002 to March 2003, but the model was validated against the clear and sunny days. Performance of these two arrangements was compared in terms of thermal load leveling and total heating potential. Temperatures of greenhouse air with ground air collector were observed to be 2–3 °C higher than those with earth air heat exchanger. The temperature fluctuations of greenhouse air were also less when operated with ground air collector as compared to earth air heat exchanger. Predicted and computed values of greenhouse air temperatures in both the systems exhibited fair agreement. Finally ground air collector was chosen as a suitable option for heating of greenhouse in the above climate.     

Experimental investigation of the solar cooker during sunshine and off-sunshine hours using the thermal energy storage unit based on a parabolic trough collector

A solar cooker based on a parabolic trough collector with thermal energy storage (TES) was investigated. In this experimental set-up, solar radiations were focused on the absorber tube and the collected heat was transferred to the solar cooker by natural circulation (thermosiphon) of the working fluid. The water and thermal oil (engine oil) were used separately as working fluids. Acetanilide was used as the TES material in the solar cooker. In day time, the phase change material (PCM) stored heat as well as transferred it to the cooking pot. In evening time, the stored energy by PCM was used to cook the food. The cooking process was carried out with different foods and with variation in the quantity of food. It was found that the temperature of thermal oil was 10–24°C higher than water as the working fluid. The system was able to cook the food twice a day and the rate of evening cooking was higher as compared with noon cooking. Using thermal oil as the working fluid, the quantity of heat stored by PCM was increased by an amount of 19.45–30.38% as compared with water.     

Performance evaluation of a hybrid photovoltaic thermal double pass facade for space heating

This paper presents the performance evaluation of a hybrid photovoltaic thermal (Semi transparent PVT) double pass facade for space heating. The thermal model has been developed by using the energy balance equations of the proposed hybrid photovoltaic thermal double pass facade under quasi-steady state condition. Numerical computations have been carried out for the composite climate of New Delhi, India. An analysis has been carried out to calculate annual energy and exergy gain for the hybrid photovoltaic thermal double pass facade. On the basis of numerical results it has been observed that the annual thermal and electrical energy are 480.81 kWh and 469.87 kWh respectively. The yearly overall thermal energy generated by the system has been calculated as 1729.84 kWh. It is also observed that the room air temperature increases by 5-6 °C than the ambient air temperature for a typical winter day.     

基于太阳辐射利用的寒地建筑组团形态优化设计研究

寒地气候严酷,采暖能耗高,太阳辐射时长短。寒地建筑太阳辐射利用对降低能耗、改善室内热舒适均具有重要意义。建筑形态作为室内外环境交互界面,决定着建筑太阳辐射利用水平。研究旨在基于多目标进化算法,应用建筑信息建模、参数编程和建筑太阳辐射性能模拟工具,探索太阳辐射利用导向下的寒地建筑组团形态优化设计方法,并结合工程项目展开实践。结果表明：形态优化设计可将屋面太阳辐射可利用面积百分比于64.71%显著提高至94.15%,制冷季太阳辐射得热量于423.87kWh/m2降低至343.28kWh/m2,并将采暖季太阳辐射得热量于212.19kWh/m2提高至259.29kWh/m2;同时,形态优化设计获得了150项建筑组团形态非支配解,可助力设计者权衡采暖、制冷季太阳辐射得热量与屋面太阳辐射可利用面积百分比性能目标。     

基于典型用水模式下太阳能热水系统性能分析与优化

对典型的太阳能热水系统建立了数学模型.结合工程实例和长沙地区太阳能辐射特征,运用该模型分析了在给定单个家庭典型用水模式下集热器面积和贮热水箱体积对太阳能热水系统热利用性能的影响.优化集热嚣面积和贮热水箱体积,在减少投资的同时,提高太阳能热水系统的综合性能.集热器面积和水箱体积的优化匹配设计有利于提高系统的能量转换效率.     

Thermo-economic analysis of an ocean thermal power plant for a Nigerian coastal region

This paper presents a thermo-economic analysis of an ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) power plant for a Nigerian coastal region at latitude 4°00′–4°16′N, and longitude 7°16′–7°19′E, whose energy potential is at 22 and 24?K across 1?km from the sea water surface during rainy and dry seasons, respectively. An ammonia closed cycle OTEC plant was designed to constantly supply 100?MW of electricity all year round to the region. The results of the analysis compared favourably with those for similar plants. The plant’s unit cost of energy was found to be 0.11US$/kWh when compared to 0.1US$/kWh for the municipal energy supply. The break-even point was also found to be 12 years. However, as a result of the high initial installed capital cost of 7954.37US$/kW and life cycle cost of 1.30bUS$, only very large organisations would be able to venture into this project.