DESIGN, SIMULATION ,CONSTRUCTION AND TESTING OF A THERMOSYPHON SOLAR WATER HEATER FOR A BLOCK
(A CASE STUDY OF POSTGRADUATE HOSTEL IN AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA)
By
Author
Presented To
Department of Mechanical Engineering
ABSTRACT
All nations of the world depend on fossil fuels for their energy needs. However the obligation
to reduce Carbon dioxide and other gaseous emissions is the reason behind which countries
turn to non-polluting renewable energy sources. Hot water heated by the sun is used in many
ways, in residential settings to provide domestic hot water, also has industrial applications,
e.g. to generate electricity. Designs suitable for hot climates can be much simpler and
cheaper, and can be considered an appropriate technology for these places. Hot water use
represents a large proportion of energy needs in hostels. This energy need accounts for a large
portion of the total annual energy consumption in hostels and therefore a reasonable amount
of the university income is spent on electricity bills used for heating water for bathing in
hostels. A solar water heater was designed, simulated, fabricated and tested. The design,
simulation, fabrication and performance tests of a thermosyphon solar water heater were
carried out successfully for a block in Postgraduate hostel of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.
the fabrication was carried out using locally available materials. The solar water heater has
the ability to heat 200 liters of water from a temperature of 25o
C to a temperature of 500
C,.
The design was purposely for students to use the water for bathing in order to totally
discourage the use of electric heating devices in the hostel which on several occasions has
been the reason of fire outbreaks in the hostel. The system factors such as costs and sizing
were taken into consideration which assisted in the choice of materials and the design. The
average solar radiation data was obtained from typical meteorological year (TMY) of Zaria
which was used to determined the month with the least solar radiation. From the analysis of
the typical meteorological year (TMY) data of Zaria the month of August has the least energy
ratio which point it out as the month with the least solar radiation and it was used as the
design month.The optimization of the system components was also carried out using
MATLAB to determine the optimum system size. After the fabrication of the system the
performance was evaluated by comparing the simulation results obtained from the model
(solar data processor, Type 109 of TRNSYS) and the results obtained from the experiment
using Microsoft Excel and standard deviation, Nash-Sutcliff coefficient statistical tools were
used to validate the predictive power of the model. From the result obtained from the research
it can be concluded that the thermosyphon solar water heater of collector area of 2.6m2
has
the ability to heat 200 litre of water to a temperature of 500
C in the month that has the least
solar radiation in Ahmadu Bello University Samaru, Zaria.The statistical tools used for the
validation of the simulation model confirm that the model is valid and can be used in the
estimation of the actual characteristics of a real system. The relative error is very minimal for
all the measured parameters and Nash-Sutcliff coefficient shows that the degree of fitting is
very high which shows that the simulation model has high accuracy, also the standard
deviation shows that the deviation of the experimental parameters from the simulated is very
low and therefore it is negligible.The results show little deviation of predicted values from
actual values with a good level of fit, thereby validating the model used for simulating the
solar water heating system.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION- - - - - - - - - - - iii
CERTIFICATION - - - - - - - - - - - iv
DEDICATION - - - - - - - - - - - - v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT - - - - - - - - - - - vi
ABSTRACT - - - - - - - - - - - - - vii
LIST OF FIGURES - - - - - - - - - - - - xi
LIST OF TABLES - - - - - - - - - - - - xii
LIST OF APPENDICES - - - - - - - - - - xiii
NOMENCLATURE - - - - - - - - - - - xiv
CHAPTER ONE- - - - - - - - - - - - 1
INTRODUCTION - - - - - - - - - - - 1
11 Background to the Study - - - - - - - - - - 1
12 Statement of the Problem - - - - - - - - - - 2
13 The Present Work - - - - - - - - - - - 3
14 Aim and Objectives of the Work - - - - - - - - - 4
15 Significance of the Research - - - - - - - - - 4
CHAPTER TWO - - - - - - - - - - - 6
LITERATURE REVIEW - - - - - - - - - - 6
22 Passive and Active Solar Water Heater - - - - - - - - 6
221 Passive solar water heater - - - - - - - - - 6
222 Active solar water heater - - - - - - - - - - 8
23 Components of a Solar Water Heater - - - - - - - - - 10
231 Hot water storage tanks - - - - - - - - - 10
232 Solar collector - - - - - - - - - - - 11
2321 Types of solar collectors used for domestic water heating - - - - - 12
2322 Solar collector orientation- - - - - - - - - - 16
233 Absorber plate- - - - - - - - - - - 18
234 Transparent cover - - - - - - - - - - 19
235 Collector casing - - - - - - - - - - - 19
236 Insulation - - - - - - - - - - - - 19
2
4 Application of Solar Heated Water - - - - - - - - 20
25 Selecting and Sizing a Solar Heating System - - - - - - - - 20
26 Siting Your Solar Water Heating System- - - - - - - - 22
27 Review of Past Research Work - - - - - - - - - 22
28 Theoretical Background - - - - - - - - - - 28
281 Thermal radiation - - - - - - - - - - 28
282 Optical Analysis- - - - - - - - - - - 28
283 Estimation of Absorptance of Absorber Plate - - - - - - - 33
CHAPTER THREE - - - - - - - - - - - 36
MATERIAL AND METHOD - - - - - - - - - 36
31 Solar Water Heater Description and Operation - - - - - - - 36
32 Working Principle of the Solar Water Heater - - - - - - - 37
33 Solar Resources and Weather Data - - - - - - - - 37
34 Material Selection - - - - - - - - - - - 37
35 Design Analysis - - - - - - - - - - - 39
3511 Total Radiation on Tilted Surfaces - - - - - - - - 39
3512 Absorbed Solar Radiation - - - - - - - - - - 41
351 3 Extraterrestrial solar radiation - - - - - - - - - 41
3514 Terrestrial irradiation - - - - - - - - - - 42
351 5 Declination (δ) - - - - - - - - - - 43
3518 Collector energy losses - - - - - - - - - 44
35112 Collector useful energy- - - - - - - - - - 47
35113 Heat Removal Factor - - - - - - - - - 48
352 Determination of the Design Month - - - - - - - - 50
353 Optimum Geometrical Parameters - - - - - - - - - 51
3532 Optimum tube to tube distance and collector tube diameter - - - - 52
3533 Orientation angle of tilt - - - - - - - - - 52
3534 Absorber plate thickness - - - - - - - - - - 53
3535 Number of glass cover - - - - - - - - - - 53
3536 Collector absorber plate distance from the glazing material - - - - 53
3537 Shading - - - - - - - - - - - - 54
36 Design Consideration - - - - - - - - - - - 54
37 Design Assumptions - - - - - - - - - - 55
381 Determination of total solar radiation absorbed by the collector - - - - - 55
382 Design calculation of heat loss in the collector - - - - - - 57
383 Heat transfer through the storage tank component - - - - - - - 58
383 Heat transfer through the storage tank component - - - - - - - 59
39 Simulation and Validation of the Solar Water Heater- - - - - - 59
310 Fabrication, Costing and Testing - - - - - - - - 64
3101 Fabrication - - - - - - - - - - - - 65
3102 Cost of Solar Water Heater - - - - - - - - - - 67
3103 Testing of solar water heater- - - - - - - - - 69
CHAPTER FOUR - - - - - - - - - - - - 72
40 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION - - - - - - - - - 72
41 Meteorological and Simulated Solar Data for Zaria and Solar Water Heater Design Parameter 72
42 Collector Tilt Angle (�) - - - - - - - - - 76
43 Collector Tube Diameter and Centre to Centre Distance - - - - - - 77
44 Collector Absorber Plate Thickness - - - - - - - - 78
45 Collector Number of Glazing - - - - - - - - - 79
46 System Optimum Parameters and Simulation - - - - - - - 80
48 Comparison of experimental results with result obtain from simulation and determining the
Authenticity of the simulation software (TRNSYS 16) - - - - - - - 84
481 Comparison and Validation of simulated ambient temperature with experimental ambient
temperature - - - - - - - - - - - - - 84
482 Comparism and Validation of simulated Solar Radiation with experimental Solar Radiation 87
483 Comparism and Validation of simulated Collector outlet Temperature with experimental
Collector outlet Temperature - - - - - - - - - - 91
484 Comparison and Validation of simulated Collector Inlet Temperatures with experimental
Collector Inlet Temperatures - - - - - - - - - - 94
CHAPTER FIVE - - - - - - - - - - - 99
50 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS - - - - 99
51 Summary - - - - - - - - - - - - 99
52 Conclusion- - - - - - - - - - - 100
53 Recommendations- - - - - - - - - - 101
REFERENCES - - - - - - - - - - - 102
20,2012 from http//:wwwredscreennet - - - - - - - - 103
APPENDIX B - - - - - - - - - - - 109
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