Experimental studies of a new solar water heater system using a solar water pump

The research goal was to develop a new solar water heater system (SWHS) that used a solar water pump instead of an electric pump. The pump was powered by the steam produced from a flat plate collector. Therefore, heat could be transferred downward from the collector to a hot water storage tank. The designed system consisted of four panels of flat plate solar collectors, an overhead tank installed at an upper level and a large water storage tank with a heat exchanger at a lower level. Discharge heads of 1, 1.5 and 2 m were tested. The pump could operate at the collector temperature of about 70–90 °C and vapor gage pressure of 7–14 kPa. It was found that water circulation within the SWHS ranged between 12 and 59 l/d depending on the incident solar intensity and system discharge head. The average daily pump efficiency was about 0.0014–0.0019%. Moreover, the SWHS could have a daily thermal efficiency of about 7–13%, whereas a conventional system had 30–60% efficiency. The present system was economically comparable to a conventional one.     

Modeling and optimization of a solar assisted heat pump using ice slurry as a latent storage material

This paper presents the modeling and optimization of a solar assisted heat pump using ice slurry. Solar collectors are used as the primary source of thermal energy, with two distinct loops allowing the collectors to operate in series with an ice tank, or a warm water tank. Thermal energy stored in the ice tank is transferred to a warm water distribution tank via a heat pump. First, a new mathematical model of an ice slurry storage tank is presented. Validation of the model with experimental data confirms its ability to predict the ice mass and tank fluid temperatures during the charging and discharging modes of operation. The developed ice tank model is combined with the TRNSYS energy simulation program to formulate a complete model of the proposed heat pump system. This computer model then serves as a base for a mathematical optimization with the objective to minimize the energy use for heating and DHW over a single heating season. Simulated results demonstrate the potential of the optimized system in reducing the heating operating energy use of a high performance home in Montreal, QC.     

Performance of a non-metallic unglazed solar water heater with integrated storage system

The performance of a new design of non-metallic unglazed solar water heater integrated with a storage system has been studied. In this system, the collector and storage were installed in one unit. All parts of the system have been fabricated from fiberglass reinforced polyester (GFRP) using a special resin composition that provides good thermal conductivity and absorptivity. The storage tank has a capacity of 329 l. The design of the storage system was sandwich construction, with the core material made out of polyurethane foam, which combines stiffness and lightness of structure with very good thermal insulation. The width and length of the absorber plat were 1.4 and 1.8 m, respectively. The performance of the system has been investigated by two methods. In the first method, the storage tank was filled up with water the night before the test. The tank was then drained during the night, refilled and made ready for the next day’s test. The tests were repeated under varied environmental conditions for several days. The maximum water temperature in the storage tank of 63 °C has been achieved for a clear day operation at an average solar radiation level of 700 W m⁻² and ambient temperature of 30 °C. The decrease of water temperature with and without the thermal diode is 10 and 20 °C, respectively. In the second method, the testing was of the same way, but in this case without draw-off or draining of the hot water from the storage tank. All data readings were recorded from sunrise to sunset over the same period. The temperature was recorded for several days and ranges of 60–63 °C were obtained in the storage tank. A system efficiency of 45% was achieved at an average solar radiation level of 635 W m⁻² and ambient temperature of 31 °C.     

An ice thermal storage computer model

In hot humid countries such as Thailand, air conditioning plant is installed in most commercial and industrial buildings. A conventional air conditioning system, which is normally operated when cooling is required, is the most favored option. Ice thermal storage on a large scale, used to provide a cool reservoir for use in peak periods, is however an attractive financial option for large buildings to supply coolness. There are two means of operating ice thermal storage systems, namely full storage and partial storage.In this paper, a computer model has been developed in order to compare energy use in conventional air cooling systems and ice thermal storage systems. Under Thailand electricity tariff rates, the results from the simulations show that the full ice thermal storage can save up to 55% of the electricity cost required for cooling per month when compared with the conventional system. It is also found that using full storage option can reduce the total energy consumption by 5% for the selected building.     

Feasibility study of a district energy system with seasonal water thermal storage

In this paper, performance of three types of district heating/cooling and hot water supply system with natural and unused energy utilization were examined by using system simulation. An area zoned for both commercial and residential buildings was chosen for this study. The first system is the conventional system in which an electric driven turbo chiller and a gas-fired boiler are installed as the heat source. This is considered as the reference system. Two alternative systems utilize waste heat from space cooling and heating. One is designed based on short-term heat recovery and the other employs the concept of an annual cycle energy system (i.e. seasonal heat recovery). All of the three systems use solar thermal energy for hot water supply to the residential zone. The index for evaluation is the coefficient of performance of the overall system, based on primary energy. As a result, it was found that the seasonal storage system could decrease the energy consumption by about 26% and the short-term heat recovery system could decrease it by about 16% compared with the reference system. In designing the heat recovery system, a balance of cooling/heating demand is an important factor. Therefore a sensitivity analysis of performance of the overall system and the seasonal thermal storage for several load patterns was performed. From these results, it was found that if the amount of heating/cooling demand were well balanced, an improvement of energy performance could be achieved and the utilization factor of the seasonal tank would become higher. Furthermore, the volume of the seasonal storage tank could be reduced.     

Numerical analyses of the impact of plates for thermal stratification inside a storage tank with upper and lower inlet flows

In this paper, numerical analyses have been carried out to describe the velocity and temperature fields inside a storage tank to be used in a solar system under various boundary conditions with upper and lower inlet flows. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of different plate sizes situated opposite the inlet in order to increase the thermal stratification. A numerical model was developed, and validated using experimental results. Two different initial temperature assumptions were taken into account along with a two-layer configuration. Two cases were analysed, the thermocline in the vicinity of the plate and the thermocline in the middle of the tank. In the latter case, the plate diameter had little impact, but moving the thermocline closer to the plates resulted in the diameter having a greater influence. It was also found that larger plates made it possible to preserve stratification with at larger inlet flow rates than the flow rates of the conventional low flow systems. Cold water inflow into the top of the tank was also studied. The influence of the plate diameter for the colder inflow was examined along with two temperature differences between the inlet and the tank. It was found that the diameter of the plate and the distance between the plate and the top of the tank have a significant effect on the temperature stratification within the tank when cold water enters at the top of the tank.     

Comparative study of internal storage and external storage absorption cooling systems

This work presents a comparative study of the performance of absorption cooling systems with internal storage and with external storage. A full dynamic simulation model including the solar collector field, the absorption heat pump system and the building loads has been performed. The first system is composed by four heat pumps that store energy in the form of crystallized salts so that no external storage capacity is required. The second one is a conventional system composed of one liquid absorption pump and external storage in a water tank. Many batteries of simulations have been done to evaluate the performance of these cooling machines when varying solar field surface, solar collector’s efficiency curve and the storage capacity of the systems. Two different indices have been calculated to analyze the response of both systems: Solar Fraction and Primary Energy Ratio. The comparison between both absorption chillers indicates that in order to reach similar values of storage energy, conventional system has a greater room requirement than four units with internal storage working in parallel, requiring an external water tank of at least 15 m³.     

Thermal performance of a solar-assisted heat pump drying system with thermal energy storage tank and heat recovery unit

Thermal performance parameters for a solar-assisted heat pump (SAHP) drying system with underground thermal energy storage (TES) tank and heat recovery unit (HRU) are investigated in this study. The SAHP drying system is made up of a drying unit, a heat pump, flat plate solar collectors, an underground TES tank, and HRU. An analytical model is developed to obtain the performance parameters of the drying system by using the solution of heat transfer problem around the TES tank and energy expressions for other components of the drying system. These parameters are coefficient of performances for the heat pump (COP) and system (COPs), specific moisture evaporation rate (SMER), temperature of water in the TES tank, and energy fractions for energy charging and extraction from the system. A MATLAB program has been prepared using the expressions for the drying system. The obtained results for COP, COPs, and SMER are 5.55, 5.28, and 9.25, respectively, by using wheat mass flow rate of 100 kg h⁻¹, Carnot efficiency of 40%, collector area of 100 m², and TES tank volume of 300 m³ when the system attains periodic operation duration in fifth year onwards for 10 years of operation. Annual energy saving is 21.4% in comparison with the same system without using HRU for the same input data.     

A new type of phase change heat storage tank in solar energy combination system

介绍了一种新型笼屉式相变蓄热水箱,通过实验测试对比分析相变蓄热水箱与普通蓄热水箱对太阳能组合系统的太阳能保证率及系统能效比的影响。实验表明：同等水箱容积,使用相变蓄热水箱时太阳能集热系统的小时集热量为普通蓄热水箱的3.7倍,相变蓄热水箱有利于提高太阳能保证率及系统能效比。在太阳能辐照强度相似的情况下,相变蓄热水箱会使太阳能保证率平均提高72%,使系统能效比平均提高26%。同时相变蓄热水箱可减少夜间水箱上部的热损失,使水箱上部水温降减少50%。     

Investigation of thermal performance of a ground coupled heat pump system with a cylindrical energy storage tank

An analytical and computational model for a solar assisted heat pump heating system with an underground seasonal cylindrical storage tank is developed. The heating system consists of flat plate solar collectors, an underground cylindrical storage tank, a heat pump and a house to be heated during winter season. Analytical solution of transient field problem outside the storage tank is obtained by the application of complex finite Fourier transform and finite integral transform techniques. Three expressions for the heat pump, space heat requirement during the winter season and available solar energy are coupled with the solution of the transient temperature field problem. The analytical solution presented can be utilized to determine the annual variation of water temperature in the cylindrical store, transient earth temperature field surrounding the store and annual periodic performance of the heating system. A computer simulation program is developed to evaluate the annual periodic water and earth temperatures and system performance parameters based on the analytical solution. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transient behaviour of collector/storage solar water heaters for generalised demand patterns

This communication presents a simple transient model for predicting the thermal performance of collector/storage solar water heaters for generalised demand patterns. These heaters consist of either (i) an insulated rectangular metallic tank whose top surface is blackened and suitably glazed (i.e. a built-in storage solar water heater) or (ii) an insulated open shallow tank with black bottom.inner sides and a glass plate at the surface in contact with the water (i.e. a shallow solar pond water heater). The time dependence of the water temperature for the withdrawal of hot water from the system at constant flow rates constantly or intermittently has been explicitly evaluated. Numerical results for the operation of the system in industrial and community service applications are discussed.     

Performance evaluation of a new ice preservation system for supermarkets

At present, all types of large–medium‐sized supermarkets with aquatic products adopt ice preservation to ensure freshness. The traditional method of ice preservation needs to make a large amount of thick ice and thus wastes manpower and freshwater. A new ice preservation system with cold storage (IP&CS) is designed, and its performance is tested. The use of a cold storage tank to replace the thick ice laid achieves a repeated cold storage and discharge. This experiment uses NaCl solution as the cold storage phase change material (PCM). The phase change temperature of the cold storage PCM and the optimum temperature of the secondary refrigerant during the cold storage process are determined. Results show that the center temperature of aquatic products, water loss rate, color of aquatic products, power consumption, and electricity cost of the IP&CS system are better than those of the traditional ice preservation system.     

Arrangement plan for distributed fuel cells installed in urban areas

The independent fuel cell micro‐grid that accommodates power and heat independently without connecting with other power systems is expected to back up power supply in an emergency, and at peak cuts of a power plant, and the effective use of exhaust heat is anticipated. Therefore, this paper analyses the cost minimization problem of the arrangement planning of a fuel cell system, and the feeding order of exhaust heat. An analysis programme for operation plan at the time of connecting a distributed fuel cell with an energy network was developed using a genetic algorithm. The fuel cell energy network was optimized in six buildings to minimize operation costs, facility costs, and the installation costs of the facilities. As a result, the analysis method for the arrangement plan for the capacity of each installed fuel cell, boiler, heat storage tank, and hot‐water circulating pump was clarified. If the hot‐water network of the distributed fuel cell is installed, in the winter of a cold district, facility cost is disadvantageous compared with the conventional method. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental characterisation of a thermal energy storage system using temperature and power controlled charging

The experimental set-up and technical aspects for charging a thermal energy storage (TES) of a proposed solar cooker at constant temperature and variable electrical power are presented. The TES is developed using a packed pebble bed. An electrical hot plate simulates the concentrator which heats up oil circulating through a copper coil absorber charging the TES system. A computer program to acquire data for monitoring the storage system and to maintain a nearly constant outlet charging temperature is developed using Visual Basic. The input power to the hot plate is also controlled to simulate the variation of the daily solar radiation by using another Visual Basic program. A combined internal model control (IMC) and proportional, integral and derivative (PID) temperature control structure is tested on the TES system under varying conditions and its performance is reasonable within a few degrees of the set temperature points. Results of the charging experiments are used to characterise the storage system. The different experiments indicate various degrees of stratification in the storage tank.     

Performance analysis of a new tank configuration applied to the natural gas storage systems by adsorption

This work presents a numerical study of a new tank configuration applied to natural gas storage systems by adsorption. The traditional tanks employed in natural gas storage by adsorption reveal serious limitations for use in fast charge systems because of their inefficiency in the dissipation of adsorption heat. In order to eliminate the detrimental effects of adsorption heat, and to make viable the fast charge of gas in automotive tanks, a vessel made up of several tubes, compacted with activated carbon, was proposed. In the charge process, the gas circulates through the tank and all non-adsorbed gasses pass through an external heat exchanger installed close to the gas source of the refueling station. The numerical results obtained in the present work showed that the charge time of the new system can vary from 50 to 200 s, depending on the applied mass flow rate. These time periods are considered satisfactory for fast charge conditions. Another advantage of this new system is that there will be no need to include the accessories employed in traditional tanks, such as: fins, perforated tube in the tank center and a cooling external jacket, which would increase the complexity of the vessel design.     

A computational study on the performance of a solar air-conditioning system with a partitioned storage tank

This paper reports the performance of a modified solar powered air-conditioning system, which is integrated with a partitioned storage tank. In addition, the effect of two main parameters that influence the system performance is presented and discussed. The study shows that by partitioning the storage tank, the solar cooling effect can be realized much earlier and could attain a total solar cooling COP of 12% higher compared to the conventional whole-tank mode. Simulation results also indicate that there exists an optimum ratio of storage tank volume over collector area.     

某供电大楼冰蓄冷空调测试的分析与评估

通过实测、调研某供电大楼冰蓄冷空调系统,从技术和优化运行角度对该冰蓄冷空调系统所测数据进行分析,指出该系统中蓄冰槽蓄冷率低、释冷不足的问题,并进行分析。接着论述了冰蓄冷空调系统的蓄冰槽不仅要在蓄冰量上与系统主机容量相匹配,同时还要考虑到蓄冰槽的蓄冰、融冰特性,最后说明系统运行管理人员对冰蓄冷空调系统在节能运行上产生的影响。     

The performance of a solar water heating system in a dwelling in Christchurch, New Zealand

Tests have been made on a solar water heating system installed in a house in Christchurch, New Zealand. The system consisted of commercially-available flat plate collectors connected in a natural circulation loop to an insulated storage tank with electric booster heating. System temperatures, insolation, electricity consumption, hot water usage and circulation flow rates were measured and recorded on a Cassesse-Tape Data Logger, and the data were processed on the Department's mini-computer. Information has been obtained on insolation on an inclined surface and on hot water consumption patterns, as well as on the solar system performance.     

Performance enhancement of a subcooled cold storage air conditioning system

This article experimentally investigates the enhancement of thermal performance for an air conditioning system utilizing a cold storage unit as a subcooler. The cold storage unit is composed of an energy storage tank, liquid-side heat exchanger, suction-side heat exchanger and energy storage material (ESM), water. When the cooling load is lower than the nominal cooling capacity of the system, the cold storage unit can store extra cold energy of the system to subcool the condenser outlet refrigerant. Hence, both the cooling capacity and coefficient of performance (COP) of the system will be increased. This experiment tests the two operation modes: subcooled mode with energy storage and non-subcooled mode without energy storage. The results show that for fixed cooling loads at 3.05 kW, 3.5 kW and 3.95 kW, the COP of the subcooled mode are 16.0%, 15.6% and 14.1% higher than those of the non-subcooled mode, respectively. In the varied cooling load experiments, the COP of the subcooled cold storage air conditioning system is 15.3% higher than the conventional system.     

Comparison of measured and predicted performance of different heat storage systems

This paper presents a comparison between the measured and predicted performance of different sensible heat storage units. Also, a comparison between the performance of water- and air-based heat storage systems has been conducted. In the air-based systems, natural soil available at Mu'tah site, Jordan, was used as a sensible heat storage material.An experimental set-up was designed for three different storage systems, namely a water storage system, an unstratified air storage system, and a stratified air-based system. The performance of the storage units, i.e. the heat accumulated by the storage material (soil in air storage systems, and water in water storage system) was calculated.A computer program was developed to determine the temperature distribution of the air-based storage systems. The numerical model uses finite difference techniques to solve the governing equations for both the storage material and the circulating fluid.The results showed that the computer model is in good agreement with the experimental results. Also, results showed that the stratified tank performed better than the unstratified one and the water system is superior in storage energy, in spite of its harmful corrosion effects.