Transient analysis of closed loop solar water heating system

This paper presents a simplified transient analysis of a forced-circulation solar water heating system with a heat exchanger in the collector loop. Besides two modes of hot water withdrawal viz constant flow and constant collection temperature; the paper also studies the effectiveness of the flow through the heat exchanger and its length. The system performance has been further studied by considering different timings of starting hot water withdrawal. Calculations have been made for a typical cold day (26 January 1980) in New Delhi.     

Transient performance of closed loop solar water heating system with heat exchanger

The present paper deals with an analysis of a forced circulation closed loop solar water heating system; withdrawal of hot water of constant flow rate from a storage tank through a heat exchanger is considered. The effect of flow rate and heat exchanger length on the performance has also been discussed for a typical set of parameters and for a typical cold day in Delhi (26 January 1980).     

Analytical study of a ground collector integrated with heat exchanger

This paper presents an analytical study of an underground water heater integrated with a heat exchanger. For quantitative assessment of the analytical results, numerical calculations have been made for a typical cold day, namely 21 December 1985 and the yearly data of 1984. The effects of heat exchanger length, water tank depth, etc. on the performance of the proposed system have been studied in detail. The tresults of the proposed system show that the system can be used to supply hot water in the winter months and cold water in the summer months, when the tank is placed at a depth of 0.30 m in the ground. This system will be very useful in areas where drinking water becomes hot in the summer.     

Experimental investigation of a multi-function heat pump under various operating modes

Heat pumps have been spotlighted as efficient building energy systems because they have great potentials for energy reduction in building air conditioning and reducing CO₂ emission. In this study, a multi-function heat pump which has the functions of heating, cooling, and hot water supply was designed and its performance was investigated according to operating modes. In the cooling-hot water mode, the capacity and COP were enhanced as compared to other modes because the waste heat from the outdoor heat exchanger was utilized as useful heat in the indoor heat exchanger. In the heating and hot water supply mode, the compressor speed should be increased to get appropriate heating and hot water capacities. For all operating modes, the system could be optimized by adjusting the superheat.     

Analysis of natural circulation solar water heating systems

This paper presents an analysis of the performance of a solar water heating system with natural thermosyphon circulation between the collector and the storage tank. The analysis is based on the formulation by Ong except that provision for withdrawal of hot water from the tank (for domestic/ industrial use) has been made in the energy balance equation; further in contrast to the use of the finite difference method by Ong, explicit expressions have been obtained. The results of the present analysis (in the absence of withdrawal of hot water from the tank) are seen to be in better agreement with experiments than the corresponding results of Ong, obtained by use of the finite difference method.

Numerical results, corresponding to hot water retrieved from the storage tank, have been presented for two modes of hot water withdrawal viz. the constant flow rate and constant mean storage tank water temperature.     

Transient analysis of closed loop solar water heating system (effect of heat exchangers)

This paper presents a general and more realistic model of the transient behaviour of a forced circulation solar water heating system with and without heat exchangers in the collector loop and storage tank. The analysis has been presented for a constant flow mode. The effects of heat exchanger length and various water heating system parameters on its performance have been studied. Numerical calculations have been made for a typical cold day (26 January 1980) at Delhi.     

Transient analysis of forced circulation solar water heating system with collectors in series

This communication presents an analysis of the thermal performance of a hot water system consisting of N collectors in series with a storage tank; forced circulation and withdrawal of hot water by displacement with cold water are built into the thermal model. Two modes of withdrawal of hot water, viz. (i) constant flow rate and, (ii) constant hot water temperature (during the day), have been considered. For a quantitative appreciation of the results, numerical calculations have been made for the two modes of hot water withdrawal corresponding to a typical cold day (26 January, 1980) in Delhi.     

Performance of solar water heaters with narrow mantle heat exchangers

This paper evaluates the performance of narrow-gap vertical mantle heat exchangers with a two-pass arrangement for use in pumped-circulation solar water heaters. Both measured mantle side and tank side heat transfer correlations have been developed and implemented in a TRNSYS model of a complete solar water heater incorporating this type of heat exchanger. Predictions of the annual solar contribution for mantle-tank systems are compared to direct-coupled systems. The direct-coupled systems are found to provide slightly higher annual energy saving than mantle-tank systems for standard domestic hot water demand in Australia. However, the reduction in performance is outweighed by the benefit of freeze protection provided by incorporating a collector loop heat exchanger in the system.     

A novel rainwater–ground source heat pump – Measurement and simulation

This paper presents the results of experimental measurement and numerical simulation of the performance of a heat pump system designed to make use of rainwater and ground as heat sources/sinks. The system was tested under laboratory conditions. A refrigerant was circulated through a closed loop heat exchanger to transfer heat between the heat pump and rainwater in a storage tank and another heat exchanger made of solid bars or heat pipes to transfer heat between the stored rainwater and surrounding soil. Physical and thermal properties of soil such as water content, density, specific heat, thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity were determined. Numerical simulations were also carried out for a rainwater storage tank installed under ground for domestic application of the heat pump with different operating modes, heating loads and the sizes and types of heat exchanger.     

Performance calculations for closed-loop air-to-water solar hybrid heating systems with and without a rock bed in the solar air heater

A transient analysis has been carried out on a hybrid solar water heater which comprises a rock bed air heater with optimum design parameters in conjunction with an air-to-water transverse fin shell-and-tube heat exchanger (mixed air and unmixed water type) in which cold water from the storage tank receives heat from the hot air coming out of the air heater which flows in the shell at right angles to the water flowing in the tubes. The system's performance has been evaluated for typical winter weather conditions in Delhi for different combinations of flow rates of air and water for different volumes of the water storage tank. No hot water is assumed to be withdrawn from the tank to serve the load. A comparative analysis of the system's performance with and without a rock bed in the air heater reveals about 11°C higher temperature of storage tank in the former at 50 kg/h m² air flow rate. With both the air heater types, although the system performance was observed to increase with the rates of air and water flow, no significant improvement in system performance was achieved at .     

Discharge of a thermal storage tank using an immersed heat exchanger with an annular baffle

A number of solar domestic hot water systems and many combined space and water heating systems have heat exchangers placed directly in the storage fluid to charge and/or discharge the tank. Operation of the heat exchanger produces a buoyancy-driven flow within the storage fluid. With a view toward controlling the flow field to increase heat transfer, a cylindrical baffle is inserted in a 350 l cylindrical storage tank. The baffle creates a 40 mm annular gap adjacent to the tank wall. A 10 m-long, 0.3 m² copper coil heat exchanger is placed in the gap. The effects of the baffle on the transient heat transfer, delivered water temperature, heat exchanger effectiveness, and temperature distribution within the storage fluid are presented during discharge of initially thermally stratified and fully mixed storage tanks. The baffle increases the storage side convective heat transfer to the heat exchanger by 20%. This increase is attributed to higher storage fluid velocities across the heat exchanger.     

Consumers’ influence on the thermal performance of small SDHW systems—Theoretical investigations

Usually when SDHW systems are tested and modeled the daily hot-water consumption and consumption pattern are constant during all days of the test period and simulation period. This is not realistic in ‘real life’. Numerical simulations with detailed simulation models have been carried out to investigate the influence on the thermal performance of different hot-water consumptions and consumption patterns. Two different small SDHW systems are taken into the calculation, a low-flow system where the heat storage consists of a mantle tank and a high flow system with an internal heat exchanger spiral in the heat storage. Two different domestic hot water (DHW)-load profiles have been taken into the calculation. One of the DHW-load profiles has three draw-offs at equal time, size and duration every day while the other DHW-load profile is a realistic profile for a Danish family where the hot-water consumption and consumption pattern vary from day to day and furthermore weekends and holidays are taken into account in this profile. Different volumes of the tanks in the two systems are taken into the calculation in order to determine how the thermal performance of the systems is influenced by the tank volume for different hot-water consumptions. Furthermore it is investigated how the thermal performance of the systems are influenced by mixing in the solar tank during draw-offs.     

Review of solar dryers for agricultural and marine products

Drying for agricultural and marine products are one of the most attractive and cost-effective application of solar energy. Numerous types of solar dryers have been designed and developed in various parts of the world, yielding varying degrees of technical performance. Basically, there are four types of solar dryers; (1) direct solar dryers, (2) indirect solar dryers, (3) mixed-mode dryers and (4) hybrid solar dryers. This paper is a review of these types of solar dryers with aspect to the product being dried, technical and economical aspects. The technical directions in the development of solar-assisted drying systems for agricultural produce are compact collector design, high efficiency, integrated storage, and long-life drying system. Air-based solar collectors are not the only available systems. Water-based collectors can also be used whereby water to air heat exchanger can be used. The hot air for drying of agricultural produce can be forced to flow in the water to air heat exchanger. The hot water tank acts as heat storage of the solar drying system.     

Technoeconomic optimization of solar natural convection hybrid hot water systems

In this paper a techno-economic model for a hybrid domestic hot water system operating under natural convection mode is presented. Three modes of auxiliary energy supply viz.

• A electric heater fitted in the solar hot water tank.
• B electric heater fitted in a small water tank in series with the solar hot water tank, and
• C an instant electric heater fitted in the tap

have been considered. Taking into account the life and the capital and maintenance costs of the solar and electrical equipments, the cost of useful energy (Rs/kWh) has been calculated for different values of the collector area and the tank capacity, and thereby the optimum collector area and tank capacity (for a given demand), corresponding to minimum cost of useful energy, has been determined. From numerical calculations made for the climate of Delhi, India (a representative composite climate) corresponding to the two cases of monthly hot water demand viz. (i) constant monthly demand, and (ii) variable monthly demand, it is seen that case (C) is the most economic design of the hybrid hot water system; numerical calculations have also been made for this case corresponding to the climates of Srinagar and Madras (representing cold and hot climates). The effect of government subsidy on the optimized values of collector area, tank capacity and cost of useful energy has also been investigated for the climate of Delhi.     

Experimental evaluation of solar thermosyphons with heat exchangers

The advantages of solar thermosyphons in terms of simplicity, reliability and cost have long been recognized. Recent studies have also shown their thermal performance to be comparable with that of equivalent active systems. When pump power is considered, the energy savings of domestic hot water thermosyphons can be significantly superior to active systems. In spite of these advantages, use of solar thermosyphons in the United States is almost negligible compared to their widespread use in other countries. A major limitation to the use of thermosyphons in the United States is lack of effective, reliable freeze protection. One technique for reliable, passive freeze protection is to use a heat exchanger in the storage tank and a nonfreezing fluid in the collector. Previous analytical work indicates that the performance penalty for these systems with practical-sized heat exchangers may be small enough to make these systems economically feasible. A full-scale, residential-size test facility has been constructed for testing this concept and validating the theoretical models. This paper describes results of testing comparing the performance of a horizontal tank with and without heat exchanger to a baseline case of a vertical tank without heat exchanger. An analytical expression for a “heat exchanger penalty factor” for these systems is derived and compared with the experimental results.     

Natural convection heat exchangers in solar water heating systems: Theory and experiment

Natural convection heat exchangers can be used in solar hot water systems to replace the pump on the tank side of the exchanger. There is currently no experimentally verified way of designing this type of heat exchanger. An experimental apparatus to test natural convection heat exchangers was built and an extensive set of measured data obtained on two different exchangers sized for low-flow stratified tank system. Two theoretical models for the exchanger are presented: a finite-volume primitive variable numerical solution of the fundamental laminar equations of fluid motion and a laminar forced-convection-based solution method. Comparison of the model predictions with the experimental data showed good agreement when the modified Rayleigh number is less than about 400. The poor agreement under other conditions was attributed to turbulence and recirculation neither of which was accounted for in the models.     

Study of the Thermal Behavior of Multi Tube Tank in Heat Recovery from Chimney—Analysis and Optimization

This work discusses the utilization of multi tube tank heat exchanger for waste heat recovery. The thermal behavior of the system is studied in order to understand the contribution of the different heat transfer modes governing the system. As application, heating water in residential application from chimney heat recovery is considered. A prototype illustrating the suggested system is implemented and tested. Different waste heat scenarios by varying the quantity of burned firewood (heat input) are experimented. The temperature at different parts of the system and the gas flow rates of the exhaust pipes are measured. Measurements showed that the temperature of 95 L tank of water can be increased by 68°C within one hour. Obtained results show that the convection and radiation exchanges at the bottom surface of the tank have a considerable impact on the total heat transfer rate of the water (as high as 70%). Moreover, the proposed system allows saving 9.8 L of gasoline, 10.6 L of diesel or 15 kg of wood for 12 hours of chimney operation.     

Experimental and numerical study of thermal stratification in a mantle tank of a solar domestic hot water system

The simulation and the optimisation of the mantle tank of solar domestic hot water systems needs dynamic simulation over long periods of time (e.g. 1 year). A model for such a mantle tank was developed by using the zonal approach. The dimensions of the zones are determined based on physical considerations. A mixing coefficient is identified to model the water flow in the mantle heat exchanger. Comparisons of the results of temperatures distribution of the model and of experiments show a difference <7% for three positions of the inlet water flow in the mantle heat exchanger.     

1MW塔式太阳能电站蓄热系统模拟分析

以1MW塔式太阳能电站蓄热系统为研究对象,通过理论分析,建立了管壳式换热器、热罐、冷罐以及蒸汽蓄热器的动态数学模型,经验证模型具有合理性.在此基础上对蓄热系统的充、放热过程进行了模拟计算,分析研究了换热器A和C的动态特性、冷热罐内油温的动态变化以及蒸汽蓄热器的充、放热特性.模拟结果为双级蓄热系统的过程控制提供了理论依据.