Open AccessA new model for sizing thermosiphon solar heating systems
Author(s) -
Antônio Marcos de Oliveira Siqueira,
Alexandre Gurgel,
Zeji Ge,
Fernando Ariel Colque,
Gabriel Siqueira Silva
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
research, society and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2525-3409
DOI - 10.33448/rsd-v9i8.5673
Subject(s) - sizing , trnsys , thermosiphon , storage tank , volume (thermodynamics) , thermal , thermal energy storage , work (physics) , environmental science , computer science , nuclear engineering , process engineering , simulation , mechanical engineering , engineering , meteorology , heat exchanger , thermodynamics , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry
The purpose of this work is to present a simple methodology which enables to size a thermosyphon system without always having to resort to a computational simulation. As a result of many system simulations using the TRNSYS software, whereby several project and equipment parameters were varied, a group of expressions were obtained which allow the determination of the system thermal daily efficiency (monthly average). The developed correlation includes geometric and thermal aspects related to the collector, the storage tank and the connecting pipes, as well as operational data such as thermal load, solar radiation and room temperature. This model is able to optimize several variables that comprise thermosyphon solar water-heating systems for the requirements of particular applications. The resulting correlation shows that the efficiency is a linear function of meteorological conditions, collector quality and parameters related to storage tank volume, volume load (consumption profile) and collector area. The correlation is very useful since it is a simple, fast alternative for the calculation of system efficiency without depending on experimental determination or numerical simulation results. The determination and sizing of the collector area and the volume storage tank that satisfy the required thermal load can be appropriately performed in a simple and fast way by using the proposed correlation.