Performance of a hybrid solar collector system in days with stable and less stable radiative regime

This paper shows the simulation and design of a flat plate solar collector system, used to feed hot water to a typical home located in the city of Mexicali, Baja California, México. The system consists of a solar collector, a storage tank, a water pump and accessories and special tools that allow its proper operation. Analyzing the consumption and end use of water in a typical House, a demand profile is established, which combined with the weather information of the region, constitutes the input parameters required for the simulation of the system, which is performed with the software package TRNSYS. Mexicali, due to its location (latitude 32 °, longitude 114 °) and semi-desert condition presents high temperatures in the summer and low in winter, so the design and operation of such systems require special features, not always considered in the conventional ratings. This paper presents methods for simulation and design oriented to optimize the dimensioning and operation of this type of solar heaters in regions with extreme temperature conditions.

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The effect of thermo-fluid properties of air on the solar collector system

Alexandria Engineering Journal ◽

10.1016/j.aej.2021.08.015 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Alok Dhaundiyal ◽

Divine Atsu

Keyword(s):

Solar Collector ◽

Collector System ◽

Fluid Properties

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Flat-Plate Solar Collector in Transient Operation: Modeling and Measurements

Journal of Thermal Science and Engineering Applications ◽

10.1115/1.4028569 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ahmad M. Saleh ◽

Donald W. Mueller ◽

Hosni I. Abu-Mulaweh

Keyword(s):

Differential Equations ◽

Flat Plate ◽

Solar Collector ◽

Storage Tank ◽

Ambient Air ◽

Fluid Temperature ◽

Ambient Conditions ◽

Flow Rates ◽

Collector System ◽

Nodal Model

This paper describes a mathematical model for simulating the transient processes which occur in liquid flat-plate solar collectors. A discrete nodal model that represents the flat-plate solar collector's layers and the storage tank is employed. The model is based on solving a system of coupled differential equations which describe the energy conservation for the glass cover, air gap, absorber, fluid, insulation, and the storage tank. Inputs to the model include the time-varying liquid flow rate, incident solar radiation, and the ambient air temperature, as well as the volume of liquid in the storage tank and initial temperature of the system. The system of differential equations is solved iteratively using an implicit, finite-difference formulation executed with Matlab software. In order to verify the proposed method, an experiment was designed and conducted on different days with variable ambient conditions and flow rates. The comparison between the computed and measured results of the transient fluid temperature at the collector outlet shows good agreement. The proposed method is extremely general and flexible accounting for variable ambient conditions and flow rates and allowing for a geometrical and thermophysical description of all major components of the solar collector system, including the storage tank. The validated, general model is suitable to investigate the effectiveness of various components without the necessity of carrying out experimental work, and the flexible computational scheme is useful for transient simulations of energy systems.

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