PERGAMON

Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 449459

Experimental studies on a solar thermal water pump

K. Sumathy
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China Received 18 May 1998

Abstract The performance of a solar water pump which works on the basis of vapour generated by a at-plate solar collector of exposed area 1 m2 has been studied for three dierent discharge heads, namely 6, 8 and 10 m. The design and experimental results of the pump which entailed detailed calculations to obtain the optimal volumes of the vessels, are presented in this paper. The inclusion of a storage tank for storing the vapour facilitates greater freedom in the pump's operation and thereby improved its performance. The pressure in the collector system in both theory and experiments prove that the various tank sizes which were suitably designed for the pumping system, are found to be optimum. # 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Experimental; Solar energy; Flat-plate collector; Solar-thermal water pump

1. Introduction A perusal of the literature, on the subject of solar water pumps, reveals that a pump can be operated mainly on any of the following three principles: (1) pump driven by turbine operating with steam or an organic vapour generated using solar at-plate collectors or concentrators; (2) pump driven by electricity obtained from solar cells; (3) an unconventional pump in which the vapour of a low boiling point liquid generated through at-plate collectors provides the motive power for lifting water, while condensation of the vapour and the subsequent decrease in pressure provides for suction. In the rst method, not only is the capital cost of the system high, but also the operation and maintenance problems are many because of the number of stages involved in conversion of solar energy to hydraulic work. In the second method, the present cost of the solar cells makes the system uneconomical. The third method appears to be an attractive proposition. Research has been carried out [1,2] on a water pump, working on this principle, with n-pentane as the working substance. Not only are the values of the eciencies low, but also the dierence
1359-4311/99/$ - see front matter # 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 1 3 5 9 - 4 3 1 1 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 0 7 1 - 4

450

K. Sumathy / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 449459

between the predicted and observed eciencies is large. In this paper it is shown that by limiting the pressure and temperature of pentane during heating, using a vapour storage tank, and by properly sizing the vessels involved in the pumping system, the performance of the pump could be positively improved. 2. System description The operation of the pump is briey explained here. Fig. 1 shows the schematic of the pump and Fig. 2 shows the front view of the pump considered in this work. The pump has no moving parts except for the check valves, which are manually operated. A detailed description of the system and the thermodynamic analysis of the system is presented by Sumathy et al. [3]. Liquid pentane set in motion by thermosiphon action is heated in the at plate collector. The saturated pentane vapour separating in tank S is stored in the vapour storage tank N. What

Fig. 1. Schematic of the solar thermal water pump.

K. Sumathy / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 449459

451

Fig. 2. Front view of the solar thermal water pump.

makes this pump dierent from others is the vapour storage tank N. When the pressure of pentane vapour in tank N reaches a predetermined value, it is isolated from the separation tank by closing valve 1. Immediately after this, valves 2 and 3 are opened so that some vapour from tank N travels instantaneously to vessel A which initially contains water at atmospheric conditions. As a consequence, water in tank A is displaced into tank B, which initially contains air at atmospheric conditions. The rising column of water in B compresses the air in it and the compressed air in turn pushes the water in vessel C (which is immersed in the well) to the overhead tank D. At the end of pumping, valve 2 is closed and valve 1 is opened and water from the overhead tank D is allowed to ow through the cooling coils in vessel A. Two separate events occur: (1) consequent to the depletion of mass of vapour in tank N, its pressure decreases. However, the pressure of pentane in tank S is still high. Thus when valve 1 is opened, a small mass of pentane in S ashes to bring about pressure equilibrium between S and N. Because of ashing, the pressure, and thus the temperature of pentane in the collection system fall slightly. From this state of low pressure and low temperature, the pentane in the collection system gets heated up until the vapour is used for the next pumping operation. (2) The water owing through the cooling coils accelerates the process of condensation of pentane vapour in vessel A. Because of condensation, the pressure in vessel A decreases, as a result of which the water in vessel B returns to vessel A. In this period the pressure of air in vessel B returns to its initial value. Consequently, the well water is sucked into vessel C, through the one-way valve 5. One cycle of operation is thus complete and the pump is now ready for the next cycle. The process undergone by pentane during the rst cycle of operation is shown by 1-2-3-4-56, in Fig. 3. Here, 12 represents the heating of pentane in the collector at constant volume. Saturated pentane vapour, at state 3 in tank N, expands to state 4 (when the vapour in tank N

452

K. Sumathy / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 449459

Fig. 3. pv diagram.

rushes to vessel A) to reach the pressure corresponding to the discharge head. 45 and 56 show the idealized processes of cooling and condensation of the vapour, respectively. The pump is now ready for the second cycle of operation. During the time when the pentane vapour in vessel A, isolated as it is from tank N, condenses, the pentane in the collector system is heated continuously. It is assumed in the present analysis that the pressure of pentane vapour in tank N at the start of any cycle is either greater than or equal to its pressure at the start of the previous cycle. In each cycle, some pentane vapour is taken out of the collection system from tank N. This reduces the pressure and temperature in the system. It takes some time to restore it back to its initial state. If this period, referred to as the heating period, is less than the condensation time, the temperature, and thus the pressure in the collection system, will be higher at the start of the next cycle. This is because the next cycle cannot be started until and unless condensation is complete and the collector will therefore be heated for a longer period than required. On the contrary, if the heating period is longer than the condensation time, the pressure of pentane in the collector will be the same as in the previous cycle. It follows from the specied explanations that the temperature and pressure of pentane for subsequent cycles will be higher than those at the beginning of the rst cycle. Hence, at the beginning of the second cycle, the pressures in tanks S and N correspond to states 8 and 9, respectively, in Fig. 3. The lifting of water and subsequent condensation of pentane in tank A follow the same pattern as before. The process undergone by pentane during this cycle is shown as 7-8-9-10-11-6. Similar sets of events occur in subsequent cycles and the pump continues to operate as long as the pentane in the collector can be heated. The total quantity of water the pump can lift in a day is equal to the product of the number of cycles per day and the volume of water pumped per cycle. Theoretically, the latter is equal to the volume of vessel C.

K. Sumathy / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 449459

453

3. Experimental set-up An experimental solar water pump has been designed, fabricated and tested in the laboratory. The pump employs a at-plate collector of exposed area 1 m2. The volumes of the tanks used in the system depend largely on the collector area, discharge head of the pump and the quantity of water to be lifted per cycle. The methodology adopted in arriving at the volumes of tanks N, A, B and C (Fig.1) is presented below. The system is designed for a maximum discharge head of 10 m. 3.1. Determination of sizes of tanks The air in tank B has to be rst compressed to the pressure corresponding to the discharge head and thereafter the compressed air entering tank C accomplishes the task of pumping water. The compression of air is assumed to be isothermal. For isothermal compression, neglecting the internal volumes of the connecting pipes, p1 VB pd VBf 1 where p1 is the initial pressure in vessel B (1 bar) and VBf is the nal volume of air when the pressure in B just reaches the discharge pressure, pd. VBf is equal to (VBVx), where Vx is the volume of water that has entered B from A. Hence, VB pd VB Vx ; or VB Vx : 1 1=pd 2

From this instant, the pump is ready for operation, and for every additional l of water entering B, a l of air is displaced from B to C to cause pumping of one l of water at constant discharge pressure pd. Therefore, V Vx Vc 3 where V is the total volume of pentane vapour in tank A at a nal pressure of pd to pump Vc l of water in one cycle. Here, the volume of vessel C (Vc) has to be optimized. If it is high, the performance of the pump suers since it requires a large amount of pentane per cycle. This increased mass of pentane leads to a greater premature condensation during the process of lling vessel A with vapour. If Vc is too small, the cycle time will also be small and it becomes dicult to operate the various valves in quick succession at proper times and thus operate the pump steadily. Hariprakash [1], who has worked on a similar pump, has reported that such a pump can perform 20 cycles per day with an overall eciency of 0.15%, when the collector is exposed to the sun from 8, to 14 h. Kwant et al. [2] also reports an identical eciency. Also, in a place like Madras, the average total radiation incident on the collector (S Hb) is around 20 MJ/m2.

454

K. Sumathy / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 449459

The overall eciency of the pump is given by Z0 NVw rw gh P ; Hb 4

where N is the number of cycles that a pump performs in a day, Vw is the amount of water lifted in each cycle, rw, the density of water(103 kg/m3), g is the acceleration due to gravity (9.81 m/s2) and h is the discharge head (10 m). Substituting the values for SHb, N, g, h and Z in the above equation, m, the mass of the water that can be lifted per cycle turns out to be 15 kg. Vessel C must have the capacity to accommodate this mass. Therefore, Vc is taken as 15 l, a gure representative for such a system. In other words, it may also be taken as a design parameter like the maximum discharge head of 10 m assumed earlier. But the volumes of the other vessels B, A and N can be optimized as explained below. Substituting for Vc in Eq. (3), Vx V 15: When Vx is replaced by V-15, Eq. (2) reduces to VB or VB 15: 1 1=pd For a discharge head of 10 m, pd=2 bar (abs), and hence V 0:5VB 15: 6 Table 1 gives the quantity of pentane vapour (V) required for various assumed volumes of tank B calculated using Eq. (6). For successful operation of the pump, the volume of B should be larger than that of C and also the volume of vapour V should be less than or equal to VB. Also, it is advantageous to have as less a V as possible, otherwise (1) the collector will take a longer time to generate this vapour; (2) losses from tank N will also be more, as its size directly depends on V.
Table 1 Relation between volume of tank B (VB ) and volume of pentane vapour (V) VB (litres) 10 20 30 40 V (litres) 20 25 30 35

V 15 ; 1 1=pd

K. Sumathy / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 449459

455

It can be readily seen from Table 1, that 30 l appears to be the appropriate volume for tank B, and the corresponding value of V is 30 l. The volume VA depends on the volume of vapour, V, required per cycle. VA must be such that there is always a water seal at its bottom to avoid the entry of pentane vapour into tank B and that it can accommodate 12 l of liquid pentane oating on water. Thus, the volume of tank A has to be at least 5 l more than the volume of vapour it has to accommodate. That is, VA=V + 5. As a result, the volume of tank A is taken as 35 l. As one would expect, at the start of the rst cycle the pressure of vapour in N must be higher than the discharge pressure. In fact, this pressure has to be such that at the end of the pumping process the pressure of pentane, now occupying tanks N and A, must be equal to the discharge pressure. The second cycle can start only when the pressure of pentane in tank N again reaches the minimum pressure required to operate the pump which is higher than the discharge pressure as explained clearly by Sumathy et al. [3]. The increase in pressure is to be brought about by the heating of pentane in the collector. This heating has to be accomplished in about 23 min, a gure which is comparable to the condensation time. The volume of N is arrived at as follows: for the pump to operate, as stated earlier, the pressure in N must be greater than the discharge pressure. When tank N communicates with tank A, the vapour expands (assumed to be reversible and adiabatic) to pd, and occupies a nal volume of (VN+V). Let pN be the nal pressure of pentane in tank N. The relation,
g pN Vg N pd VN V ;

xes the value of VN for an assumed value of pN. g, the ratio of specic heats for pentane, is taken as 1.05 and V is 30 l for reasons already explained. The mass of pentane initially in tank N, mi, is equal to the ratio of VN and the specic volume of saturated vapour at pN. Now, a check is made to assess the correctness of the volume and the assumed initial pressure of pentane. If the pressure assumed is correct, the following energy balance must be satised, i.e. mi uf ui W1 W2 8 where W1 and W2 are the work interactions required to compress the air in B and then lift Vc l of water [3]. Here, ui is the specic internal energy of pentane corresponding to the initial state in tank N (before expansion), and uf the nal internal energy of pentane (existing nally in tanks N and A) at the discharge pressure. During the reversible adiabatic expansion process, the entropy remains constant. Thus, nally two properties, namely the pressure and the entropy are known and hence the nal state of the pentane vapour can be xed, so that uf can be calculated. If the arbitrarily assumed pN does not satisfy the above energy equation, a new value is assumed and the procedure is repeated until the energy balance is established. For the discharge head of 10 m, the above condition is satised at a pressure of 3.7 bar and the volume of N turns out to be 35 l. Before xing the volume of tank N as 35 l, a check is made to assess whether the collector can replenish the mass of pentane vapour required per cycle in a reasonably acceptable period, so that the pressure in tank N reaches the minimum pressure (3.7 bar ) from its equilibrium pressure (3.54 bar) for the start of the next cycle [3]. For pN=3.7 bar, VN=35 l and V = 30 l, the mass of pentane vapour required per cycle (mass of pentane in tank A after expansion of vapour from N to A) is 0.165 kg. A simple non-

456

K. Sumathy / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 449459

selectively coated at-plate collector of 1 m2 area can replenish this mass in each cycle, within 23 minutes. The calculation is based on average radiation intensity, collector eciency and enthalpy of vaporization at pN. Considering a further equal period for condensation, the average cycle time turns out to be 46 min, which is quite reasonable as the pump can perform 1015 cycles in an h. The size of the separation tank S is determined by the amount of pentane required to initially ll the system. It is found that an initial mass of 16 kg of pentane, is the optimized gure and to perform 41 cycles the system requires 7 kg of pentane [3]. In such a case, the volume of tank S turns out to be 24 l. It is found that if the volume of the separation tank S is 24 l, the minimum quantity of pentane required in the system is 4.3 kg (the outlet from the collector into tank S must not be higher than the level of liquid in S) to ensure thermosiphon ow. Therefore, if the system is initially lled with 16 kg, the remaining mass (after 41 cycles of operation) is around 9 kg, which satises the minimum mass of pentane required in the system. In the experimental set up, the collector and the separation tank together can hold nearly 28 l of pentane. The separation tank is a mild steel cylinder, 15.5 cm in diameter and 1.27 m long. The tank is insulated and provided with a level gauge to indicate the level of liquid pentane in it at any time. A thermometer well is provided at the middle of the tank. A calibrated Bourdon gauge mounted on the separation tank measures the pressure. Tank N and vessels AC of volumes 35, 35, 30 and 15 l, respectively, are made of mild steel of thickness 3 mm. The tanks S, N and vessel A are insulated with glass wool of thickness 5 cm. The details of the cooling coil housed in vessel A are presented by Sumathy et al. [4]. The collection system which includes the collector tanks S and N, was hydraulically tested for a pressure of 10 bar. Similarly, vessels A and B were tested for a pressure of 5 bar. These values are nearly twice the pressure expected in various components during the actual experiments. 3.2. Experimental procedure A detailed experimental procedure and the problems encountered in operating such pumps are listed by Sumathy et al. [5]. The same sequence of operation as listed in `System Description' is followed in experiments as well. Experiments were performed in March and April. This period was selected for conducting experiments mainly because the sky in Madras, in these months is nearly clear and hence not only the pump should work well but also it would be possible to compare the theoretical results (obtained for days with clear sky days) with experimental data. The pump was operated for three dierent discharge heads of 6, 8 and 10 m.

4. Results and discussion Shown in Fig. 4 is the variation of pressure with time in the system. This is an important plot as it is the pressure in the collection system that enables the pump to operate. A detailed heat transfer analysis of the at-plate collector to calculate the pressure in the system is

K. Sumathy / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 449459

457

Fig. 4. Variation of pentane pressure with time.

presented by Sumathy et al. [6]. Curve 1 corresponds to the situation of pentane being merely heated (that is no vapour is drawn for pump operation). Curve 2 corresponds to the case of pentane vapour being used for pump operation and shows that the pressure in the collection system increases steadily until the pump starts operating. For each head there exists a minimum pressure at which the pump can operate and this minimum pressure can be determined from a force balance [3]. The minimum pressure that actuates the pump for a discharge head of 8 m is 3.14 bar. Once the pump starts operating, the pressure in the collection system uctuates slightly like a saw-tooth prole. This is in accordance with the operation of the pump. At the beginning of each cycle, the pressure is high and at its end the pressure is low (because of the removal of pentane from tank N for the operation of the pump). This is the reason for the uctuation of pressure. The average pressure in the system (while the pump is in operation) remains more or less the same throughout the operation period and shows that the volumes of the designed tanks are optimal. Also, the next cycle of operation starts as soon as the pressure in tank N reaches the required minimum pressure. It is interesting to compare the variation of pressure in Fig. 5 with that in Fig. 4. In the latter, but for small uctuations, the average pressure in the system remains nearly constant from the instant the pump operates. This is so because the pump is assumed to operate under ideal conditions [3]. The predicted pressure shown in Fig. 5 is not the same as in Fig. 4, for obvious reasons. The pump, according to experimental conditions, is assumed to be stopped every 56 cycles, in order to remove liquid pentane from tank A. During this period, however, the pentane in the collection system is being continuously heated by solar radiation and hence the pressure shows an increasing trend until the pump is restarted. From this instant, again the

458

K. Sumathy / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 449459

Fig. 5. Comparison of predicted and measured pressure with time.

pressure uctuates in a saw-tooth prole until the pump is stopped again for the removal of pentane from tank A. Thus, between two sets of saw-tooth proles there is a steady rise in pressure. Similar variations occur thereafter as long as the pump can operate, up to about 2.00 pm. The measured pressures correspond to the beginning of each cycle. It can be seen from Fig. 5 that there is a good agreement between experimental and the predicted results. Therefore, from Figs. 4 and 5, it can be discerned that the sizes of the various components involved in the system are suitably designed and are found to be optimal. The pressure in the system never exceeds the operating pressure while the pump is in continuous operation except when the pump is stopped for removal of pentane. Even during the period when pentane is being removed, the pressure in the system never shoots up and remains within 0.05 times the operating pressure, which is a very negligible value. The pump was operated for three dierent discharge heads of 6, 8 and 10 m. While the pump could perform 23 cycles at 6 m head, it could perform only 17 and 12 cycles at a discharge head of 8 and 10 m, respectively. The eciencies varied from 0.12 to 0.14% depending on the discharge head, which is marginally better than the eciencies reported earlier. This clearly indicates that the system is suitably designed for a pump operating with a at-plate collector of 1 m2 exposed area. The eciency of the pump described above can be further improved by having the following modications: (1) tank A has to be insulated well. It is also advisable to have an insulating oat in tank A which would reduce the condensation of pentane vapour during the period of pumping. (2) Also, by providing a oat valve which operates on the spontaneous downward heat transport principle, it is possible to conceive a device doing the same job, but working in

K. Sumathy / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 449459

459

an automatic way. (3) By having a separate condensation chamber, the pump need not be idle until the condensation is complete in tank A as it is in the present case. 5. Conclusions Sizes of tanks involved in the pumping system were determined based on the collector area, discharge head and the quantity of water to be pumped per cycle. An improvement in eciency has been achieved, partly by the inclusion of a vapour storage tank, and partly by the optimization of various tank sizes. The vapour storage tank not only allows the pentane vapour to enter tank A rapidly, it positively improves the performance of the pump by limiting the pressure and temperature of pentane while heating. The overall eciency of the system is found to be 0.12 to 0.14% (depending on the discharge head) which is slightly better than the eciencies reported by Hariprakash [1] and Kwant et al. [2]. The eciency of such pumps can be improved further by having a separate condensation chamber which will reduce each cycle time of pumping (avoiding the condensation time). Also, the condensation of vapour during the pumping process can be avoided by having a oat in tank A, which would surely make the system work more eciently. Hence, any method that improves the eciency even marginally would go a long way in improving the economics of operating such devices. References
[1] Rao R. Hariprakash, Theoretical and experimental investigations of a solar thermal water pump, PhD thesis. Dept. of Mechanical Engng, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, 1990. [2] K.W. Kwant, D.P. Rao, A.K. Srivastava, Experimental studies on a solar water pump, in: Proc. Int. Solar Energy Society Congress, Brighton, 1981, pp. 11721178. [3] K. Sumathy, A. Venkatesh, V. Sriramulu, Thermodynamic analysis of a solar thermal water pump, Solar Energy 57 (1966) 155161. [4] K. Sumathy, A. Venkatesh, V. Sriramulu, The importance of the condenser in a solar water pump, Energy Conversion and Management 36 (1995) 11671173. [5] K. Sumathy, A. Venkatesh, V. Sriramulu, A solar thermal water pump, Applied Energy 53 (1996) 235243. [6] K. Sumathy, A. Venkatesh, V. Sriramulu, Heat-transfer analysis of a at-plate collector in a solar thermal pump, Energy 19 (1994) 983991.