DESIGN, SIMULATION, CONSTRUCTION AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A THERMOSYPHON SOLAR WATER HEATER
By
Author
Presented To
Department of Mechanical Engineering
ABSTRACT
A thermosyphon solar water heating system which captures and utilises the abundant solar
energy to provide domestic hot water was designed, simulated, constructed and tested. The
system was designed to supply a daily hot water capacity of 0.1m3
at a minimum temperature of
70o
C for domestic use. The design approach was in three parts; firstly, since solar radiation and
weather data which are driving function for solar systems design vary randomly with time, the
monthly average daily solar radiation and weather data obtained from the typical meteorological
year (TMY) solar data of Zaria were used to determine the design month as the month (August)
with the least monthly average daily solar energy ratio. Solar radiation and weather data of the
design month were used to design the system. Secondly, the design month solar radiations and
weather data were used as input into the design equations coded using MATLAB programming
language to determine the system characteristic and components sizes. A parametric study was
also carried out to study the effects and sensitivity of varying some design parameters such as
number of glass covers , collector tube centre to centre distance W, absorber plate thickness
, collector tube internal diameter and collector tilt angle on the design objective function
(the heat removal factor ). Thirdly, based on the values of the system characteristics and
components sizes obtained from the design calculations and the parametric study, a model for the
performance simulation of the system was formulated using the Transient System Simulation
(TRNSYS) software. This model was used to predict the annual hourly performance of the
system for recommended average day of the months using the TMY solar radiation and weather
data of Zaria as input function. The system was then constructed based on the component sizes
adopted for the simulation owing to the satisfactory performance of the system as revealed from
the simulated results. To validate the simulated system performance, system performance tests
were conducted for 3 days and the results were compared with the simulated results. The root
mean square error (RMSE) and the Nash-Sutcliffe Coefficient of Efficiency (NSE) statistical
tools were used to analyse the experimental and simulated results in order to validate the
predictive power of the software. The results of this research led to the conclusion that a
thermosyphon solar system with collector area of 2.24 m2
operated under the weather condition
of Zaria, would be capable of supplying a daily domestic water of 0.1m3
at temperature ranging
from 59o
C for the worst month (August) to 81o
C for the best month (April).The computed Nash-
Sutcliffe Coefficient of Efficiency (NSE) values of 0.663, 0.956 and 0.885 and the low RMSE
values of 8.09o
C, 3.65o
C and 5.31o
C between the modeled tank inlet temperature and the
observed tank inlet temperature for the three days tests conducted indicated that the model
formulated using TRNSYS software was valid and closely agreed, capable of predicting the
performance of the system with a 66.3 %, 95.6% and 88.5 % degree of accuracy for the 3 days
that the experiments were conducted respectively.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ..i
Declaration - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ..ii
Certification - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .. ..iii
Dedication- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .. ..iv
Acknowledgements - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ..v
Abstract - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ..vi
Table of Contents- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - viii
List of Figures - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ,- . xii
List of Tables - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .xv
List of Appendices - - - - - - - - - - - - - - xvi
Nomenclature - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ..xvii
Abbreviation- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .xxii
1.0 INTRODUCTION - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1
1.1 Background of the Study - - - - - - - - - - - - .. ..1
1.2 Statement of the Problem. - - - - - - - - - - .- - 3
1.3 The Present Research - - - - - - - - - - - - - ..4
1.4 Aim and Objectives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ..5
1.5 Significance of Research - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .5
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW - - - - - - - - - - - - 6
2.1 Solar Potential and Resources of a Location - - - - - - - - - .6
2.2 Solar Water Heating Systems - - - - - - - - - - - . ..7
2.2.1 Direct open-loop hot water system - - - - - - - - - - - . ..7
2.2.2 Indirect hot water system - - - - - - - - - - - - ..9
2.3 Solar collector- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .10
2.3.1 Selective surfaces - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .12
2.3.2 Collector covers- - - - - - - - - - - - - .. 13
2.4 Thermosyphon System - - - - - - - - - - - - 14
2.5 Sizing a Solar Hot Water System- - - - - - - - . - - 15
2.6 Collector Orientation - - - - - - - - - - - - - ..16
2.7 Solar Water Heating System Applications - - - - - - - . - - 17
2.7.1 Service hot water - - - - - - - - - - - - - . 17
2.7.2 Swimming pools - - - - - - - - - - - - - .. 18
2.8 Solar Water Heating System Load - - - - - - - - - - . 19
2.8.1 Average daily hot water consumption and load profile - - - - - - 19
2.8. 2 Hot water load profile - - - - - - - - - - - - 19
2.9 Review of Related Work- - - - - - - - - - - - - 20
2.10 Theoretical Background - - - - - - - - - - - - 24
2.
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