Performance analysis of an in-pond heat exchanger of a salt gradient solar pond

The Salt gradient solar pond (SGSP) is used for process heating, power generation and to achieve refrigeration. In this paper the performance of an in-pond heat exchanger of a laboratory model SGSP was analyzed both experimentally and computationally. A laboratory model solar pond was fabricated using GI sheet of 1.5 mm thick for the dimension 600 × 500 × 500 mm and the performance of the pond was experimentally determined under solar irradiated condition. The experiment was conducted for a period of 10 days and the hourly variations of the temperatures of inlet, outlet, storage zones and ambient were measured and analyzed. To computationally analyze the performance of the SGSP, a model was developed using software tools CATIA and HYPERMESH and the performance of the modeled in-pond heat exchanger of the solar pond was determined using FLUENT software. The performance of the SGSP was analyzed for laminar and turbulent flow conditions. The experimental results were compared with computational results and close agreement was observed.