Effect of obstruction on thermal performance of solar water heaters

Solar water heaters(SWH) are widely used in urban areas because of their advantages in reducing energy consumption and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. However, the performance of SWH subjected to obstructions is unclear yet. In this study, we present a numerical evaluation on thermal performance of fa?ade-installed SWH under three typical obstructed scenarios, based on various levels of sunshine duration. This study is carried out for four locations with various latitudes across China. Thermal performance is measured by solar fraction for annual and monthly evaluation. The results show that the obstruction can seriously degrade annual solar fraction of SWH, even in the 4-hour sunshine duration scenario, for all the studied locations. Interestingly, only lengthening sunshine duration in the standard day(e.g., from 2 h to 4 h) may not result in increasing annual solar fraction markedly. In terms of the monthly performance, solar fraction in January and December decreases significantly, while from May to August it just declines slightly, except for Guangzhou having a swift reduction. This study can provide insights into the behavior and promote the appropriate application of SWH in urban areas.

Situation of China's solar water heater industry,related national standards,testing and the Golden Sun certification program

China is the largest solar water heater producer and market in the world.Despite the fast growth and an installed capacity that accounts for the majority of the global gross,China's per capita solar hot water capacity is still very low,implying a huge margin of market potential;and the recognition of the industry in the global market is handicapped by the scattered scale of production and inconsistent product quality.To ensure continued growth of China's solar water heating(SWH) industry,Chinese Government has established a series of national SWH standards,three national testing centers,and a certification program to lay the foundation for the development of the Golden Sun product labeling system.China General Certification Center(CGC) developed the Golden Sun product certification and labeling system on a pass/fail basis evaluating with established criteria.The system was designed to help manufacturers acclimate to explicit consistent requirements and to identify and fix the deficiencies in the design and execution of the program itself.Timely revision and integration of the national standards are recommended to accommodate the test procedures and requirements to new technologies and the evolving SWH market.Strict implementation of the Golden Sun certification and labeling system are suggested to avail improving the quality control and forging internationally reputable brands of Chinese solar water heating products.

Low molybdenum ultra-pure ferritic stainless steel for solar water heaters

In order to meet the demands of service life and the synthetical performance/price ratio of stainless steel in the solar water heater industry, the low molybdenum ultra-pure ferritic stainless steel （FSS） B445J1M was developed at Baosteel. In this study, comparative studies were carried out on the mechanical properties, the formability and the corrosion resistance of B445J1M ,304 and 444 ,and the advantages and application fields of B445J1M were summarized.

Research on Strategies of Solar Water Heater Inclustry＇s Development in China at Present Stage

大力发展太阳能热水器产业，是我国推广可再生能源、实现传统能源替代的重要战略选择。通过对我国太阳能热水器产业发展现状、自身存在问题以及外部环境挑战的分析，提出了现阶段促进该产业发展的相关策略。

Performance of Water in Glass Evacuated Tube Solar Water Heater under Kenya Climatic Condition

Solar water heaters which provide a cost-effective and environmental friendly approach to hot water generation are in widespread application. Evacuated tube solar water heaters perform better than flat plate solar water heaters as a result of their greater surface area exposed for sunlight absorption. Water-in-glass evacuated tube solar water heaters are widely used as compared to heat-pipe solar water heaters due to their short payback periods. In this study, the performance of water-in-glass evacuated tube solar water heater is investigated through experiments under the climatic conditions in Kenya. The results revealed a daily efficiency range of 0.58 - 0.65 and a daily final outlet temperature greater than 55°C given an initial temperature of 25°C.

Design of Scenery Complementary Solar Water Heater Based cm Eddy Current Method

This paper uses scenery complementary heating method to discuss a new type of scenery complementary water heater design. This product can be divided into two parts. The first part is the eddy current method wind power heating part, which is driven by wind power and vertical axis wind turbines and the design of magnet array rotor disc rotation, namely, magnetic field rotating, induced eddy current in the stator, so as to generate heat. The second part is the solar heating part. This works has broad market prospect, which provides a new idea for large-scaled heating method.

Performance of U-tube Solar Water Heaters Facing Different Directions

System performance of solar water heaters depends upon collector and storage tank designs, solar radiation intensity and ambient temperature, amongst others. Evacuated glass tube collectors with U-tubes inside are less prone to leakages than the all-glass or the heat pipe types. U-tube solar water heaters suspended on walls and balconies could help overcome present day roof space restriction and increasing apartment-style housing. As such, their performance would depend upon its orientation when mounted in a vertical position. This paper reports the results of outdoor tests conducted on natural convection U-tube solar water heaters oriented towards different directions. Long and short term test procedures were employed to allow us to compare their performances as if they were tested simultaneously side-by-side.

An Integrated Collector Storage Solar Water Heater and Study of its Temperature Stratification

In this paper we describe an integrated collector storage solar water heater for the North Western region of India for use as domestic water heater during the winter season and present the experimental results of temperature stratification. The system consists of a steel water storage tank with azimuthal orientation such that its walls face south east, south west, north east and North West directions. The sunlit walls (south east and south west) and the top cover surface of the storage tank are covered with transparent insulation material (TIM) and the off-sunlit sides with opaque insulation. Experimental results show that the top layer is at the highest temperature. The top layer is drained using a new design of the outlet. The system can be used in rural areas or as a pre heater in more affluent households. The system can return the cost of conversion of the storage tank into a Solar Water Heater in one winter season by saving the cost of electrical energy required for heating water during winter months.

Performance Analysis of Solar Water Heater

Two solar water heaters of 100 liter and 200 liter were installed on the roof-top of electronics laboratory at Old Academic Building (OAB) of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department of BUET. The data of 12 months have been collected and analyzed in this paper. It is found that the incoming hot tap water is about 30℃ higher than the room temperature during day time during winter months. This is about 25℃ in afternoon hours.

Evaluation of stearic acid/coconut shell charcoal composite phase change thermal energy storage materials for tankless solar water heater

This work presents a cost-effective and environment-friendly form-stabilized phase change material(PCM)and corresponding solar thermal application in the tankless solar water heater(TSWH).Coconut shell charcoal(CSC)as supporting material was modified by moderate oxidant of H_(2)O_(2)with different concentrations,and then sta-bilized stearic acid(SA)to prepare composite PCMs through vacuum impregnation.It found that CSC support causes a 15.70%improvement of SA loadage after treated by 15%H_(2)O_(2)due to coefficient enhancement by phys-ical interaction and surface modification.The modified CSC 15 support appears more super macropores which contribute to the impregnation of SA than non-modified CSC 0 support verifying from SEM and BET results.And the content of oxygen functional groups was increased after oxidation modification,also motivating SA stabiliza-tion by hydrogen bond interaction in XPS analysis.FTIR results proved there is no chemical reaction happened between SA and CSC.Moreover,the latent heat and phase transition temperature of the as-prepared SA/CSC 15 composite are 76.69 J g^(−1)and 52.52℃,respectively.All composites exhibit excellent thermal stability under a working temperature of 180℃and form stability during phase change.Thermal energy storage-release test within 70℃presents the composite has fast heat transfer efficiency than pure SA.The composite filled in TSWH system has 0.75 W m^(−1)K^(−1)thermal conductivity which is 2.88 times higher than that of pure SA(0.26 W m^(−1)K−1).Besides,the TSWH system with a flow rate of 0.004 kg s^(−1)could heat water effectively after sunset and the energy obtained from the thermal storage system within 1830 s testing times is about 0.15 kW h.In all,SA/CSC composite with good physical-thermo properties has potential in thermal energy storage application,especially in solar energy storage.

Adaptive overheating cover for a solar water heater

Solar water heating systems have been widely used around the world.However,exposure to sunlight can overheat the device,affecting the efficiency and durability of the system.This article proposes an adaptive deck controller that protects the system from overheating without compromising the availability of domestic hot water.Solar water heaters are considered one of the most effective ways to reduce a home’s carbon footprint.They are a renewable energy source that reduces reliance on fossil fuels and saves money.Thus,this paper aims to develop a dynamic cover for solar water heaters that prevent overheating using an artificial neural network to optimize the design of control systems.Based on a self-organizing map network,the controller automatically adjusts the temperature of the solar collector through a fabric screen covering the main subsystems,depending on many parameters such as weather conditions,collector temperature and domestic hot water depending on demand.A suggested technique of four different shade percentages(0%,20%,25%or 32%)can avoid overheating and maintain the amount of hot water the home needs.Although renewable energy is free,proper controls are required to ensure maximum efficiency or proper use.In addition,the control of renewable energy leads to longer service life.

he Design of Efficient Heat Transfer Based on Flat Plate Solar Water Heater

This is an improved design based on the existing plate type solar water heaters. It aims at making full use of solar energy. To fully absorb radiation, it absorbs coating selectively by adopting the magnetron sputtering technology AL-N/AL. this design conduct heat through aluminum material which can reduce the cost meanwhile conduct heat effectively. To ensure the quality of the water at the same time improve the utilization rate of solar energy, this design use phase change for second heat exchange. Take Shanghai for example, where this design and heat transfer model are applied, the average efficiency of water heaters can achieve 68%, which has proven the feasibility of the design. In a word, this design can achieve the goal of energy conservation and emissions reduction and has broad market prospects.

Experimental assessment of two-phase bubble pump for solar water heating

The research goal is to develop a new solar water heater system(SWHS) that uses a solar bubble pump instead of an electric pump.The pump is powered by the steam produced from an evacuated tube collector.Therefore,heat could be transferred downward from the collector to a hot water storage tank.The designed system consists of two sets of heat-pipe evacuated tube collectors,a solar bubble pump installed at an upper level and a water storage tank with a heat exchanger at a lower level.Discharge heads of 1 and 5 m were tested.The bubble pump could operate at the collector temperature of about 90-100 ℃ and vapor gage pressure of 80-90 kPa.It is found that water circulation within the SWHS depends on the incident solar intensity and system discharge head.Experimental investigations are conducted to obtain the system thermal efficiencies from the hourly,daily and long-term performance tests.The thermal performance of the proposed system is compared with conventional solar water heaters.The results show that the proposed system achieves system characteristic efficiency of 10% higher than that of the conventional systems using electric pump if taking the consumption of electric power into account.And the former is a zero carbon system.

Performance investigation of solar thermal collector with auxiliary heater for space heating

In this paper,the performance of a solar thermal system with a focus on space heating was investigated.A 70 m^(2) detached house was considered in the weather conditions of the city of Tehran,Iran.A thermosyphon solar water heater with a flat plate collector combined with an auxiliary electrical heater supplies the heating demand of the house.The proposed system was modeled and analyzed using TRNSYS software.In this regard,the TRNBuild module was employed for the building load calculation.The model has been simulated for one year of operation.The effects of the solar collector’s surface area and storage volume were assessed.The results show that for a solar collector with a 15 m^(2) surface area,the solar fraction is 0.29 in January,during which the solar radiation is the lowest.Using solar collectors of10 m^(2) and 5 m^(2) surface areas,the solar fraction falls to 0.23 and 0.14,respectively in January.Besides,two cases of 150 L and 300 L storage tanks are taken into account.Eventually,it is found that using a 15 m^(2) solar collector and a 150 L storage tank can appropriately provide the building’ s heating demand taking the thermal performance and economic aspects into consideration.

Solar Thermal Application for the Dairy Industry in Taiwan

Taiwan has been developing clean energy and solar heating for hot water production is a mature technology. The subsidy program (2000-2016) for solar water heaters means that the cumulative area of solar collectors installed was approximately 2.52 million square meters at the end of 2016, in which more than 93% have been installed in the domestic sector. Industrial heat processes represent an area for solar thermal application. This study presents field measurements for solar water heaters installed for sterilization in dairy industry. Global solar radiation can be correlated with the system’s thermal efficiency reasonably well. As a pre-heating system, financial viability is validated.

基于单片机的太阳能热水器控制系统的设计

针对市场上的部分太阳能热水器功能简单、运行繁琐、管理不方便等的问题,研制了一款比较智能的太阳能热水器,实现了温度、水位和时钟实时显示以及自动加热和上水功能。

全玻璃真空管型太阳能热水器在嘉兴地区节能量与减排量分析

为评估太阳能热水器对“双碳”战略的贡献,减少对化石燃料的依赖,推动能源结构的优化和转型升级,在嘉兴地区通过对全玻璃真空管型太阳能热水器在实际使用工况下进行热性能测试分析.试验结果表明:在实际使用工况下,环境温度和辐照量是影响太阳能热水器日有用得热量的重要因素;78和75管间距的年节能量分别为451.87 kWh/(m^(2)·a)、467.46 kWh/(m^(2)·a),CO_(2)年减排量分别为338.9 kg/(m^(2)·a)、350.6 kg/(m^(2)·a),经估算2021年太阳能光热利用CO_(2)减排量约占全国碳排放总量的12.6%.

基于微热管阵列的平板太阳能热水器的性能试验

为了检验一种新型平板太阳能热水器的性能,该文对其核心部件—基于微热管阵列的集热器及其组成的热水器进行了热性能试验。集热器热性能测试结果表明,微热管阵列平板太阳能集热器瞬时效率的斜率为4.7,截距为0.80,分别优于国家标准要求值11.0%和22.3%。在满足测试要求的天气情况下,对微热管阵列平板太阳能热水器进行的多次热性能测试结果表明,热水器的日有效得热量均高于国家标准要求值,日平均集热效率均高于60%。同时,该热水器具有承压能力强、无炸裂、轻巧、成本低、无需焊接、抗冻性能好、易于建筑一体化等优势。基于微热管阵列的平板太阳能热水器由于性能优异,并能克服现有太阳能热水器的缺点,具有广阔的应用前景。

立面阳台式太阳能热水器的性能特性

以阳台平板太阳能热水器和全玻璃真空管太阳能热水器为对象,研究太阳能集热器南立面横排和竖排放置,自然循环和强制循环对系统热性能和水箱分层的影响。结果表明,对于立面阳台式全玻璃真空管太阳能热水器,集热器横排放置比竖排放置系统循环快,热效率提高12%。对于立面阳台式平板太阳能热水器,自然循环时无论是横排放置还是竖排放置,液体循环不流畅,系统热效率均小于30%;采用强制循环能有效改善循环状况,平均进出口温差稳定,系统热效率约为63%。