Influence of collector plate temperature gradient on solar heater performance

This communication deals with the effect of a temperature gradient, due to difference in temperatures of sunlit collector surface and the surface in contact with the working fluid (heat exchanger fluid), on the performance of solar water heater. The analysis is not restricted to any particular configuration of solar heater. Experimental study of a spiral solar water heater confirms the theoretical prediction of thermal loss with temperature gradient.     

太阳能集热系统结构与工质改进研究

对真空管式太阳能集热器的安装结构以及集热器内使用的工质进行改进.通过实验对比验证,改进后的集热系统具有更大的吸收比,新型纳米流体工质具有更高的集热效率.该改进的太阳能集热系统能在家用热水器、工业加热等方面广泛应用.     

基于能量梯级利用的太阳能冷热联供系统

从能量梯级利用的角度出发，提出了一种新型太阳能冷热联供复合系统。该复合系统可根据太阳辐射强度在不同的季节分别用作单一的太阳能热水器、热泵热水器或太阳能吸附式冷热联供复合系统。建立了相应的数学模型，计算了该系统在不同季节各种典型工况下的性能指标。计算结果表明，该系统不仅可实现冷热联供的双重功能，而且具有较大的节能潜力。     

真空玻璃盖板热管平板式太阳能热水器的研制

介绍了研究成功的采用真空玻璃盖板的热管平板式太阳能热水器,测试了其性能,并与全玻璃真空管太阳能热水器和蜂窝热管太阳能热水器进行了比较。实测得到,真空玻璃盖板热管平板式热水器的日平均效率比后两分别大13．3％和6．5％,平均热损系数比后两分别小52．5％和21．5％。真空玻璃盖板平板式太阳能热水器性能优越,有很好的应用前景。     

不同有机工质下的燃气分布式能源光热补偿供能系统研究

为了提高能源利用率,实现节能减排,以总能系统概念为基础,采用燃气和太阳能为能源,水蒸气与有机工质为工作介质,建立燃气分布式供能系统的热力模型和能效模型,对其热经济性和有机工质进行了计算与筛选。以国内某机场分布式能源站机组为例,基于太阳能的能源补充作用以及有机工质气化潜热小的特性,建立燃气分布式能源光热补偿供能系统,经热经济性计算与分析,结果表明:在100%、75%、50%制冷(制热)工况时、新模型在维持原机组总热耗的情况下,机组冷源损失减少,热经济性提高;经过对3种有机工质的筛选,R245FA是较适合于新模型的有机工质。     

A Recuperative Solar Collector

This investigation is a theoretical and experimental study of a recuperative type solar water heater where water is allowed to pass through the two upper transparent covers in channel flow before flowing through the tubes of the collector. The water in the channel will be first heated by solar insolation absorbed in the fluid layer and by the upper heat losses from the absorber plate before being heated in the main collector tubes. The performance of this collector was analytically studied under various environmental and operating conditions, in addition, an experimental apparatus was built, commissioned and tested. The analytical model, confirmed by experimental results, indicated that the proposed design was superior to the conventional solar water heater within a certain range of mass flow rates and environmental conditions.     

Performance of S-CO_2 Brayton Cycle and Organic Rankine Cycle(ORC) Combined System Considering the Diurnal Distribution of Solar Radiation

This paper researches the performance of a novel supercritical carbon dioxide(S-CO_2) Brayton cycle and organic Rankine cycle(ORC) combined system with a theoretical solar radiation diurnal distribution. The new system supplies all solar energy to a S-CO_2 Brayton cycle heater, where heat releasing from the S-CO_2 cooler is stored in the thermal storage system which is supplied to the ORC. Therefore, solar energy is kept at a high temperature, while at the same time the thermal storage system temperature is low. This paper builds a simple solar radiation diurnal distribution model. The maximum continuous working time, mass of thermal storage material, and parameter variations of the two cycles are simulated with the solar radiation diurnal distribution model. 10 organic fluids and 5 representative thermal storage materials are compared in this paper, with the mass and volume of these materials being shown. The longer the continuous working time is, the lower the system thermal efficiency is. The maximum continuous working time can reach 19.1 hours if the system provides a constant power output. At the same time, the system efficiency can be kept above 38% for most fluids.     

On the performance and entropy generation of the double-pass solar air heater with longitudinal fins

The performance and entropy generation of the double-pass flat plate solar air heater with longitudinal fins are studied numerically. The mathematical models described the heat transfer characteristics of the double-pass flat plate solar air heater derived from the conservation equations of energy. The predictions are done at air mass flow rate ranging between 0.02 and 0.1 kg/s. The effects of the inlet condition of working fluid and dimension of the solar air heater on the heat transfer characteristics, performance, and entropy generation are considered.     

Numerical and experimental investigation of parabolic trough collector with focal evacuated tube and different working fluids integrated with single slope solar still

This study deals with the design and fabrication of parabolic trough solar collectors (PTCs) used to increase the yield of a single slope solar still. The designed parabolic trough solar collector is investigated numerically using Ansys Fluent 18.2. The proposed solar still is coupled with a parabolic trough solar collector with an evacuated tube receiver in its focal axis using different working fluids. The working fluids are water (case 1), oil (case 2), and nano-oil (CuO/mineral oil 3% vol; case 3). In the case when the working fluid is not water, then a heat exchanger serpentine should be used in the solar still basin. The PTC has a rim angle of 82° and an aperture width of 0.9 m and length of 2.8 m. An assessment of the performance for the studied systems was accomplished under the weather conditions of Ismailia, Egypt, during summer months, June, July, and August 2019. The outcomes of closed-loop working fluids different flow rates are investigated. The experimental results of the accumulated freshwater productivities record 2.955, 3.475, 4.29, and 5.04 L m⁻² d⁻¹ for the traditional solar still and the modified cases 1 to 3 solar stills, respectively. The modified solar still in case 3 has the highest daily accumulated freshwater productivity with a percentage increase of 71.2% than the traditional solar still. The maximum daily efficiency is 46% and 26.9% for the traditional and modified (case 3) solar stills, respectively. The cost of 1 L of fresh water is 0.057 and 0.062 $/L for the traditional and the modified (case 3) solar stills, respectively.     

Effect of heat exchanger on the performance of a shallow solar pond water heater

In this communication, a mathematical model has been developed to predict the performance of a shallow solar pond water heater with a heat exchanger. Explicit heat balance equations are written for the plate temperature and water tank temperature, as well as for the heat extracting fluid temperature, by properly taking into account the absorption of solar radiation in the body of pond water. It is seen that efficiencies may be achieved as high as 60% at water flow rates of 0.1 – 0.2 kg/s m². Thereafter, the efficiency becomes almost constant at higher flow rates.     

Experimental investigation on thermal performance of thermosyphon flat-plate solar water heater with a mantle heat exchanger

The thermal performance of thermosyphon flat-plate solar water heater with a mantle heat exchanger was investigated to show its applicability in China. The effect on the performance of the collector of using a heat exchanger between the collector and the tank was analyzed. A “heat exchanger penalty factor” for the system was determined and energy balance equation in the system was presented. Outdoor tests of thermal performance of the thermosyphon flat-plate solar water heater with a mantle heat exchanger were taken in Kunming, China. Experimental results show that mean daily efficiency of the thermosyphon flat plate solar water heater with a mantle heat exchanger with 10 mm gap can reach up to 50%, which is lower than that of a thermosyphon flat-plate solar water heater without heat exchanger, but higher than that of a all-glass evacuated tubular solar water heater.     

换热工质参数对熔盐蒸汽发生系统性能的影响研究

蒸汽发生系统(steam generation system,SGS)是塔式太阳能热发电站的重要组成部分。采用仿真模拟软件Thermoflex对塔式太阳能热发电站的熔盐SGS进行了建模,并基于实际工程数据验证了所搭建模型的准确性。以此为基础,仿真研究了熔盐SGS的换热工质参数(给水温度、主蒸汽温度、主蒸汽压力)对熔盐SGS性能的影响,其中,水侧温度和压力的变化对熔盐侧参数(熔盐流量、熔盐SGS出口的熔盐温度)和换热设备的换热功率均存在较大影响。研究得到的不同换热工质参数对熔盐SGS性能和整个塔式太阳能热发电站的影响规律可为熔盐SGS的设计提供理论依据。     

Theoretical and experimental investigation on the application of solar water heater coupled with air humidifier for regeneration of liquid desiccant

Theoretical and experimental investigation on the application of flat plate solar water heater coupled with air humidifier for regeneration of liquid desiccant has been presented in this work. The heated water from the storage tank of the solar heating system is circulated in a finned tube air heater. Hot air from the air heater is blown through a packing of a honeycomb type for the purpose of regeneration of calcium chloride (CaCl₂) solution. An experimental system has been designed and installed for this purpose. The system comprises a solar water heater with a storage tank connected to an air/water heat exchanger. Hot air from the heat exchanger is blown to the air humidifier, which functions in this study as a regenerator. Calcium chloride solution is applied as the working desiccant in this study. Solution concentration is determined at the end of regeneration process and the mass of evaporated water is evaluated. It is observed that the heating temperature varies, at day time, in a range of about 5 °C. This limited variation in hot water temperature demonstrates the importance of the storage tank to attain a nearly steady state operation of the system. Experimental results show that solution with 30% concentration can be regenerated up to 50% using solar energy. In the theoretical part of this study, a multiple-layer artificial neural network (ANN) model has been applied to study the performance of a solar liquid-desiccant dehumidification/regeneration system when calcium chloride solution is applied as the working desiccant. The experimental results of the present study are used to construct and test the ANN model. Then the model has been utilized to describe and analyze the effect of the inlet conditions of air on the regeneration process. Good agreement between the outputs from the ANN model and the corresponding results from the experimental data has been found. The proposed model can work well as a predictive tool to complement the experiments.     

Theoretical and experimental investigations of a two-phase thermosyphon solar water heater

This article experimentally and theoretically investigates a two-phase thermosyphon solar water heater. The performance of this innovative solar water heater at different solar radiation intensities and tilt angles are experimentally discussed. The results show the best charge efficiency of the system is 82%, which is higher than the conventional solar water heaters. The theoretical model is also developed using the thermal resistance-capacitor method. The simulation predictions agree well with the experimental data within an average error deviation of ±6%. Two methods for improving the performance of this heater, double fin tubes and nano particle, are proposed. The results show that charge efficiencies can increase 3% and 4%, respectively, according to the theoretical model.     

Experimental and theoretical studies of recyclic flat-plate solar water heaters equipped with rectangle conduits

A recycle operation design using a flat-plate solar water heater with rectangle flow conduits was theoretically and experimentally investigated. Devices with differing flow-conduit geometries (i.e. aspect ratio) and external recycle were designed to create a solar heater with low heat-transfer resistance between the absorber and working fluid to increase the convective heat-transfer coefficient. Considerable solar water heater collector efficiency improvement has been obtained employing rectangle flow conduits and a recycle operation, instead of recycle solar collector constructed with circular pipes operated at the same total mass flow rate. Under a fixed absorber area and distance between the flow conduits, the collector efficiency increases with increasing flow conduit aspect ratio, total mass flow rate and recycle ratio but with decreasing inlet water temperature. The incident solar radiation, mass flow rate, recycle ratio and flow conduit aspect ratio influences on the collector efficiency and energy consumption are also discussed.     

Modelling of parabolic trough direct steam generation solar collectors

Solar electric generation systems (SEGS) currently in operation are based on parabolic trough solar collectors using synthetic oil heat transfer fluid in the collector loop to transfer thermal energy to a Rankine cycle turbine via a heat exchanger. To improve performance and reduce costs direct steam generation in the collector has been proposed. In this paper the efficiency of parabolic trough collectors is determined for operation with synthetic oil (current SEGS plants) and water (future proposal) as the working fluids. The thermal performance of a trough collector using Syltherm 800 oil as the working fluid has been measured at Sandia National Laboratory and is used in this study to develop a model of the thermal losses from the collector. The model is based on absorber wall temperature rather than fluid bulk temperature so it can be used to predict the performance of the collector with any working fluid. The effects of absorber emissivity and internal working fluid convection effects are evaluated. An efficiency equation for trough collectors is developed and used in a simulation model to evaluate the performance of direct steam generation collectors for different radiation conditions and different absorber tube sizes. Phase change in the direct steam generation collector is accounted for by separate analysis of the liquid, boiling and dry steam zones.     

Long-term thermal performance of a two-phase thermosyphon solar water heater

This article investigates experimentally the long-term thermal performance of a two-phase thermosyphon solar water heater and compares the results with the conventional systems. Experimental investigations are conducted to obtain the system thermal efficiencies from the hourly, daily and long-term performance tests. Different heat transfer mechanisms, including natural convection, geyser boiling, nucleate boiling and film-wise condensation, are observed in the two-phase thermosyphon solar water heater while solar radiation varies. The thermal performance of the proposed system is compared with that of four conventional solar water heaters. Results show that the proposed system achieves system characteristic efficiency 18% higher than that of the conventional systems by reducing heat loss for the two-phase thermosyphon solar water heater.     

Development of a beta-type Stirling heat pump with rhombic drive mechanism by a modified non-ideal adiabatic model

In this paper, a thermodynamic model is developed for predicting the performance of a beta-type Stirling heat pump with rhombic drive mechanism for water heater and the model is validated by a 1-kW class prototype Stirling heat pump. In the present model, the working space is divided into expansion space, heat absorber, regenerator, heat rejecter and compression space. The pressure, mass and temperature variations of working fluid in each working space are predicted. The temperature variation of wall boundary is also taken into consideration. The temperature of working fluid in each working space and the temperature of wall boundary are obtained by solving energy equations simultaneously. Eventually, the pressure of working fluid in each working space can be corrected by using empirical formula of pressure drop. All the thermal properties of working fluid and wall boundary in each working space at each time step can be obtained by repeating the above process. Then, the performance of heat pump such as absorbing heat, rejecting heat, indicated power and COP can be calculated. A series of experimental measurements and comparisons are also conducted for validating present model. The results show that the prototype heat pump can produce 904 W heating power and 38°C hot water under 1 LPM water flow rate with 5 bar helium at 1000 rpm.     

An analysis of solar heating systems that use vapor-compression cycles

This paper analyzes the technical and economic performance of solar heating systems that use vapor-compression cycles, circulating a compressible fluid as the working fluid. With conventional solar heating systems that use water or as their working fluid, the collector inlet temperature is equal to that of the storage outlet temperature. Operating the system on a cold day can result in large thermal losses to the surroundings and, thus, low useful heat gains. A vapor-compression cycle may be attractive because it allows the collector inlet temperature to be lowered so that the heat gain of the collector can be increased. Such a system is simulated and a preliminary economic analysis performed. The results indicate that the vapor-compression system can collect almost 50% more solar energy than a conventional system if the collector area of the two systems are the same.     

Aqueous propylene-glycol concentrations for the freeze protection of thermosyphon solar energy water heaters

Using a validated dynamic simulation model, the thermal performance of an indirect thermosyphon solar energy water heater was examined. The heat transfer fluids employed were aqueous solutions of propylene glycol. The effect of varying the glycol concentration on the hot water output and efficacy of freeze protection was determined for a specific pattern of hot water withdrawal and weather for the temperate maritime climate of London, England. The heat output is compared with that of a drain-down direct system.