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.     

Prediction of the optimum slope and surface azimuth angles using the Genetic Algorithm

In this paper, the Genetic Algorithm is applied to calculate the optimum slope and surface azimuth angles for solar collectors to receive maximum solar radiation. An area of Iran is selected to verify the results of this algorithm. The optimum angles and the collector input solar energies for these angles are calculated in hourly, daily, monthly, seasonally and yearly bases respectively. Then, the influence of different combinations of solar radiation components on the optimum slope angle and the energy gain is investigated. The results show that the Genetic Algorithm is a useful technique to find the optimum angles specifically when the number of independent parameters is large. The results show that the daily, monthly and yearly optimum surface azimuth angles for receiving the maximum solar energy are zero. Adjusting the collector at the daily optimum slope angle slightly increases the collector input energy compared with the case of monthly optimum slope angle so that the gain of solar energy is almost the same. The results also show that the hourly optimum surface azimuth angle is not zero and mounting the solar collector at the hourly optimum slope and azimuth angles increases the input energy significantly compared with the case of daily optimum angles. It is shown that the optimum slope angles are mostly dependent on the beam solar radiation. Furthermore, the results indicate that the optimum slope angles of solar collector and Photovoltaic panels are almost the same.     

Water generation from atmospheric air by using different composite desiccant materials

In this communication, new composite desiccant materials having 37% concentration of CaCl₂ have been compared for water production from atmospheric air. The vermiculite–saw wood, jute and burnt-clay have been used as host materials and CaCl₂ as a hygroscopic salt. All the desiccant materials have been tested with the solar glass desiccant box type system (SGDBS) with a collector area of 0.36?m². Design parameters for water production are: height of the glass from the desiccant bed to be 0.22?m, an inclination angle of 30°, the effective thickness of the glass as 3?mm and the number of glazing is single. It has been found that on the experimental day, the maximum amount of fresh water generated by the vermiculite–saw wood/CaCl₂ is 130?ml/kg/day.     

Entransy analysis on the thermal performance of flat plate solar air collectors

Based on the thermo-electric analogy (the so-called thermal entransy analysis), the unified airside convective heat transfer coefficient for different sorts of flat plate solar air collectors (FPSACs) is identified in terms of collector aperture area. In addition, the collector thermodynamic characteristic matching coefficient is defined to depict the matching property of collector thermal performance between the collector airside heat transfer and the total heat losses. It is found that the airside convective heat transfer coefficient can be experimentally determined by collector thermal performance test method to compare the airside thermal performances of FPSACs with different types of airflow structures. Moreover, the smaller the collector thermodynamic characteristic matching coefficient is, the better the thermodynamic perfect degree of a FPSAC is. The minimum limit value of the collector thermodynamic matching coefficient is close to zero but it can not vanish in practical engineering. Parameter sensitivity analysis on the total entransy dissipation and the entransy increment of a general FPSAC is also undertaken. The results indicate that the effective way of decreasing total entransy dissipation and enhancing the useful entransy increment is improving the efficiency intercept of the FPSAC. This is equivalent to the cognition result of thermal analysis. However, the evaluation indices identified by the thermal entransy analysis can not be extracted by singular thermal analysis.     

A comparative numerical study on natural convection in inclined wavy and flat-plate solar collectors

The present study deals with the numerical analysis of natural convection heat transfer inside the inclined solar collectors. Two collectors are compared. In the first case, the collector has wavy absorber and in the second case, it has flat absorber. The solution was performed assuming the isothermal boundary conditions of absorbers and covers of collectors. CFDRC commercial software is used to simulate the laminar flow and thermal field. Governing parameters are taken as Rayleigh number (from 1×10⁶ to 5×10⁷), inclination angle (from 20° to 60°), wave length (from 1.33 to 4) and aspect ratio (from 0 to 4). Results are presented by streamlines, isotherms and local and mean Nusselt numbers. It is observed that flow and thermal fields are affected by the shape of enclosure and heat transfer rate increases in the case of wavy enclosure than that of flat enclosure.     

Thermal performance of the solar parabolic trough collector at different flow rates: an experimental study

Currently, the most capable thermal systems based on the solar energy are the concentrating collectors, which are essentially finding applications in power generation and process industries. In the present study, thermal performance of the parabolic tough collector (PTC) is investigated experimentally at different flow rates of working fluid. Mass flow rate is one of the key parameters influencing its performance. Here, PTC is constructed as a simple structure having a non-evacuated tube and tested in tracking and south-facing modes utilising water as the working fluid. The performances in terms of water temperature rise, useful heat gain, collector efficiency are evaluated with and without utilising glazing on the receiver. Results revealed that performance of collector chiefly depends upon the mass flow rate and no considerable change is found when the flow rate of water is more than 0.024?kg/s. Furthermore, small-sized PTC offers slight better performance in the south-facing than the tracking mode.     

太阳能集热器系统的仿真研究

提出太阳能集热器系统单元段分节点热阻，热容网络－四维热网络概念，并以此建立腔体式吸收器－槽形抛物镜太阳能集热器系统的集热过程动态仿真模型。利用仿真模型和太阳直射辐射日分布模型计算了太阳直辐射强度，工作介质温度，瞬时集热效率和瞬时Ｙｏｎｇ效率随时间的分布。     

Year-round numerical simulation of a parabolic solar collector under Lebanese conditions: Beirut case study

A detailed thermal and optical numerical model is developed to simulate the performance of a small-scale parabolic collector having an evacuated receiver line with selective coating, taking into account different energy balances and interactions with the surrounding. An analytical model is developed to estimate the direct, diffuse and global solar radiation intensities on inclined surfaces. The collector performance model was validated using published experimental data. A year-round dynamic simulation for the collector performance under Beirut climatic conditions was carried out with an economic and environmental analysis. The outlet water temperature could reach a maximum of 114°C in July and 52°C in December by employing a collector of about 6 m² aperture area with 0.01 kg/s water flow rate. The maximum daily thermal energy production is attained in July with 22.267 kWh while January exhibits the lowest thermal energy production with 6.704 kWh per day with a maximum thermal efficiency of 72%.     

Energy and exergy analysis of PV/T air collectors connected in series

In this paper an attempt has been made to derive the analytical expressions for N hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) air collectors connected in series. The performance of collectors is evaluated by considering the two different cases, namely, Case I (air collector is fully covered by PV module (glass to glass) and air flows above the absorber plate) and Case II (air collector is fully covered by PV module (glass to glass) and air flows below the absorber plate). This paper shows the detailed analysis of energy, exergy and electrical energy by varying the number of collectors and air velocity considering four weather conditions (a, b, c and d type) and five different cities (New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Srinagar, and Jodhpur) of India. It is found that the collectors fully covered by PV module and air flows below the absorber plate gives better results in terms of thermal energy, electrical energy and exergy gain. Physical implementation of BIPV system has also been evaluated. If this type of system is installed on roof of building or integrated with building envelope will simultaneously fulfill the electricity generation for lighting purpose and hot air can be used for space heating or drying.     

A review on compound parabolic solar concentrator for sustainable development

A compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) is defined as a non-imaging-type concentrating collector where incident solar radiations, after reflection from the reflector, are not concentrated at a point or line, but simply together on the absorber apparent which does not produce an image of the light source. It is an ideal solar energy collector which collects and focuses a larger area of sunlight onto a smaller area with minimum loss. This review paper presents a comprehensive review on CPCs carried out by various researchers from all around the world. Different factors affecting the performance of CPCs have been studied in the present paper.     

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.     

Continuous-flow solar UVB disinfection reactor for drinking water

Access to safe, reliable sources of drinking water is a long-standing problem among people in developing countries. Sustainable solutions to these problems often involve point-of-use or community-scale water treatment systems that rely on locally-available resources and expertise. This philosophy was used in the development of a continuous-flow, solar UVB disinfection system. Numerical modeling of solar UVB spectral irradiance was used to define temporal variations in spectral irradiance at several geographically-distinct locations. The results of these simulations indicated that a solar UVB system would benefit from incorporation of a device to amplify ambient UVB fluence rate. A compound parabolic collector (CPC) was selected for this purpose. Design of the CPC was based on numerical simulations that accounted for the shape of the collector and reflectance. Based on these simulations, a prototype CPC was constructed using materials that would be available and inexpensive in many developing countries. A UVB-transparent pipe was positioned in the focal area of the CPC; water was pumped through the pipe to allow exposure of waterborne microbes to germicidal solar UVB radiation. The system was demonstrated to be effective for inactivation of Escherichia coli, and DNA-weighted UV dose was shown to govern reactor performance. The design of the reactor is expected to scale linearly, and improvements in process performance (relative to results from the prototype) can be expected by use of larger CPC geometry, inclusion of better reflective materials, and application in areas with greater ambient solar UV spectral irradiance than the location of the prototype tests. The system is expected to have application for water treatment among communities in (developing) countries in near-equatorial and tropical locations. It may also have application for disaster relief or military field operations, as well as in water treatment in areas of developed countries that receive relatively intense solar UVB radiation.     

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.     

Numerical analysis on heat transfer characteristics of ionic liquids in a tubular heat exchanger

ABSTRACT

The efficiency of the solar thermal system depends on the performance of the solar collectors. There is a need to operate solar collector at higher possible temperature to attain maximum efficiency limits. However, the performance of the collector system is limited by the heat transfer characteristics of the working fluid called as the heat transfer fluid (HTF). Water is widely used as the HTF in the solar collector, but the major problem of using water as the HTF is its limited operating temperature. The objective of the work is to investigate the heat transfer characteristics of ionic liquids in tubular heat exchanger (HE) suitable for the solar thermal application. The HE was designed for a heat duty of 1?kW based on the thermal transport property of available ionic liquids and the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was performed. The results indicate that there is only minimal deviation between the assumed and CFD data.     

Exergetic performance assessment of a solar photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) air collector

In this paper, an attempt is made to evaluate the exergetic performance of a solar photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) air collector. A detailed energy and exergy analysis is carried out to calculate the thermal and electrical parameters, exergy components and exergy efficiency of a typical PV/T air collector. Some corrections are done on related heat loss coefficients. An improved electrical model is used to estimate the electrical parameters of a PV/T air collector. Further, a modified equation for the exergy efficiency of a PV/T air collector is derived in terms of design and climatic parameters. A computer simulation program is also developed to calculate the thermal and electrical parameters of a PV/T air collector. The results of numerical simulation are in good agreement with the experimental measurements noted in the previous literature. Finally, parametric studies have been carried out. It is observed that the modified exergy efficiency obtained in this paper is in good agreement with the one given by the previous literature. It is also found that the thermal efficiency, electrical efficiency, overall energy efficiency and exergy efficiency of PV/T air collector is about 17.18%, 10.01%, 45% and 10.75% respectively for a sample climatic, operating and design parameters.     

Thermal performance analysis of the glass evacuated tube solar collector with U-tube

In this paper, based on the energy balance for the glass evacuated tube solar collector with U-tube, the thermal performance of the individual glass evacuated tube solar collector is investigated by analytical method. The solar collector considered in this study is a two-layered glass evacuated tube, and the absorber film is deposited in the outer surface of the absorber tube. The heat loss coefficient and heat efficiency factor are analyzed using one-dimensional analytical solution. And the influence of air layer between the absorber tube and the copper fin on the heat efficiency is also studied. The results show that the function relation of the heat loss coefficient of the glass evacuated tube solar collector with temperature difference between the absorbing coating surface and the ambient air is nonlinear. In the different ambient temperatures, the heat loss coefficient of the solar collector should be calculated by different expressions. The heat efficiency factor will be subject to influence of air layer between absorber tube and the copper fin. Specially, the influence is remarkable when the heat loss coefficient of the collector is large. When the synthetical conductance amounts to 5 W/m K, the solar collector efficiency decreases 10%, and the outlet fluid temperature decreases 16% compared with the case which the air thermal resistance is neglected. And the surface temperature of the absorbing coating increases 30 °C due to the effect of air thermal resistance. So the surface temperature of the absorbing coating is an important parameter to evaluate the thermal performance of the glass evacuated tube solar collector.     

Optimum slope angles and the corresponding uncertainties for a solar collector

Determination of the optimum slope angle of a solar collector is highly dependent on the incident solar radiations on the collector surface. As collected instantaneous data of incident solar radiation values are averaged, more attention must be directed towards these figures by determining the uncertainties in these measurements as this allows the calculation of the optimum slope angle. These average solar radiations give a definite optimum slope angle if they come along with the lowest uncertainties. Hence, this study aimed to find the optimum slope angles of solar collectors with corresponding uncertainties. For doing this, the solar radiation data borrowed from the Iranian Meteorological Organization which were measured on a horizontal surface in a period of 20 years (1986–2005), were employed. The results showed that the uncertainties of the optimum slope angles in some cities were quite high and it indicated that in this case more attention should be paid to select the appropriate optimum slope angle. These changes were more in cold regions compared to hot and dry regions because the weather in the colder climates is typically more transient than the weather in hot and dry climates.     

Different applications of Scheffler reflector for renewable energy: a comprehensive review

A fixed focus on receiver maintains constant temperature of receiver and it is achieved by Scheffler reflector. It is a best example of solar energy application used for medium-temperature applications. The present review shows a complete review of Scheffler reflector in solar thermal applications like desalination, coffee-making machine, agricultural application, electricity generation, hot water, cooking and plaster of Paris production. The Scheffler reflector is a best solar energy application in future emerging technologies.     

Experimental investigation and analysis of the hybrid solar collector

Hybrid solar collector is a new and innovative technique to harness all the spectrum of sunlight and hence generate a system to harness sunlight. This project deals with the fabrication of a parabolic trough which suits the required design of the solar collector. This project deals with the study of heat transfer across the receiver tube and mode of heat transfer across the hybrid solar collector, to optimise the design, to minimise the losses and maximise the heat and photon transfer to the receiver and power generating unit. Our aim is to study the heat exchange process across tube and to prevent the heating of solar panels from the radiations emitted by the receiver tube when light is focused on it and direct the working of solar collector to a maximum efficient way. We consider the radiation spectrum of sun to be of different waves and utilising each component of it – that is, visible and UV (consisting most of photons) and infrared (consisting of heating radiation) – and try to segregate them with the help of a water jacket and bring the temperature of the PV panels to an optimum condition.     

Effect of roughness height ratio in V down perforated baffle roughness on thermohydraulic performance of solar air heater: an experimental study

A substantial improvement in the thermal performance of solar air heater is found by using roughness on the underside of the absorber plate. In the present investigation, the effect of relative roughness height of roughness element on the thermohydraulic performance of solar air heaters is carried out. The range of roughness and flow parameters for the investigation are relative roughness height (e/H): 0.285–0.6, relative roughness pitch (P/e): 2, angle of attack (α): 60°, open area ratio (β): 12% and Reynolds number (Re): 3800–19,000. The relative roughness height of 0.285 is thermohydraulically better in comparison to other relative roughness heights. The results show that the V down perforated baffles is thermohydraulically better than the solid baffles.