PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF A MEDIUM TEMPERATURE SOLAR CONCENTRATOR FOR DOMESTIC WATER HEATING

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF A MEDIUM TEMPERATURE SOLAR CONCENTRATOR FOR DOMESTIC WATER HEATING

In the last decade, solar energy technologies are gaining attention due to their potential for reducing environmental emissions and enhancing sustainability in residential and industrial applications. In this regard, solar collector systems are widely used for hot water production in buildings. Currently, flat plate collectors are mostly used collector type; however, their efficiency dramatically drops in winter period when the hot water demand is at its peak. Consequently, present study is concerned with the design and development of a parabolic dish collector as an alternative to flat plate collectors. The proposed collector consists of a parabolic dish, a receiver made up of a black painted spiral coil tube heat exchanger and a glass glazing. In the system, a 50 L water tank is also used and the water is circulated between the collector and the water tank by employing a water pump. System is tested on the coldest days of the year (10-13 December 2018) and highest water temperature of 42 ℃ is achieved. The average and maximum instantaneous thermal efficiencies of collector were obtained as 48% and 76% respectively.

___

  • [1] Tian Y., Zhao CY. A review of solar collectors and thermal energy storage in solar thermal applications. Applied Energy 2013; 104: 538-553.
  • [2] Devabhaktuni V, Alam M, Depuru SSSR, Green II RC, Nims D. Near C. Solar energy: Trends and enabling technologies. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2013; 19: 555-564.
  • [3] Mekhilef S, Saidur R, Safari A. A review on solar energy use in industries. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2011; 15(4): 1777-1790.
  • [4] Bellos E, Tzivanidis C. Development of an analytical model for the daily performance of solar thermal systems with experimental validation. Sustain. Energy Technol. Assessments 2018; 28: 22–29.
  • [5] Zhang D, Li J, Gao Z, Wang L, Nan J. Thermal performance investigation of modified flat plate solar collector with dual-function. Applied Thermal Engineering 2016; 108: 1126–1135.
  • [6] Nikolić N, Lukić N. Theoretical and experimental investigation of the thermal performance of a double exposure flat-plate solar collector. Solar Energy 2015; 119: 100–113.
  • [7] Fan M, et al. A comparative study on the performance of liquid flat-plate solar collector with a new V-corrugated absorber. Energy Conversion and Management 2019; 184: 235–248.
  • [8] Jowzi M, Veysi F, Sadeghi G. Novel experimental approaches to investigate distribution of solar insolation around the tubes in evacuated tube solar collectors. Renewable Energy 2018; 127: 724–732.
  • [9] Xu L.-C, Liu Z-H, Li S-F, Shao Z-X, Xia N. Performance of solar mid-temperature evacuated tube collector for steam generation. Solar Energy 2019; 183: 162–172.
  • [10] Teles MPR, Ismail KAR, Arabkoohsar A. A new version of a low concentration evacuated tube solar collector: Optical and thermal investigation. Solar Energy 2019; 180: 324–339.
  • [11] Budihardjo I, Morrison GL. Performance of water-in-glass evacuated tube solar water heaters. Solar Energy 2009; 83: 49–56.
  • [12] John GA, Nidhi MJ. Design and simulation of parabolic dish collector for hot water generation. 2015. Retrieved December 13, 2018 from http://troindia.in/journal/ijcesr/vol2iss9/20-24.pdf
  • [13] Alarcón JA, Hortúa JE, Lopez A. Design and construction of a solar collector parabolic dish for rural zones in Colombia. Tecciencia 2013; 7(14): 14-22.
  • [14] Moffat, R. J. Describing the uncertainties in experimental results. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 1988; 1(1): 3-17.
  • [15] Taylor JR. An Introduction to Error Analysis: The Study of Uncertainties in Physical Measurements, second ed., University Science Books, Sausalito, CA, 1997.