Simulation study of a large scale flat plate solar collector with continuous serpentine tubing configuration for domestic hot water pre-heating and space heating applications
Authors: Wen, B., Khan, Z. and Helvaci, U.
Journal: Energy Conversion and Management
Publisher: Elsevier
ISSN: 0196-8904
Abstract:Research has shown that solar energy technologies can be integrated with residential buildings to transform them into mini power stations generating clean energy sustainably for cost savings and CO2 reduction. This paper presents a TRNSYS simulation study of a large scale flat plate solar collector (LSFPSC) with serpentine tubing that can be fully integrated into residential buildings. The TRNSYS model was designed and validated based on the performance data from flat plate collector experiments and then modified to simulate the performance of 10 installations of LSFPSCs with a total collector area of 20m2. The simulation employed a typical meteorological year (TMY) weather data from 36 different various locations in 22 countries around the globe. These locations were selected based on the Koppen-Geiger Climate Classification to include different climate types to assess the performance of the LSFPSC under diverse weather conditions. For each climate type, two locations were selected to compare the differences of performance due to the varying solar irradiance on different latitude/longitude. The simulation results showed that the LSFPSC is capable of generating excellent useful energy outputs as (e.g. averaged 1.29 GJ/m2/year for the glazed configuration and 1.00 GJ/m2/year for the unglazed configuration across the selected locations. This ) that indicated its high suitability to be deployed as an effective solution for large-scale solar energy utilisation in the majority of regions around the world. The economic evaluation results showed that the LSFPSC has much shorter payback period of (2.4 to 6.5 years comparing to ) than the typical commercial flat plate collectors which is between (8 to 12 years. This indicates that the LSFPSC is an economical solution for low/medium temperature applications.
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Source: Manual
Preferred by: Zulfiqar Khan