CPC type integrated collector storage systems

Integrated collector storage (ICS) solar water heaters with stationary compound parabolic concentrating (CPC) reflectors are designed and test results are presented. The systems consist of single and double cylindrical horizontal tanks properly placed in truncated symmetric and asymmetric CPC reflector troughs. The suggested designs aim to achieve low cost systems with improved performance by the reduction of their thermal losses and the increase of water temperature rise by using the non-uniform distribution of solar radiation on the absorber surface. Four experimental models were constructed and tested outdoors to determine their mean daily efficiency and thermal losses during the night. Test results showed that asymmetric CPC reflectors contribute to lower thermal losses and the two connected in series cylindrical storage tanks result in effective water temperature stratification. The system with the single cylindrical storage tank and the symmetric CPC reflector performs satisfactorily during the day as well as during the night and regarding its simpler design it could be considered cost effective among the studied ICS systems. A typical thermosiphonic system with flat plate collector was tested for performance comparison, by which the improved daily efficiency of ICS systems and also their moderate water storage heat preservation during the night were confirmed.     

ICS solar systems with two water tanks

Integrated collector storage (ICS) systems are compact solar water heaters, simple in construction, installation and operation. They are cheaper than flat plate thermosiphonic units, but their higher thermal losses make them suitable mainly for application in locations with favourable weather conditions. Aiming to the achievement of low system height and satisfactory water temperature stratification, new types of ICS systems with two horizontal cylindrical storage tanks, properly mounted in stationary CPC reflector troughs are suggested. The non-uniform distribution of solar radiation on the two absorbing surfaces is combined with the seasonal sun elevation, resulting to effective water heating. In addition, the inverted absorber concept design can be applied to ICS systems with two storage tanks. In this paper, we present the design and performance of double tank ICS solar systems, which are based on the combination of symmetric and asymmetric CPC reflectors with water storage tanks. The analytical equations of the collector geometry of all models are calculated with respect to the radius of the cylindrical water storage tank and the reflector rim angles. Experimental results for the variation of the water temperature inside storage tanks, the mean daily efficiency and the coefficient of thermal losses during night are given for all experimental models. The tests were performed without water draining and the results show that the double tank ICS systems are efficient in water temperature rise during day and satisfactory preservation of the hot water temperature during night, with the upper storage tank being more effective in performance in most of the studied models.     

Comparative performance investigation of integrated collector‐storage solar water heaters with various heat loss reduction strategies

A detailed comparative assessment is reported on the thermal performance of integrated collector‐storage (ICS) solar water heaters with various strategies for reducing top heat losses. The objective of this investigation is to assess and compare heat loss reduction strategies. The shape of ICS solar water heater considered in present investigation is rectangular. The thermal performance of the solar water heater is evaluated and analyzed for the following cases: (1) single glass cover without night insulation; (2) single glass cover with night insulation; (3) double glass cover without night insulation; (4) transparent insulation with single glass cover; and (5) insulating baffle plate with single glass cover. Energy balances are developed for each case and solved using a finite difference technique. The numerical assessment of the system performance is performed for a typical July day in Toronto. Each strategy is observed to be beneficial, reducing top heat losses, and improving system performance. The greatest performance enhancements are observed for the water heater with a single glass cover and night insulation and for the system with a double glass cover and without night insulation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental study of a multi-tube ICS solar water heating system in mild climates

Since a majority of residential and industrial building hot water needs are around 50°C, an integrated solar water heater could provide a bulk source that blends collection and storage into one unit. These collectors incorporate thermal storage within the collector itself. The storage pipe surface serves as the absorber surface. Most ICS systems use only one tank, but some use a number of tanks in series. While the simplicity of ICS systems is attractive, they are generally suitable only for applications in mild climates with small thermal storage requirements. A multi-tube ICS solar hot water system with eight cylindrical water storage tanks (pipes) in horizontal (East-West) orientation was designed and outdoor tests of experimental model were performed in mild climate of north (Caspian Sea) region of Iran. Experimental results such as water temperature profiles, mean daily efficiency, water temperature stratification and thermal losses during night are presented and discussed for this model. Experimental results showed that the daily mean efficiency is comparable to other ICS systems and also acceptable thermal performance of this type of ICS system has been observed.     

Design, construction, performance evaluation and economic analysis of an integrated collector storage system

The design and construction of an Integrated Collector Storage (ICS) system is presented in this paper. The main advantage that such a collector system presents, with respect to conventional flat-plate collectors, is the fact that it is of a very low profile. The main disadvantage of these collectors comes from the design of the system, i.e. with the receiver of the collector being also the storage vessel, it is not possible to insulate it properly and there are significant heat losses during the night. System modelling and optimisation is carried out by the use of a computer code written for the purpose. Performance results presented are in good agreement with the predicted results, especially for the end-of-day storage temperature which is predicted to within 5.1%. The initial cost of the system presented here is 13% cheaper than the corresponding flat-plate (FP) collector of the same aperture area and storage volume. Additionally, the economic analysis of the two systems, performed with the F-Chart program, showed a yearly F-value of 0.85 for the ICS system compared to 0.83 for the FP system, a pay-back period of nine years for the ICS system, compared to 11 years for the FP system and a life cycle saving of C£330 for the ICS system compared to C£201 for the FP system.     

Experimental comparison of alternative convection suppression arrangements for concentrating integral collector storage solar water heaters

An experimental investigation of an inverted absorber integrated collector storage solar water heater mounted in the tertiary cavity of a compound parabolic concentrator with a secondary cylindrical reflector has been performed under simulated solar conditions. The solar water heaters performance was determined with the aperture parallel to the simulator for a range of transparent baffles positioned at different locations within the collector cavity. Results indicate that glass baffles located at the upper portion of the exit aperture of the CPC can reduce thermal losses through convection suppression without significantly increasing optical losses.     

Experimental study of CPC type ICS solar systems

Extensive experimental study on solar water heaters, which were developed in our laboratory, is presented. These solar devices are integrated collector storage (ICS) systems with single horizontal cylindrical storage tank properly placed in symmetric CPC type reflector trough. In this paper we study ICS solar systems, which differ in storage tank diameter and correlate their thermal performance and the ratios of the stored water volume per aperture area and also per total external surface area. Based on the results of this study and aiming to achieve improved ICS systems, we considered an effective tank diameter and we extracted by outdoor tests the performance of a number of experimental models differing in the absorbing surface, reflector and transparent cover. We calculated the mean daily efficiency and the thermal loss coefficient during night of each system combination. In addition, 24 h and four days operation diagrams of the variation of water temperature of the studied ICS systems are compared with the corresponding diagrams of two flat plate thermosiphonic units with mat black and selective absorbing surface, respectively. The experimental results show that ICS system with selective absorbing surface, high transmissivity of the transparent cover and high reflectance of its reflector surface performs efficiently enough, both during the day and night operation, approaching the thermal performance of the corresponding thermosiphonic unit of flat plate collector with selective absorber.     

Integrated collector storage solar systems with asymmetric CPC reflectors

New types of ICS solar systems were designed and outdoor tests of experimental models were performed. The systems consist of single cylindrical horizontal water storage tanks placed inside stationary truncated asymmetric CPC reflector troughs of different design. We used high emittance absorber surface, low cost curved reflectors, iron oxide glazing and thermal insulation at the non illuminated tank surfaces, aiming towards cost effective ICS systems with satisfactory heat preservation during the night. Four experimental models of different designs were constructed and tested to determine their performance regarding their mean daily efficiency and thermal losses during the night. The new ICS systems were compared to an ICS system with symmetric CPC reflectors of similar construction and dimensions and also to a typical Flat Plate Thermosiphonic Unit (FPTU). Test results showed that the ICS systems with asymmetric CPC reflectors present almost the same mean daily efficiency and better preservation of hot water temperature during the night, compared to the ICS system with the symmetric CPC reflectors. The comparison with the FPTU system confirmed the satisfied daily operation of all ICS systems and their moderate storage heat preservation during the night. Theoretical results showed acceptable thermal performance of all ICS systems regarding annual operation.     

Heat retaining integrated collector storage solar water heater with asymmetric CPC reflector

A novel integrated collector storage solar water heater (ICSSWH) was designed, optically analysed and experimentally studied. The unit was based around a heat retaining ICS vessel design consisting of two concentric cylinders mounted horizontally inside a stationary truncated asymmetric compound parabolic concentrating (CPC) reflector trough. The annulus between the cylinders was partially evacuated and contained a small amount of water, which changed phase at low temperature, producing a vapour and creating a thermal diode transfer mechanism from the outer absorbing surface to the inner storage vessel surface. The absorbing outer vessel surface covered with selective absorber film and was partially exposed to solar radiation. The remaining vessel surface area (including the vessel ends) was thermally insulated to improve heat retention during the night. Curved reflectors with a high reflectance along with high transmittance glazing were also used to improve effective operation of the ICS system. The thermal behaviour of the ICS system was compared to that of a Flat Plate Thermosiphonic Unit (FPTU). The experimental results showed that the ICS system is as effective during daily operation as it is during the night. Furthermore, the thermal loss coefficient during night gives similar values between the ICS system and FPTU.     

带透明蜂窝盖板和辅助反射面的整体式太阳热水器

作者对一种带透明蜂窝盖板和辅助反射面的整体式(ICS)太阳热水器进行了实验研究。该太阳热水器采用截面为三角形的水箱，水箱背面和侧面用30mm聚苯乙烯泡沫隔热，其它两个面为吸热面。底吸热面利用辅助反射面加热，而上吸热面则覆盖5cm的透明蜂窝及2mm的有机玻璃板。这种设计加大了ICS太阳热水器的吸热面积，同时也降低了吸热面向环境的热损。对实验结果的分析表明，该热水器的热效率不高，但保温性能很好。     

整体式太阳热水器在寒冷气候条件下的冻结厚度与热损系数U值及水层深度的关系

利用一维焓法建立了第三类边界条件下有限厚度的水存在自然对流时的冻结过程的理论模型，并利用类似于反问题的方法。结合计算和实验的手段确定了热损系数U值，所建模型和计算结果通过不同的实验条件得到了验证。该模型可用来确定在寒冷气候条件下整体式（ICS）太阳热水器的冻结厚度与热损系数U值及水层深度的关系，并根据国内一些城市冬季的气象参数，给出了典型的计算结果，所得结果可对ICS太阳热水器的设计及对透明盖板材料和选择性涂层的选用提供参考。     

Gas heat conduction in an evacuated tube solar collector

We investigated experimentally the pressure dependency of the gas heat conduction in an evacuated plate-in-tube solar collector. A stationary heat loss experiment was built up with an electrically heated real-size collector model. The gas pressure was varied from 10⁻³ to 10⁴ Pa, the temperatures of the absorber and the casing were held at 150°C (electrical heaters) and 30°C (water cooling), respectively. Losses by radiation and solid conduction were determined experimentally at pressures below 0.1 Pa. At higher pressures these background losses were subtracted from the total heat losses, to receive the heat losses by gas heat conduction. The experimental results were compared with approximative theoretical models. The onset of convection is in agreement with the usual theories for parallel plates, taking the largest distance between the absorber and the glass tube as the plate distance. As a first approximation the pressure dependency of the gas heat conduction is described by the usual theory for parallel plates, taking the smallest distance between the absorber and the glass tube as the plate distance.     

Experimental and CFD investigation of an ICSSWH at various inclinations

The integrated collector storage (ICS) is the type of solar water heater that has retained its existance for well over a century. The flat absorber plate ICS collector type is a relatively recent addition. Being effective, low cost and simple to manufacture, their importance has been further enhanced by the recent upsurge in efforts to effectively tap renewable energy resources. Having different inclinations based on latitude, the design of flat plate heaters can benefit from extensive amount of research on the topic of natural convection in inclined cavities. More than half-century of exploration on inclined cavities has witnessed added activity particularly in the last three decades. Despite this consistent research, efforts to apply the outcomes to the flat plate collectors have been few and collectors reported in the literature appear to be deficient in embedding the knowledge into the design parameters. For an ICS type heater, natural convection studies gain even more weight as the apparatus is functionally an assembly of two natural convection cavities: an air cavity (space between the absorber and cover plates) and a water cavity (water storage tank). An extensive review of previous studies on inclined cavities relevant to flat plate collectors has been complied and discussed. Experimental tests of the ICS heater have been conducted for controlled heat flux up to 400 W. The thermal performance of the heater is recorded experimentally at angles 0–60° from horizontal, in 15° intervals. CFD analysis is also carried out for the same and is found to be in good agreement with previous studies. It was found that for any given constant value of heat flux, the performance of the heater is a strong function of the angle of inclination. The optimum configuration of the heater for Edinburgh conditions (latitude 55°55′N) is also evaluated. The present study also covers the convective behavior inside the water tank, which has been neglected in the past. A step-by-step build-up approach is adopted to resolve water tank behavior as its treatment as a simple natural convention cavity is invalid. This article would serve as a design guide for developing heaters tailored for a specific geographical location.     

ICS solar systems with horizontal (E–W) and vertical (N–S) cylindrical water storage tank

The use of a horizontal cylindrical water storage tank contributes to pressure resistant, low height and efficient ICS solar systems. These systems can satisfactorily achieve water heating when the cylindrical storage tank is combined with stationary CPC or involute type curved reflectors. The diameter of the cylindrical storage tank determines the length of the reflectors, the system depth and the ratio of the stored water per aperture area. In these solar systems the storage tank can be partially thermally insulated to suppress thermal losses from it to the ambience. We constructed four experimental models with truncated symmetric CPC reflectors, two with 90° and other two with 60° of acceptance angle, half of them without and half with a 1/4 thermally insulated storage tank cylindrical surface. In addition, we constructed two ICS systems with involute reflectors, with acceptance angle 180°, one without and the other one with a 1/4 thermally insulated storage tank. The six ICS systems were tested under the same weather conditions and without water drain, to determine their stored water temperature variation, mean daily efficiency and thermal losses during night. The results showed that CPC reflectors contribute to efficient operation of systems day and night, while involute reflectors mainly to the water heat preservation during night.     

Thermosiphon circulation in solar water heaters incorporating evacuated tubular collectors and a novel water-in-glass manifold

A study is reported of thermosiphon circulation in solar water heaters incorporating glass tubular evacuated collectors and a water-in-glass manifold of extremely simple design. The manifold is characterised by the absence of partitioning of the inner volumes of the absorber tubes into inlet/outlet channels and buoyancy effects are utilised to convey heat to a header pipe at the open end of the tubes. Solar energy input to the tubes has been simulated by electric heating. The thermosiphon system design is unusual in that there are no risers within the collector tubes, thus, the pressure head responsible for thermosiphon flow originates entirely from relatively short pipe runs between manifold and storage tank. Thermosiphon flow has been measured for a number of system designs and a wide range of operating conditions. The relative impedances of the system components has been evaluated allowing optimization of the system design. An investigation of the effect of withdrawal of hot water from the storage tank, with associated injection of cold water to the bottom of the tank, has illustrated that the self-regulating nature of the thermosiphoning system results in a large proportion of heat stored in the wate filled collector tubes being effieciently transferred to the storage tank, providing some water is drawn off intermittently.     

Integrated solar collector storage system based on a salt-hydrate phase-change material

A new integrated collector storage (ICS) concept for low-temperature solar heating of water is described. The solar energy is stored in a salt-hydrate phase-change material (PCM) held in the collector and is discharged to cold water flowing through a surface heat exchanger located in a layer of stationary heat transfer liquid (SHTL), floating over an immiscible layer of PCM. A theoretical model for the charging process of the proposed integrated collector is presented. The model assumes one-dimensional transient heat conduction in the PCM and SHTL layers and neglects the effect of convection heat transfer in these regions. The model was solved numerically by an enthalpy-based finite differences method and validated against experimental data. The results of parametric studies on the effect of the transition temperature and of the thickness layer of the salt-hydrate PCM on the thermal performance of the charging process are also presented.     

Design and performance of a large-size solar water heater

The paper reports the design details of a solar water heater suitable for the large, intermittent demands for hot water by hospitals and hostels. It employs a flat-plate collector consisting of a wire-tied aluminium fin of 28 gauge with galvanized iron pipes of 19 mm diam spaced at 10 cm centres. The unit is adjusted to give maximum efficiency per unit cost under Indian conditions. Various arrangements for connecting the collectors, such as cascade, series, series parallel, and true parallel, were experimentally studied. This revealed that for a solar water heating system having a large number of absorber banks, the true parallel arrangement yields maximum efficiency and economy.The system is fully-automatic and heats 600 l. of water up to 55°C in winter months at Roorkee. Heat losses at night may be compensated for, if required, by an auxiliary electric heater provided in the storage tank and controlled by a low-cost radiation-sensing device. A simple electric circuit controls the tank mean temperature of water in the storage tank.Required collector areas based on meteorological observations for various water capacities and water temperatures are given for several Indian cities.     

Numerical and experimental study of an integrated solar collector with CPC reflectors

The aim of this work is to develop a numerical code able to predict the thermal behavior of a double tank integrated collector storage system (ICS) with compound parabolic concentrator (CPC). The developed numerical model is based on the detailed analysis of the different forms of heat transfers occurring in the ICS system. The balance equations of each element of the system have been established and solved by means of a transient algorithm. A prototype of an ICS device was constructed and experimentally tested outdoors in order to observe the variation of water temperature in the storage tanks. The experimental results are presented and the validity of the model is examined by comparison of the theoretical results with experiments which demonstrates a good agreement. The numerical model is then used to perform theoretical study on the present ICS solar heater. The simulation results of the variation of the thermal efficiency are presented. The results of the yearly parametric study of the effect of the concentrators reflectivity, the absorber emissivity and the use of double glazing on the thermal performance of the ICS system are also presented and discussed. The developed numerical tool within this work can be considered as important for the study of double tanked ICS solar water heater regarding its transient thermal behavior.     

Thermal performance of a novel rooftop solar micro-concentrating collector

Concentrating solar thermal systems offer a promising method for large scale solar energy collection. Although concentrating collectors are generally thought of as large-scale stand-alone systems, there is a huge opportunity to use novel concentrating solar thermal systems for rooftop applications such as domestic hot water, industrial process heat and solar air conditioning for commercial, industrial and institutional buildings. This paper describes the thermal performance of a new low-cost solar thermal micro-concentrating collector (MCT), which uses linear Fresnel reflectors, and is designed to operate at temperatures up to 220 °C. The modules of this collector system are approximately 3 m long by 1 m wide and 0.3 m high. The objective of the study is to optimise the design to maximise the overall thermal efficiency. The absorber is contained in a sealed enclosure to minimise convective losses. The main heat losses are due to natural convection inside the enclosure and radiation heat transfer from the absorber tube. In this paper we present the results of a computational and experimental investigation of radiation and convection heat transfer in order to understand the heat loss mechanisms. A computational model for the prototype collector has been developed using ANSYS–CFX, a commercial computational fluid dynamics software package. The numerical results are compared to experimental measurements of the heat loss from the absorber, and flow visualisation within the cavity. This paper also presents new correlations for the Nusselt number as a function of Rayleigh number.     

Performance analysis and experimental validation of a vee-corrugated absorber integrated collector storage solar water heater

This paper focuses on enhancing the energy collection efficiency of an integrated collector storage solar water heater (ICS SWH) by vee-corrugating the absorber and optimizing the design for the vee-included angle through simulation and experimental study. This paper presents an efficient algorithm for analyzing a vee-corrugated absorber ICS SWH using Engineering Equation Solver Software. For validating this algorithm, two models of ICS SWH systems have been fabricated: one with a flat absorber and the other with a 60° vee-included angle corrugated absorber with eight corrugations. The basic purpose of the fabrication of the flat absorber ICS SWH system was to approximate the absorptivity of the absorber. A typical value of 0.68 was estimated for the absorptivity of the aluminum absorber coated with nonselective black paint. After the experimental investigation of the 60° vee-included angle ICS SWH system, it was found that the real-time readings were in close agreement with the numerical model readings. For comparison with the previous work, a five-corrugation system with an approximate 90° vee-included angle with the same projected dimensions was modeled and the efficiencies of both the models for the time from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. were calculated. The efficiency of the eight-corrugation model was 42.56%, which was better than the previous work of the five-corrugation model, with a 38.86% efficiency for the same ambient conditions. Also, it was theoretically deduced that we had an optimized system at 18 corrugations and a vee-included angle of 28.78°.