Hydrogen production and storage analysis of a system by using TRNSYS

In this study, hydrogen production and storage were investigated. The Transient System Simulation Program (TRNSYS) and Generic Optimization Program (GenOpt) packages were combined for the design and optimization of a system that produces hydrogen from water and stores the hydrogen it produced in the compressed gas tank. The system design is based on the electricity grid. Electrical energy produced in photovoltaic (PV) panels was used to electrolyze water. The systems for Izmir, Istanbul and Ankara provinces which are in different climate zones of Turkey were optimized and the annual system performances based on the optimum angles were analyzed. For the mentioned provinces, the PV tilt angles which minimize electricity drawn from the grid at the electrolyzer are also investigated. The electrical energy produced in the photovoltaic panels, the hydrogen and oxygen amounts produced, the efficiency of the electrolyzer, the gas and pressure levels in the hydrogen tank were compared. According to the results of the analysis, the annual total power produced in photovoltaic panels is 42803.66 kW in İzmir, 42573.74 kW in Istanbul and 44613.95 kW in Ankara. Hydrogen levels produced in the system are calculated as 10488.39 m³ year⁻¹ in Izmir, 9824.70 m³ year⁻¹ in Istanbul, and 10368.65 m³ year⁻¹ in Ankara.     

Forced circulation solar water heater performance prediction by TRNSYS and ANN

The design and applicability of solar water heating systems requires a satisfactory prediction of collector outlet water temperature and the useful energy delivered over a wide range of climatic conditions. Transient system simulation program is extensively used for this purpose, and recently artificial neural networks have also been considered. This article presents the results of a study carried out to compare the performance prediction by these two methods in a tropical location under different climatic conditions. Experimental collector outlet temperature, storage tank temperatures and the useful energy values were compared with the results of the simulation by these two methods. Hourly and daily values under different conditions were also compared. Details of the experimental set up and observations, the modeling procedure used and the statistical measures to compare the capabilities of the two methods under clear, partly cloudy, and cloudy conditions have been described. The prediction of both the methods are found to be good for both hourly and daily estimations, and the specific requirements for satisfactory performance prediction of each of the methods have been detailed.     

Design and analysis of solar thermoelectric power generation system

This article reports on the design and performance analysis of a solar thermoelectric power generation plant (STEPG). The system considers both truncated compound parabolic collectors (CPCs) with a flat receiver and conventional flat-plate collectors, thermoelectric (TE) cooling and power generator modules and appropriate connecting pipes and control devices. The design tool uses TRNSYS IIsibat-15 program with a new component we developed for the TE modules. The main input data of the system are the specifications of TE module, the maximum hot side temperature of TE modules, and the desired power output. Examples of the design using truncated CPC and flat-plate collectors are reported and discussed for various slope angle and half-acceptance angle of CPC. To minimize system cost, seasonal adjustment of the slope angle between 0° and 30° was considered, which could give relatively high power output under Bangkok ambient condition. Two small-scale STEPGs were built. One of them uses electrical heater, whereas the other used a CPC with locally made aluminum foil reflector. Measured data showed reasonable agreement with the model outputs. TE cooling modules were found to be more appropriate. Therefore, the TRNSYS software and the developed TE component offer an extremely powerful tool for the design and performance analysis of STEPG plant.     

Assessment of electricity and hydrogen production performance of evacuated tube solar collectors

In this work, a unified renewable energy system has designed to assess the electricity and hydrogen production. This system consists of the evacuated tube solar collectors (ETSCs) which have the total surface area of 300 m², a salt gradient solar pond (SGSP) which has the surface area of 217 m², an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and an electrolysis system. The stored heat in the heat storage zone (HSZ) transferred to the input water of the ETSCs by means of an exchanger and thereby ETSCs increase the temperature of preheated water to higher level as much as possible that primarily affects the performance of the ORC. The balance equations of the designed system were written and analyzed by utilizing the Engineering Equations Solver (EES) software. Hence, the energy and exergy efficiencies of the overall system were calculated as to be 5.92% and 18.21%, respectively. It was also found that hydrogen generation of the system can reach up to ratio 3204 g/day.     

Optimal design of a forced circulation solar water heating system for a residential unit in cold climate using TRNSYS

An indirect forced circulation solar water heating systems using a flat-plate collector is modeled for domestic hot water requirements of a single-family residential unit in Montreal, Canada. All necessary design parameters are studied and the optimum values are determined using TRNSYS simulation program. The solar fraction of the entire system is used as the optimization parameter. Design parameters of both the system and the collector were optimized that include collector area, fluid type, collector mass flow rate, storage tank volume and height, heat exchanger effectiveness, size and length of connecting pipes, absorber plate material and thickness, number and size of the riser tubes, tube spacing, and the collector’s aspect ratio. The results show that by utilizing solar energy, the designed system could provide 83-97% and 30-62% of the hot water demands in summer and winter, respectively. It is also determined that even a locally made non-selective-coated collector can supply about 54% of the annual water heating energy requirement by solar energy.     

Performance model of a novel evacuated-tube solar collector based on minichannels

Thermal performance of a novel minichannel-based solar collector is investigated numerically. The particular collector consists of a U-shaped flat-tube absorber with a selective coating on its external surface. The working fluid flows inside an array of minichannels located in the cross-section of the absorber along its length. The absorber is enclosed in an evacuated-glass envelope to minimize convective losses. Performance and pressure drop are evaluated for different inlet temperatures and flow rates of the working fluid. Thermal performance of minichannel-based solar collector is compared to that of an evacuated tube collector without minichannels from the literature. Configurations with and without a concentrator are analyzed.     

Transient simulation of a solar-based hydrogen production plant with evacuated tube collector and ejector refrigeration system

This article is a careful examination of an energy poly-generation unit integrated with an evacuated solar thermal tube collector. A proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis unit is used for hydrogen production, an ejector refrigeration system (ERS) is utilized for cooling demand, and a heater unit is used for heating demand. All sub-systems are validated by considering recent articles. Cooling and heating demand, as well as the net output power are calculated. The modeled poly-generation system's exergy and energy efficiency are maximized by considering the inlet temperature of the heat exchanger and primary pressure of the ejector with the parametric evaluation of the system. The proposed poly-generation set-up can produce cooling load, heating load, and hydrogen with amounts of 5.34 kW, 5.152 kW, and 63 kg/year, respectively. Based on these values, the energy ef?ciency, and exergy ef?ciency are computed to be 64.14%, and 49.62%, respectively. Higher energy and exergy ef?ciencies are obtained by reducing high pressure of the refrigeration cycle or decreasing the temperature outlet of an auxiliary heater. The heat exchanger and thermal energy storage unit have the highest cost rate among all system components with 73,463 $ and 46,357, respectively. Parametric study indicates that the main determinative elements in the total cost rate of the system are the heater, and the solar collector.     

Simulation and optimization of a LiBr solar absorption cooling system with evacuated tube collectors

Solar radiation is a clean form of energy, which is required for almost all natural processes on earth. Solar-powered air-conditioning has many advantages when compared to a conventional electrical system. This paper presents a solar cooling system that has been designed for Malaysia and similar tropical regions using evacuated tube solar collectors and LiBr absorption unit. The modeling and simulation of the absorption solar cooling system is carried out with TRNSYS program. The typical meteorological year file containing the weather parameters for Malaysia is used to simulate the system. The results presented show that the system is in phase with the weather, i.e. the cooling demand is large during periods that the solar radiation is high. In order to achieve continuous operation and increase the reliability of the system, a 0.8 m³ hot water storage tank is essential. The optimum system for Malaysia's climate for a 3.5 kW (1 refrigeration ton) system consists of 35 m² evacuated tubes solar collector sloped at 20°.     

TRNSYS The most complete solar energy system modeling and simulation software

The five computer programs TRNSYS, PRESIM, TRNSED, ONLINE and PREBID have been put together into a program package which is the most complete solar energy system modeling and simulation software that is available today.     

Year round performance of a cylindrical solar water heater

A cylindrical collector-cum-storage type solar water heater has been designed, developed and tested. Its year round performance has been carried out and reported in this paper. The heater can provide 50 litres of hot water at 50–60°C in the afternoon and a temperature of 35°C can be retained till the next day for early morning use. The heater receives approximately 30% more radiation as compared to a flat surface. The economics of the heater has been worked out and it has been found that the cost can be recovered within one year.     

An experimental investigation into the performance of a domestic thermosyphon solar water heater under varying operating conditions

An experimental investigation has been carried out on a thermosyphon solar water heater. The system consisted of a flat-plate collector of 1.5 m² absorber area with 21 tubes/m width and storage tank of 125 litre capacity. Experiments were carried out for both cloudy and clear weather conditions in winter and summer. The hourly system performance was evaluated for all test conditions. The final mean tank temperature was measured daily which enabled the calculation of the possible contribution of solar energy for domestic hot water supply in Basrah, Iraq (latitude 30.76°N). The system was tested at both no-load and loading conditions. Intermittent and continuous load was imposed, and system performance was evaluated for each condition.     

Investigation of evacuated tube heated by solar trough concentrating system

Two types of solar evacuated tube have been used to measure their heating efficiency and temperature with fluids of water and N₂ respectively with a parabolic trough concentrator. Experiments demonstrate that both evacuated tubes present a good heat transfer with the fluid of water, the heating efficiency is about 70–80%, and the water is easy to boil when liquid rate is less than 0.0046 kg/s. However, the efficiency of solar concentrating system with evacuated tube for heating N₂ gas is less than 40% when the temperature of N₂ gas reaches 320–460 °C. A model for evacuated tube heated by solar trough concentrating system has been built in order to further analyze the characteristics of fluid which flow evacuated tube. It is found that the model agrees with the experiments to within 5.2% accuracy. The characteristics of fluid via evacuated tube heated by solar concentrated system are analyzed under the varying conditions of solar radiation and trough aperture area. This study supports research work on using a solar trough concentrating system to perform ammonia thermo-chemical energy storage for 24 h power generation. The current research work also has application to solar refrigeration.     

A simplified approach for evaluating performance of a solar water heater with side losses

We present a simplified method which could be used to calculate, to a first approximation, the energy losses from the sides of a solar collector/water heater. The inclusion of energy losses through the side walls of a reasonable thickness reduce the efficiency of the system by about 5%. The integrated side energy losses for the whole day are not equal for the various segments of the wall. Hence, it will be economical to construct wedge shape walls, thickness decreasing downward, instead of usual rectangular walls.     

Performance prediction of a solar water heater with intermittent output

A solar water heater constructed from readily available materials in the countryside has earlier been discussed in the continuous flow mode. Water flows in the tubes at a constant rate throughout the day. In any realistic situation, however, the rate of flow will be a function of time depending on the requirements of the user. In this paper a theoretical method is developed which is used to predict the outlet water temperature of the time dependent flows. The effect of various design parameters like the position of the water pipes, choice of sensible heat storage material etc. are discussed taking different functions of rate of flow. The inexpensive water heater can provide hot water for a small household even in the late evening hours provided no heat is withdrawn from the system during the day time.     

Analysis of an open-air swimming pool solar heating system by using an experimentally validated TRNSYS model

In the case of private outdoor swimming pools, seldom larger than 100 m², conventional auxiliary heating systems are being installed less and less. Solar heating is an option to extend the swimming season. The temperature evolution of an open-air swimming pool highly depends on the wind speed directly on the water surface, which at the same time is influenced by the surroundings of the pool. In this paper, the TRNSYS model of a private open-air pool with a 50-m² surface was validated by registering the water temperature evolution and the meteorological data at the pool site. Evaporation is the main component of energy loss in swimming pools. Six different sets of constants found in literature were considered to evaluate the evaporative heat transfer coefficient with the purpose of finding the most suitable one for the TRNSYS pool model. In order to do that, the evolution of the pool water temperature predicted by the TRNSYS pool model was compared with the experimentally registered one. The simulation with TRNSYS of the total system, including the swimming pool and the absorber circuit integrated into the existing filter circuit, provided information regarding the increase of the pool temperature for different collector areas during the swimming season. This knowledge, together with the economic costs, support the decision about the absorber field size.     

An experimental investigation into the performance of a domestic forced circulation solar water heater under varying operating conditions

An experimental investigation is carried out on a forced circulation solar water heater to assess its performance under various operating conditions. The system consisted of two identical collectors of total absorber area of 3.45 m² and a storage tank of 200 litre capacity. Experiments were carried out during clear days with and without system loading for two water mass flow rates through the collector; namely 0.1305 kg/s and 0.06525 kg/s. The system was operated without thermostat control and with thermostat control at maximum and minimum settings. The collector efficiency improved with system loading. The improvement was better with increased hot water withdrawal from the system.     

Simulation and experimental investigation of solar absorption cooling system in Reunion Island

With the development of technologies and the fast increase of our population we will need to adjust the conventional electrical source to meet the continuous increasing demand. Since the energy cost as well as the environmental awareness is growing fast, technologies using renewable energies appear as an interesting alternative. The aim of this research is to present a solar-driven 30 kW LiBr/H₂O single-effect absorption cooling system which has been designed and installed at Institut Universitaire Technologique of Saint Pierre. The first part of this article deals with the simulation of the solar thermal plant. A pilot plant has been setup as part of RAFSOL which is a research program managed by the national research agency (ANR).     

Study of a solar water heater using stationary V-trough collector

There are various types of solar water heater system available in the commercial market to fulfill different customers’ demand, such as flat plate collector, concentrating collector, evacuated tube collector and integrated collector storage. A cost effective cum easy fabricated V-trough solar water heater system using forced circulation system is proposed. Integrating the solar absorber with the easily fabricated V-trough reflector can improve the performance of solar water heater system. In this paper, optical analysis, experimental study and cost analysis of the stationary V-trough solar water heater system are presented in details. The experimental result has shown very promising results in both optical efficiency of V-trough reflector and the overall thermal performance of the solar water heater.     

Some mechanical aspects of low cost augmented integrated rock system

The development of an augmented integrated rock system is described in this paper. A unique AIRS (Flat Plate air heater connected in series with an integrated rock storage and collection system) concept is used as the absorber plate-to-air stream and then air stream-to-rock bed storage and collection unit heat transfer mechanism. The intention was to increase the efficiency of the air heater, over that of a ‘conventional’ type solar air heater by increasing the absorber area which includes the metallic absorber plate and the rock surface exposed directly to the sun. The programme objective was to design a device which can store the energy during its operation and supply it during the evening and late night hours when there is no sun in the sky. In order to achieve this goal, we have fabricated, tested and evaluated ‘AIRS’, and the results obtained are presented in this paper.     

Thermal modeling of a combined system of photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) solar water heater

In this paper, an integrated combined system of a photovoltaic (glass–glass) thermal (PV/T) solar water heater of capacity 200 l has been designed and tested in outdoor condition for composite climate of New Delhi. An analytical expression for characteristic equation for photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) flat plate collector has been derived for different condition as a function of design and climatic parameters. The testing of collector and system were carried out during February–April, 2007. It is observed that the photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) flat plate collector partially covered with PV module gives better thermal and average cell efficiency which is in accordance with the results reported by earlier researchers.