Solar Thermal Applications

Solar thermal system design I

 Solar resource and definitions
 System design
 irradiation
 collector inclination angle
 Shading
 Solar Hot Water Thermal System
 estimating consumption
 collector array sizing
 store sizing
 additional factors
 summary and further steps for detailed system design
 Solar resource and definitions
Irradiation and Irradiance

 Irradiance (G) – the rate at which radiant energy

is incident on a surface. Power
 Units are W/m2
 Irradiation (H) – the total amount of incident
energy on a surface
 Units are commonly kWh/m2
 On a bright, sunny day anywhere in the world
(apart from at the poles)
 Irradiance ≈1 000 W/m2
 Irradiation ≈ 8 kWh/m2
Solar resource and definitions
Irradiation dependent on weather
Components of solar radiation
Geometry of solar elevation
 Average elevation of the sun: March / September 21st = 90° - latitude 59.9°
 Maximum elevation of sun: June 21st = 90° - latitude + 23.5° 83.4°
 Minimum elevation of sun: December 21st = 90° - latitude – 23.5° 36.5°
 Average collector elevation = latitude 30.1°
 Example: Cairo – latitude 30.1°
 Solar yield
 Solar yield – the amount of solar energy captured by the entire collector array in a
given time period.
 Typical units:
kWh/day; kWh/year
 Specific solar yield – the amount of solar energy captured per m2 of collector area
in a given time period.
 Typical units:
kWh/m2day; kWh/m2year
 Solar efficiency
Overall system efficiency =
collector efficiency x piping thermal
efficiency x store thermal efficiency
e.g. 0.55 x 0.9 x 0.8 = 0.4 i.e. 40% system
efficiency

sys (system efficiency – typically 30-50%)

Solar fraction
 Solar Fraction is the proportion of the total demand met by the solar thermal
system.
 It is easier to achieve a high annual solar fraction in countries with constant
irradiation throughout the year.
 SF (solar fraction – typically 60-90%)
Solar fraction
 System efficiency vs. solar fraction
 As solar fraction increases, system efficiency decreases and vice versa.
System design – irradiation, inclination,
shading
 Steps in system design
1. Irradiation

2. Consumption

3. Solar Fraction

4. System Efficiency

5. Collector Area

6. Storage Capacity
 Solar irradiation onto Solar irradiation in Cairo at
horizontal plane in Cairo different inclinations
Optimum orientation & inclination
 In Northern Hemisphere, optimum orientation is due South.
 •optimum inclination = angle of latitude
 •Optimum inclination also depends on the time of year when the
solar heat is most needed.
 •Latitude of Cairo ≈ 30◦ N
 •Therefore optimum inclination (also for practical reasons) ≈30◦
 Siting the collector array
 Self-shading from collectors
 shading
 What is the impact of shading on the collector array?....now and in
the future? (e.g. tree growth, new building construction)
 Solar Pathfinder – tool for measuring the amount of shading
throughout the year.
 A photograph of the solar pathfinder is taken at the collector
location.
Geometry of collector distances
Solar Hot Water Thermal System
 The main components added to a conventional heating system
when solar thermal energy is used are:
1. collector field with collector field piping and support structure.
2. heat transfer fluid (water or water glycol mixture).
3. storage tank .
4. pump for solar loop and other pumps for other loops.
5. heat exchangers to transfer heat from one loop to another.
6. expansion and safety devices for each closed loop.
7. controller with temperature sensors in collector field and storage tank
and that turns the pump on and off.
8. Since a solar thermal system does not usually act as the main heat
source, an auxiliary (back-up) heater is necessary to cover periods of
high energy demand or too little solar radiation (usually in winter).
Solar Hot Water Thermal classifications
 Active System
Passive system
Active systems use the electric
transfer heat from the collector pump, controller and valve to
to the tank located above the circulate water through the
collector by natural circulation collector.

Indirect system
A heat exchanger is employed to
Direct system affect the heat transfer from the
In a direct system, the service collector to the service water in
water is directly circulated the tank.
between the water tank and the The heat exchanger could be
collector. used inside or outside the hot
water tank .
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 Types of solar thermal energy collectors
• The solar collector could be either a black-painted flat-plate absorber bonded
to copper piping and covered with a transparent glass (flat-plate collector) or
copper tubing surrounded with evacuated and selectively-coated glass tubes
(evacuated-tube collector).

Flat plate collector evacuated-tube collector

Storage tank
 The storage tanks in these applications are commonly
steel tanks with an enameled interior coating. Most large
systems have stratified storage tanks where cooler
temperatures are at the tank bottom and the hotter
temperatures are at the top.

 Legionella considerations
 One should exercise caution to avoid the risk of the
growth of the Legionella Pneumophila bacterium. These
bacteria are naturally found in water, but at low
concentrations. They can multiply quickly when the
water temperature is between (30 and 45 °C).† Their
numbers start to diminish at temperatures above 122 °F
(50 °C), and almost instantly die above (66 °C).
 Pumps
 Pumps move the heat transfer fluids through their piping circuits.
The pump associated with the collector fluid will be exposed to the
highest temperature and the greatest pressure.

 Expansion tank
 As the heat transfer fluid increases in temperature its volume also
increases thus an expansion tank is used to capture the addition
fluid as it is pushed out of the piping loop.
 The expansion tank also helps prevent the loss of heat transfer
fluid that would escape the piping system through the safety valves
during high temperature periods.
 Back-up/supplemental heater
 Each solar thermal system must have a back-up heating supply. Often
gas or electricity and sometimes biomass (wood) are used as a heat
source. Due to the 20+ year lifecycle of heating systems, including solar
thermal systems, possible changes in energy supply options should also
be considered.

 Controls
 The controller controls the flow of the heat transfer fluid in the
collectors by modifying the pump operation. Normally the pump is just
turned on/off in small systems. The most common pump controller
used in solar thermal systems is the “differential controller.” This
controller requires two different temperature settings, one for “on”
(upper band) and one for “off” (lower band).
System design – consumption, collector &
store sizing
1. Establishing consumption

 Ideally measure actual consumption

 Or Estimate consumption from fuel bills:
Look at hot water fuel bill for a given period.
-Determine daily energy consumption in kWh/day
-Take into account efficiency of boiler;50-90% depending on age
and quality.
Convert into number of litres per day.
Need to know demand temperature and cold water temperature.
2. Determine energy consumed in kWh/day

where:
Edemand = daily DHW energy demand in kWh/day
Vdemand = daily DHW volume demand in m3/day
 = density of water, 1000kg/m3
C = specific heat capacity of water, 0.00116kWh/kgK
T = temperature difference (Thot - Tcold ), in K

3. Collector area

where:
• Acoll = active collector area in m2
• Edemand = daily DHW energy demand in kWh/day
• SF = solar fraction (typically 60-90%)
• Eirrad = daily irradiation in kWh/day
• sys =system efficiency (typically 30-50%)
 4. Define number of collectors

Assume from calculations and simulations that,

active collector area = 120m2
• Choose collector type and manufacturer

e.g. generic flat plate collector with 2m2 active area

 What size is collector?

For large arrays, the larger the collector, the better although this makes
transportation during installation more difficult.
4. Define number of collectors
5. Store volume

where:
• Vtotal = total storage volume
• Vsolar = dedicated solar storage volume (Rule of thumb: Vsolar = 35-100l/m2
collector area).
• Vaux = auxiliary heating volume (depends on the size of the auxiliary heat
source,Initially assume that Vaux = Vhourly peak).
Further design steps (selection)
1. Choose collectors

2. Array configuration

3. Flow rate

4. Pressure losses

Array ,Piping ,Components

5. Pump

6. Heat exchanger

7. Expansion vessel
Collector array configuration
 Possible configurations for 60 collectors:

 a)6 rows x 10 collectors = 60 collectors

 b)7 rows x 9 collectors = 63 collectors
 c)8 rows x 8 collectors = 64 collectors
 d)9 rows x 7 collectors = 63 collectors
 e)10 rows x 6 collectors = 60 collectors

 Parallel or series connection?

 How many collectors can be connected in parallel or series?
Parallel or series connection?
 For series connection:
 Total flow rate Qtotal = Qcollector
 Total pressure drop ∆Ptotal = ∆Pcoll 1 + ∆ Pcoll 2 + ∆ Pcoll 3 + …. ∆ Pcoll n

 For parallel connection:

 Total flow rate Qtotal = Qcoll 1 + Qcoll 2 + Qcoll 3 + ….Qcoll n
 Total pressure drop ∆Ptotal = ∆ Pcollector
Select specific flow rate (low flow or high
flow)
Select specific flow rate (low flow or
high flow)
 For Example: Choose e.g. low flow system with specific flow rate = 20 l/h m2
 •Our array has 60 collectors with active area of 2m2 per collector.
 •Calculate total system flow rate:
Qtotal = qspec x ncoll x Aactive
 where:
 Qtotal = total flow rate (l/h)
 qspec = specific flow rate (l/h m2)
 ncoll = number of collectors
 Aactive = active collector area (m2)
Pressure losses
1. Across Collector Array
 For series connection:
Total pressure drop ∆Ptotal = ∆Pcoll 1 + ∆ Pcoll 2 + ∆ Pcoll 3 + …. ∆ Pcoll n
Pressure losses
2. In Pipe Runs
•Pressure drop in straight pipe is dependent on:
•Length of pipe
•Flow rate
•Pipe diameter
Fluid velocity in pipe should be between 0.4 m/s and 0.7 m/s.
3. In pipe fittings and other components
 At detailed design stage the pressure drops across each bend,
valve, fitting, etc should be determined.
 For initial design let us assume that pressure drop due to bends,
valves, fittings, etc. is an additional 30% of piping pressure
drop.
4. Across Heat Exchanger
It is recommended that the pressure drop across an external plate
heat exchanger does not exceed 100mbar ( 1m head).

e.g. pressure drop nomogram for an air separator.

Pressure losses
Pump selection
Pumping requirement:
 Flow rate = 2400 l/h
 Pump head = 4.5 m
Heat exchanger sizing
Heat exchanger capacity (kW) ≥ maximum collector
capacity
For example:
What capacity heat exchanger will a 120m2 array with
peak energy capture of 700W/m2 require?
 = (120m2 x 700W/m2) = 84 kW
 Role of thumb:
 An acceptable loss in temperature between primary
and secondary sides is 5K.
 ∆T between flow and return should be the same as
temperature rise across collector array.
Pressurized System Details
 [Link] Safety components
 Pressure relief valve (Safety valve)
 Expansion vessel
 [Link] volume
 Expansion volume
 Stagnation
 [Link] pressure
 Operation pressure
 Maximum pressure
 Minimum pressure
 [Link] vessel sizing
Pressurized System Details
 Stagnation
Situation of continuous high irradiation without consumption
 No heat demand
 Storage has reached maximum temperature
 Failure of Pump
 Power failure
 Failure of controls or sensor
 No circulation
 No fluid
Expansion Vessel Sizing
1. Set system pressure > static head of system.
2. But less than safety relief valve pressure.
3. Make sure some water is in expansion vessel
under normal working conditions. (back-up
volume)
4. Air side pressure must be greater than
static head of system.
Expansion Vessel Sizing: Volume
 For Example:
 Vt = Total Fluid volume of the system
 Volume of collectors, pipes, armatures, heat exchanger
 Volume of collector: 1 l (0.5 l/m²)
 No. of Collectors: 60
 + 10 % for connecting pipes
 Vcoll = 66 l
 Volume of heat exchanger approx. 5 l
Design example:
 Hot water consumption in a hotel located in Cairo, Egypt is measured to be 6.4
m3/day at 70°C
 •Cold water temperature:
 15 °C