SOLAR ENERGY PRINCIPLES OF THERMAL COLLECTION AND STORAGE SECOND EDITION S P SUKHATMEINY| L—=! Tata McGraw-Hill © 1996, 1984, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited Fifteenth reprint 2006 RZLLCDRKRZLXZ No part of this publication can be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publishers This edition can be exported from India only by the publishers, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited ISBN 0-07-462453-9 Published by Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, 7 West Patel Nagar, New Delhi 110 008, typeset at Urvashi Press, and printed at A. P. Offset Pvt. Ltd., Delhi 110 095 LelaTata McGraw-Hill © 1996, 1984, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited Fifteenth reprint 2006 RZLLCDRKRZLXZ No part of this publication can be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publishers This edition can be exported from India only by the publishers, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited ISBN 0-07-462453-9 Published by Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, 7 West Patel Nagar, New Delhi 110 008, typeset at Urvashi Press, and printed at A. P. Offset Pvt. Ltd., Delhi 110 095Contents Preface to the First Edition xi 1._INTRODUCTION, 1.1 Man and energy 1 1.2 World’s production and reserves of commercial energy sources 3 1.3 India’s production and reserves 12 1.4 Energy alternatives 20 2. THE SOLAR ENERGY OPTION—AN OVERVIEW OF THERMAL APPLICATIONS 33 2.1 Devices for thermal collection and storage 33 2.2 Thermal applications 38 2.3 Some observations 60 3, SOLAR RADIATION 61 3.1 Solar radiation outside the earth’s atmosphere 61 lar radiatii ’s 3.3 Instruments for measuring solar radiation and sun- shine 66 2.4 Solar radiation data 69 3.5 Solar radiation geometry 71 3.6 Empirical equations for predicting the availability of 1 jiation 8 3.7 Sol diati ilted surf: 93 Problems 96 4, LIQUID FLAT-PLATE COLLECTORS Ss C“‘“‘CSC CSxvi Contents 4.2 Performance analysis 101 4.3 Transmissivity of the cover system 103 4.4 Transmissivity-absorptivity product 108 4.5 Overall loss coefficient and heat transfer correla- tions 109 4.6 Collector efficiency factor 119 4.7 Collector heat-removal factor 122 4.8 Anumerical example 124 4.9 Effects of various parameters on performance 133 4.10 Analysis of collectors similar to the conventional collector 147 4.11 Transient analysis 148 4.12 Testing procedures 152 4.13 Alternatives to the conventional collector 156 Problems 167 5. SOLAR AIR HEATERS 171 5.1 Introduction 171 5.2 Performance analysis of a conventional air heater_173 5.3 Other types of air heaters 180 5.4 Testing procedures 192 Problems 195 6._ CONCENTRATING COLLECTORS 197 6.1 Introduction 198 6-2 Flat-plate collectors with plane reflectors 202 6.3 Cylindrical parabolic collector 203 6.4 Compound parabolic collector (CPC) 234 6.5 Paraboloid dish collector 247 6.6 Central receiver collector 248 Problems 255 7. THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE 258 7.1 Introduction 258 1.2 Sensible heat storage 261 1.3 Latent heat storage 284 7.4 Thermochemical storage 286 Problems 290 8. SOLAR POND 293 8.1 Introduction 293 8.2 Description 296Contents xvil 8.3 Performance analysis 298 8.4 Experimental studies 313 8.5 Operational problems 317 8.6 Other solar pond concepts 32] Problems 323 9, ECONOMIC ANALYSIS 0 CCCC“‘(SNC(S2G 9.1 Initial and 1 32. 92 Definiti 395 9.3 Present worth calculation 327 9.4 Repayment of loan in equal annual instalments 327 9.5 Annual solar savings 328 9.6 Cumulative solar savings and life cycle savings 329 9.7 Payback period 334 9.8 Concluding remarks 337 Problems 337 10. OTHER METHODS FOR SOLAR ENERGY UTILIZATION, 8D 0.1 PI tai ion 339 10.2 Wind energy 353 10.3 Energy from biomass 374 10.4 Wave energy 381 10.5 Ocean thermal energy conversion 382 Problems 392 Appendix I 395 Appendix II 401 Appendix III 411 Appendix IV 416 Appendix V 418 Subject Index 422 Author Index 425meen a2 Se A One Introduction 1.1. MAN AND ENERGY Man has needed and used energy at an increasing rate for his sustenance and well-being ever since he came on the earth a few million years ago. Primitive man required energy primarily in the form of food. He derived this by eating plants or animals which he hunted. Subsequently he discovered fire and his energy needs increased as he started to make use of wood and other biomass to supply the energy needs for cooking as well as for keeping himself warm. With the passage of time, man started to cultivate land for agriculture. He added a new dimension to the use of energy by domesticating and training animals to work for him. With further demand for energy, man began to use the wind for sailing ships and for driving windmills, and the force of falling water to turn water wheels. Till this time, it would not be wrong to say that the sun was supplying all the energy needs of man either directly or indirectly and that man was using only renewable sources of energy. The Industrial Revolution which began with the discovery of the steam engine (AD 1700) brought about a great many changes. For the first time, man began to use a new source of energy, viz. coal, in large quantities. A little later, the internal combustion engine was invented (AD 1870) and the other fossil fuels, oil and natural gas began to be used extensively. The fossil fuel era of using nonrenewable sources had begun and energy was now: available in a concentrated form. The2 Solar Energy invention of heat engines and the use of fossil fuels made energy portable and introduced the much needed flexibility in man’s move- ment. For the first time, man could get the power of a machine where he required it and was not restricted to a specific site like a fast-run- ning stream for running a water wheel or a windy hill for operating a windmill. This flexibility was enhanced with the discovery of electricity and the development of central power generating stations using either fossil fuels or water power. A new source of energy—nuclear energy—came on the scene after the Second World War. The first large nuclear power station was commissioned about 40 years ago, and already, nuclear energy is providing a small but significant amount of the energy requirements of many countries. Thus today, every country draws its energy needs from a variety of sources. We can broadly categorize these sources as commercial and noncommercial. The commercial sources include the fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas), hydroelectric power and nuclear power, while the noncommercial sources include wood, animal wastes and agricultural wastes. In an industrialized country like the USA, most of the energy requirements are met from commercial sources, while in an indus- trially less developed country like India, the use of commercial and “noncommercial sources is about equal. In the past few years, it has become obvious that fossil fuel resources are fast depleting and that the fossil fuel era is gradually coming to an end. This is particularly true for oil and natural gas. It will be useful therefore to first examine the rates of consumption of the different sources of energy and to give some indications of the reserves available. This study will be done for the world as a whole (Sec. 1.2) and then for India in particular (Sec. 1.3). With the help of these figures, it will be possible to form estimates of the time periods for which the existing sources will be available. The need for alternative energy options will thus be established and these options will then be briefly described (Sec. 1.4), Before passing on to these topics, it is worth noting that while man’s large scale use of commercial energy has led to a better quality of life, it has also created many problems. Perhaps the most serious of these is the harmful effect on the environment. The combustion of fossil fuels has caused serious air pollution problems in many areas because of the localized release of large amounts of harmful gases into the atmosphere. It has also resulted in the phenomenon of global warming which is now a matter of great concern. Similarly, the release of large amounts of waste heat from power plants has caused thermal pollution in lakes and rivers leading to the destruction of many forms of plant and animal life. In the case of nuclear power plants, there is also concern over theIntroduction 3 possibility of radioactivity being released into the atmosphere in the event of an accident and over the long term problems of disposal of radioactive wastes from these plants. The gravity of most of these environmental problems had not really been foreseen. Now, however, as man embarks on the search for alternative sources of energy, it is clear that he would do well to keep the environment in mind. 1.2 WORLD’S PRODUCTION AND RESERVES OF COMMERCIAL ENERGY SOURCES 1.2.1 Fossil Fuels Coal Coal is the end product of a natural process of decomposition of vegetable matter buried in swamps and out of contact with oxygen for thousands of years. The word ‘coal’ denotes a wide variety of solid fuels. The varieties in approximate order of their formation are peat, lignite, bituminous coal and anthracite. The world’s rate of production of coal from the time it has been used in significant amounts is shown in Fig. 1.1. It is seen that from about 1860, there was a steady increase of about 4.6 per cent per year in the production rate up to the beginning of the First World War in 1914. Thereafter, for a period of 31 years till the end of the Second World War, the changes in the production rate were erratic. It decreased in some years and increased in others, the average increase over the whole time span being only 0.25 per cent per year. After 1945, the production rate has again increased (more or less steadily) at the rate of about 3 to 4 per cent per year. The production in 1980 was 3736 Mt, in 1985, 4336 Mt, and in 1990, 4783 Mt. The total amount of coal produced up to 1990 (obtained by finding the area under the curve in Fig. 1.1) is approximately 200 000 Mt. Many estimates have been made regarding the amount of coal still available in the earth. Before giving these, it will be useful to distinguish between the terms ‘resources’ and ‘reserves’. The term ‘resources’ implies an estimate of the total quantity available that may eventually be successfully exploited and used by man. The term ‘reserves’ generally refers to that portion of the resources which has been proved and can be economically recovered with available techni- ques. Estimates of the world’s coal resources range from 6.9 x 10° to 11.8 x 10° Mt, while the proved reserves have been estimated to range from 0.65 x 10° to 1.16 x 10° Mt. Nearly 70 per cent of the reserves lie in the USA, Russia and China. It is of interest to estimate approximately the time for which coal would be available. Assuming a continuous growth rate in production4 Solar Energy 5000 Production rate (Mt/ yr) 1000 Fig. 1.1 World Production of Coal (Sources: 1, M.K. Hubbert, “U.S. Energy Resources, A Review as of 1972”, U.S. 93rd Congress, 2nd Session, Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Ser. 93-40 (92~75) (1974). 2, Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, United Nations, New York.) of r per cent, it is easy to show that the number of years n, for which coal will last is given by the expression rer((oia) —i/tid] 0 where-R is the amount available and P’, the present production rate. Assuming the value of R to be 5 x 10° Mt * and substituting P’ = 4783 * The value of R is chosen by being neither pessimistic nor optimistic. A pessimistic view would be to take R equal to the lowest estimate of the reserves, viz. 0.65 x 10° Mt, while an optimistic view would be to take R equal to the highest estimate of the resources, viz. 11.8 x 10° Mt.Introduction § Mt (the value for 1990), we get n= 117 years if r= 3 per cent and n= 88 years if r = 4 per cent. The above estimates give some indication of the time for which the world’s coal will last. However, the model of a continuous growth rate which has been assumed cannot be considered to be very realistic. It is generally accepted that the rate of production of an economic commodity of which a finite quantity exists is governed by the laws of supply and demand. As the amount available depletes, the commodity becomes costlier, its production rate goes through a maximum and its use gradually declines. This is qualitatively illustrated in Fig. 1.2 in which the expected trend is sketched. Production rate 1990 Time Fig. 1.2 Expected Trend in the World's Production Rate of Coal A comparison with Fig. 1.1 indicates that at this moment, we are still on the left side of the maximum. Using the model of Fig. 1.2, a number of investigators have made estimates of the time when the production would pass through a maximum. Although the result is sensitive to the assumptions made in quantifying the model, as well as the amount available, there is a general agreeirent that the peak value is likely to be attained somewhere between AD 2030 and 2060 and that 80 per cent of the amount available could be consumed by AD 2250. ol The world’s rate of production of crude oil is shown in Fig. 1.3. It is seen that oil began to be used in significant quantities around 1900 and that there was an almost steady incrcase in its production all through and even during the world wars. The production increased at the average rate of over 7 per cent per year from 1945 to 1973 and6 Solar Energy p= . e Production rate (10° bbl / y) 8 4 ° |_| pod 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 Year Fig. 1.3 World Production of Crude Oil (Sources: 1. M.K. Hubbert, op. cit. 2. United Nations Energy Statistics Yearbook 1983 and 1985. 3. Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, United Nations, New York.) reached a value of 19.96 billion barrels* in 1973. Thereafter with the beginning of the oil crisis, the annual production of crude oil has not changed much. It has fluctuated between 19 and 23 billion barrels per year over the time span 1973 to 1991. The total amount of oil produced up to 1990 comes out to be approximately 640 billion barrels. "1 ton of crude oil is equivalent to 7.32 barrels.Introduction 7 Estimates of the world’s resources of oil have ranged from 1450 to 2685 billion barrels. Values of the reserves are of more interest. In the late seventies and early eighties, most estimates of the reserves were around 600 billion barrels. However, lately there has been an increase in the estimate in spite of the approximate production of 200 billion barrels during the decade of the eighties. This is presumably because of more discoveries. Proven oil reserves in 1993 are estimated to be about 1000 billion barrels, a substantial part of this quantity (about 50 per cent) being in the Middle East. Comparing the data in Fig. 1.3 with the model of Fig. 1.2, it appears that the production of oil has peaked at a value of about 23 billion barrels around 1980 and that it is now slowly declining. The best estimate one can make today is that most of the reserves of oil are likely to be consumed in another 50 years. This prediction is not as alarming as some of the predictions made in the eighties, which had forecast that most of the reserves would be consumed by AD 2020. Nevertheless it is still a cause for considerable concern. Natural Gas Natural gas is a mixture of various compounds of carbon and hydrogen and small quantities of non-hydrocarbons existing in the gaseous phase, or in solution with oil in natural underground reservoirs. It is classified into two categories: 1. Associated gas 2. Non-associated gas Associated gas is natural gas originating from fields producing both liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons simultaneously. On the other hand, non-associated gas is natural gas which is obtained independently. It is generally found in the space above an oil reservoir or an aquifer. Typically the major constituents of associated natural gas are methane (about 50 per cent by volume), ethane (about 20 per cent) and propane (about 10 per cent). The major constituent of non-associated natural gas is methane (more than 90 per cent by volume). The world’s rate of production of natural gas from 1960 to 1991 is shown in Fig. 1.4. It is seen that the production has been increasing more or less continuously at the rate of about 4 per cer.t per year. Estimates of the world’s resources of natural gas have varied a lot, from as low as 140 000 billion m* to a maximum of 275 000 billion m°. Values of the reserves were estimated by many investigators to be around 50 000 billion m* in the seventies. However, with more dis- coveries in the eighties, the reserves have been estimated to be between 85 000 and 90 000 billion m’*. Since much of the gas is available in an associated form, it appears likely that the reserves of gas will last for approximately the same time as crude oil.8 Solar Energy 3 Production rate (10° m3 / yr) e 8 1960 1970 1980 1990 Year Fig. 1.4 World Production of Natural Gas (Sources: 1. D.M. Considine (Editor), Energy Technology Handbook, McGraw-Hill, New York (1977). 2. Monthly Bulletin of Statistics and Energy Statistics Yearbook 1983, United Nations, New York. Note: Fall in production rate from 1970 to 1971 is due to a mismatch between the data from different sources.) 1.2.2 Water Power Water (or hydroelectric) power is developed by allowing water to fall under the force of gravity. It is used almost exclusively for electrical power generation and currently provides about 20 per cent of the world’s production of electricity. In fact, the generation of water power on a large scale became possible only around the beginning of theIntroduction 9 twentieth century with the development of electrical power transmis- sion. Prior to that, water power plants were of small capacities, usually less than 100 kW. Data on the installed water power capacity, the electricity produc- tion and the utilization of installed capacity for some selected repre- sentative years is presented in Table 1.1. It will be noted that there has been a continuous annual increase of 4 to 5 per cent in the installed capacity. The electricity generated has also continuously increased. However the value for the utilization of the installed capacity increased up to 1971. Thereafter it has gradually decreased. Table 1.1 Installed Water Power Capacity, Electricity Produced, and Utilization of Installed Capacity in the World 1925* 1966" 971° 1980' 1985" Installed capacity (MW) 26400 230 000 307131 467258 = 555 463 Electricity produced 78678 956000 1307257 1755010 1995 611 (GWh) Utilization of installed 2980 4157 4256 3756 3593 capacity (kWh/kW) (Sources: “J. Darmstadter et al., Energy in the World Economy, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore (1970). Encyclopedia of Energy, McGraw-Hill, New York (1976). ‘World Energy Supplies, United Nations J, Series, New York (1973). Energy Statistics Yearbook 1983 and 1985, United Nations, New York. Estimates of the total capacity which can be installed vary consi- derably and depend upon the assumptions made. One method adopted is to state the maximum generation usable 95 per cent of the year, while another method is to calculate the capacity usable under average annual flow conditions. By the first method, it is estimated that the total capacity which can be installed is 3 x 10° MW, while by the second, it is estimated that 600 000 MW can be installed.* The figure most often quoted for the installable capacity is in between these two extremes and is around 2 x 10° MW. Much of the capacity yet to be installed exists in the developing countries. Thus it is clear that there is considerable scope for augmenting the production of hydroelectric power. Hydroelectric power is one of the indirect ways in which solar energy is being used. Thus the main factor in its favour is that it is the only renewable nondepleting source of the present commercial sources of energy. *Survey of Energy Resources 1974, US National Committee of the World Energy Conference, 345 E, 47th Street, New York, NY 10017, USA (1974), p. 156.10 Solar Energy 1.2.3 Nuclear Power _Nuclear power is developed by fission reactions in nuclear reactors. Like water power, it is used exclusively for the generation of electricity. Presently, the reactors in operation are all essentially burner reactors, which use only the uranium isotope U?*>. This isotope is present to the extent of less than 1 per cent in naturally occurring uranium. : ‘The first nuclear power station went into operation in 1957 in the USA and subsequently the growth in installed capacity was spectacular. However, fears regarding the hazards associated with accidents which might occur and the disposal of radioactive waste have slowed down this growth rate considerably. This is evident from Fig. 1.5. in which 2 nari € 6 2 z = % 3 = j : 31 a : = 3 g i i 0 1950, 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Year Fig. 1.5 World Installed Capacity and Electricity Production from Nuclear Power (Sources: 1. D.M. Considine, op. cit. 2. Energy Statistics Yearbook 1983 and 1985, United Nations, New York. 3. World Nuclear Industry Handbook, Nuclear Engineering International, Sutton, UK (1992). Note: Values of installed capacity for 1995 to 2000 are projected values based on the capacities of plants under construction and plants to be decommissioned.)Introduction 11 data on the installed capacity and electricity production of nuclear power stations operating all over the world is presented. It is seen that the installed capacity increased annually at the rate of about 24 per cent during the seventies. During the eighties, the growth rate decreased to about 8 per cent, while in the nineties, it is projected to be less than 2 per cent. The world’s resources of uranium are estimated to lie in the range of 3.5 Mt to 6.6 Mt. Ofthis, 2.315 Mt is classified as reasonably assured reserves*. A nuclear power plant uses 0.15 to 0.2 t of fuel per year (in the form of uranium oxide) for every megawatt of capacity. Thus the reserves would be adequate for running the present installed capacity of 350 000 MW for a period of only about 35 years. It is evident that a difficult situation will arise by 2020 aD or 2030 AbD if the present technology continues to be used. 1.2.4 Annual Production of Energy In the preceding sections, the world’s production of various energy sources has been stated in the units appropriate to that energy source. Thus, for example, coal production has been given in tonnes, while crude oil production has been given in barrels. It is of interest to calculate the energy content associated with these production figures, so that the different sources of commercial energy can be compared on ‘the same basis and the extent of their contribution to the world scene quantified. The calculations are performed for the year 1985 with the following assumptions: 1. The coal production in tonnes is converted into tonnes coal equivalent (TCE) by multiplying by a factor of 0.7. The heating value of one TCE is taken to be 0.0293076 TJ (1 TJ = 10"? J). 2. The crude oil production in barrels is converted into tonnes oil equivalent (TOE) by dividing by 7.32. The heating value of one TOE is taken to be 0.041868 TJ. 3. The heating value of natural gas is taken to be 39 021 kJ/m*. 4, The energy equivalent of the electricity produced by water power is obtained by assuming an energy conversion efficiency of 0.85. 5. The heat energy equivalent of the electricity produced by nuclear power is obtained by assuming an energy conversion efficiency of 0.25. The results presented in Table 1.2 display many interesting fea- tures. They show the dominant role of fossil fuels in the current situation. 90 per cent of the world’s requirement of energy is being met by fossil fuels, with oil and natural gas contributing about 60 per cent, *Energy Statistics Yearbook 1985, United Nations, New York.12 Solar Energy and coal about 30 per cent. Water power and nuclear power contribute only 10 per cent to the world’s energy scene. Table 1.2 World Energy Production from Commercial Energy Sources— Year 1985 Energy source Production mee a een Coal 4336 Mt 88 954 30.66 Crude oil 19.47 x 10° barrels 111 362 38.39 Natural gas 1548 x 10° m® 60 405 20.82 Water power 1995 611 GWh 8453 291 Nuclear power 1453 181 GWh 20 928 721 Total 290 102 100.00 1.3. INDIA’S PRODUCTION AND RESERVES 1.3.1 Fossil Fuels Coal The rate of production of coal in India over the last 40 years is shown in Fig. 1.6. It is seen that there has been a six-fold increase in ~ production since 1951 and that in the eighties the annual growth rate has been nearly 7 per cent. In 1990, India’s production was 223 Mt, which was about 4.7 per cent of the world’s production. India has fairly large reserves of coal. Estimates made by the Geological Survey of India over the years are given in Table 1.3. It can be seen that the reserves have been increasing because of the location of more coal fields. The 1992 estimates give the total reserves to be 193800 Mt and the proved reserves to be 64 800 Mt. This value is about 6 per cent of the world’s proved reserves. Table 1.3 Coal Reserves in India (in Mt)* Year Proved reserves _, Indicated and Total reserves inferred reserves 1972 21 360 59590 80 950 1981 27912 87 490 115 402 1985 35 030 120 870 155 900 1992 64 800 129 000 193 800 Source: Geological Survey of India News Using the variation shown in Fig. 1.2, estimates have been made of the time when the production would pass through a maximum. TheseIntroduction 13 240 200 a Production rate (Mt / yr) 8 8 N Z| 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Year Fig. 1.6 Annual Production of Coal in India (Sources: 1. Report of the Energy Survey Committee of India 1965. 2. Draft Five Year Plan 1978-1983. 3. Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, United Nations, New York.) show that coal production in India may be expected to peak between 2040 AD and 2080 AD. These predictions are not very different from those made for the world as a whole. Although India’s reserves of coal are large, there are a number of problems which need to be noted. The first is the high ash content in the coal. Very often this is as much as 30 to 40 per cent. In the absence of beneficiation, the high ash content adds to the transportation cost and places an undue burden on the equipment in which the coal is14 Solar Energy used. A second problem associated with Indian coal is the fact that reserves of coking* coal are limited. Thus although coal production has been increasing at the rate of 7 per cent in the eighties, the production of coking coal has remained more or less stagnant. oll Figure 1.7 presents data on the annual consumption of petroleum products in India from 1951 onwards. It also shows the variation in the domestic production of crude oil and the import of crude over the years. In 1951, the consumption of petroleum products was only 3.89 Mt, most of which were imported. In contrast to this, the consumption was 17.59 Mt in 1970, 30.90 Mt in 1980 and 57.9 Mt in 1990 with most of the products being refined in India. From 1951 to 1970, the annual increase in the consumption was 8.3 per cent, from 1970 to 1980, it was 5.8 per cent, while from 1980 to 1990, it was 6.5 per cent. The continuous increase in the consumption of petroleum products is a source of worry, because a substantial part of the crude oil required for refining has to be imported. This import costs the country thousands of crores of rupees every year. The import of crude oil is proving to be necessary in spite of the dramatic increase in the domestic production of crude as seen in Fig. 1.7. In 1951, domestic production was only 0.27 Mt. It rose sharply in the sixties with discoveries of oil onshore in Assam and Gujarat, and was a little over 7 Mt from 1971 to 1974. Thereafter it again increased considerably with discoveries offshore (in regions like Bom- bay High) and was 33.3 Mt in 1990. Present indications are that domestic production of crude may not increase much. Thus the country will have to resort to increasing imports of crude oil if the demand for petroleum products keeps on increasing. The position regarding reserves is rather uncertain. Proved recoverable reserves were estimated to be 366 Mt in 1980 and to be 758 Mt in 19907. Extensive prospecting is in progress and there is hope that more oil will be discovered offshore. In the event that no substantial discoveries are being made, the position is rather serious. The present domestic production cannot be sustained for more than 25 years. *Coke is the name given to the product obtained by heating powdered coal in a closed chamber so that the volatile matter is driven off. It is required in various metallurgical industries, particularly the iron and steel industry. Forms of coal which are suitable for being converted into coke are referred to as coking coal. vIndia 1991, Research and Reference Division, Ministry of Information and Broad- casting.Introduction 15 Production / Import / Consumption (Mt/ yr) 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Year Fig. 1.7 Annual Production, Import and Consumption of Oil in India. 1. Domestic Production of Crude, 2. Import of Crude, 3. Con- sumption of Products (Sources: 1. Annual Reports, Ministry of Petroleum and Chemicals. 2. Draft Five Year Plan 1978-1983. 3. Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, United Nations, New York. 4. Annual Reports, Ministry of Steel and Mines. 5. Annual Reports, Ministry of Energy. 6. Urja, 26(5), 47 (1989). 7. Statistical Review of World Energy, British Petroleum. 8. The Hindu.) Natural Gas Figure 1.8 presents data on the annual useful production of natural16 Solar Energy Production rate (109 m3 / yr) 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Year Fig. 1.8 Annual Production of Natural Gas in india (Sources: 1. Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, United Nations, New York. 2. Annual Reports, Ministry of Steel and Mines.) gas in India from 1969 onwards. In 1969, the production was only 0.516 billion m’. It did not change much till 1973. However, subsequently the annual increase in production has been quite large and has an average value of 18.2 per cent. Proved recoverable reserves of natural gas was estimated to be 352 billion m* in 1980 and 686 billion m° in 1990*. Major gas fields have been discovered in the seventies and eighties, and the prospects *india 1991, Research and Reference Division, Ministry of Information and Broad- casting.Introduction 17 of finding more gas reserves are good. Thus the present indications are that the gas production will increase and that the reserves of gas will last longer than oil. One of the major problems concerning natural gas in India is that a significant amount is in the form of associated gas. This gas is often flared because facilities for using it have not been developed. The data presented in Fig. 1.8 does not show the flared quantities. 1.3.2. Water Power Data on the installed capacity of water power and electricity produced for some selected representative years is presented in Table 1.4. It will be seen that the installed capacity was only 560 MW at the beginning of the first Five Year Plan in 1951. It increased rapidly in the fifties and sixties at an average rate of about 14 per cent. Thereafter the growth rate was slower. Nevertheless, over a forty year time span, the installed capacity increased at an average rate of about 9 per cent. Table 1.4 Installed Water Power Capacity and Electricity Produced in India 1951 1961 1966 1969 1976 1980 1985 1990 Installed capacity 560 1917” 4090° 5910° 9115* 11 794° 15 715° 18 590° (MW) Electricity produced — — — — — 46557° 58 001°67 089° (GWh) (Sources: 1. National Paper—India, Proc. UN Confererce on New and Renewable Sources of Energy, Nairobi, Aug. 1981. 2. Annual Report, Ministry of Energy. 3. Ministry of Irrigation and Power, Central Water and Power Commission, Feb. 1974. 4, Draft Five Year Plan 1978-83, Planning Commission. 5. Vidyut Bharati, 1991. 6. Energy Statistics Yearbook 1985, United Nations, New York.) The water power reserves of India have been estimated by the Central Water and Power Commission. It is estimated that there is potential for installing 41 180 MW. The breakup is shown in Table 1.5. It is evident that only about half of the potential has been used so far and that there is considerable scope for generating more power by hydroelectricity. This is particularly true in the Brahmaputra basin where much of the reserve lies untapped. A further point which is worth making is that the above estimates are made on a conservative basis and are based on sites within India. ‘ies for collaboration with neighbouring countries like Nepal18 Solar Energy have not been considered. Keeping these facts in mind, it is quite likely that the available potential may be much higher and of the order of 80 000 to 100 000 MW. Table 1.5 Water Power Potential in India* Region Potential (MW) Ganges basin 4890 Indus basin 6580 Brahmaputra basin 12.490 Central India 4290 South India 12.930 Total 41180 *Government of India, Report of the Energy Survey of India Committee (1965). 1.3.3 Nuclear Power The installed capacity of nuclear power plants in India in 1993 is as shown in Table 1.6. Table 1.6 Installed Nuclear Power in India in 1993 Location Capacity (MW) Tarapur (Maharashtra) 2x 160 = 320 Rana Pratap Sagar (Rajasthan) 2x 220= 440 Kalpakkam (Tamil Nadu) 2x 235 =470 Narora (Uttar Pradesh) 2x 235 = 470 Kakrapara (Gujarat) 1x 235 = 235 Total 1935 In addition one unit of 235 MW is likely to be operational at Kakrapara soon, while two units of 235 MW are under construction in Kaiga in Karnataka. With the exception of Tarapur (which has boiling water reactors), all the other power stations have pressurized heavy water reactors using natural uranium as the fuel. When the units at Kaiga are commissioned, the total installed capacity in the country will be 2640 MW. This will still be a small fraction (less than 3 per cent) of the total installed electrical power in the country. Earlier, ambitious plans had been drawn up to have an installed nuclear capacity of 10000 MW by the turn of the century. However this is unlikely to happen now. Data on the electricity production from nuclear power is plotted in Fig. 1.9. It is seen that although the electricity production has beer generally increasing over the years, as more units are getting commis-Introduction 19 Electricity produced (10° GWh) 0 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Year Fig. 1.9 Electricity Production from Nuclear Power in India (Sources: 1. Energy Statistics Yearbook 1983 and 1985, United Nations, New York. 2. Vidyut Bharati, 3. Annual Reports, Department of Atomic Energy.) sioned, there have been sharp falls in production in certain years when some units have been down. India’s resources of uranium are not extensive. It is estimated that proved recoverable reserves are around 50 000 t with perhaps another 20 000 t of recoverable resources. It is easy to show that the proved recoverable reserves would only be adequate for providing the require-20 Solar Energy ments of the projected installed capacity of 10000 MW for about 25 years. 1.3.4 Annual Production of Energy Following the procedure described in Sec. 1.2.4, we will now calculate the energy content associated with the production or consumption figures for different sources of commercial energy used in India. The calculations are performed for the year 1985 and are presented in Table 1.7. It is seen that the total energy production is 5473 x 10° J. Once again the dominant role played by fossil fuels in the energy sector is apparent. Nearly 95 per cent of India’s requirement of commercial energy is being met by fossil fuels, with coal contributing nearly 60 per cent, and oil and natural gas contributing about 35 per cent. Water power and nuclear power contribute only about 5 per cent to the total energy production. Comparing the total energy production in India from commercial sources with that of the world, we see that it is only 1.9 per cent of the total world production. Table 1.7 Energy Production from Commercial Energy Sources in India—Year 1985 Energy Production/ Energy equivalent. Per cent source consumption fin 10% J) contribution Coal 157 Mt 3221 58.85 Oil 42 Mt 1758 32.12 Natural gas 4.688 x 10’ m? 183 3.34 Water power 58 001 GWh 246 4.49 Nuclear power 4505 GWh 65 1.19 Total 5473 100.00 1.4 ENERGY ALTERNATIVES 1.4.1 The Need for Alternatives Based on the preceding survey, it will now be possible to make some observations and draw some conclusions for the world as a whole. Fossil Fuels 1. The production of oil appears to have touched a maximum around 1980 and is now slowly declining. On the other hand, the production of natural gas is still increasing. Present indica-introduction 21 tions are that most of the reserves of oil and natural gas are likely to be consumed in another 50 years. 2. As oil and natural gas become scarcer, a greater emphasis will fall on coal. It is likely that the production of coal will touch a maximum somewhere between the years 2030 and 2060 and that 80 per cent of the amount available could be consumed by 2250 AD. 3. It should also be noted that in addition to supplying energy, fossil fuels are used extensively as feedstock material for the manufac- ture of organic chemicals. As reserves deplete, the need for using fossil fuels exclusively for such purposes may become greater. Water Power There is considerable scope for increasing the capacity of water power all over the world. Water power is indirectly obtained from solar energy and has the advantage of being a renewable source of energy. Nuclear Power The position regarding uranium is serious if we continue to use it as at present in burner reactors. It is thus fairly evident that a need exists for developing alternative energy sources. The immediate need would be to alleviate the problems caused by the depletion of oi] and natural gas, while the long term need would be to develop means to replace presently used nuclear fission technology and then coal. These conclusions are applicable for India also. The primary sources of alternative energy which hold potential for the future can be broadly classified under four categories. These are* 1. the solar option, 2. the nuclear option, 3. tar sands and oil shale, and 4, miscellaneous sources Work is in progress in many parts of the world on all these alternatives. In the remaining part of this chapter, we shall briefly describe the various energy alternatives. It is hoped that these descriptions will help the reader to acquire a broad perspective of the energy problem, before we focus our attention from the next chapter onwards on the *In addition to the primary sources listed, there are many secondary alternatives. These sources are different in the sense that they require a primary source or one of the existing sources of energy for their production. A good example of a secondary source is hydrogen, which has to be produced from water. Hydrogen may well be the liquid fuel of the future for transportation purposes.22 Solar Energy solar energy option and more specifically direct thermal methods for utilizing solar energy. 1.4.2. The Solar Option Solar energy is a very large, inexhaustible source of energy. The power from the sun intercepted by the earth is approximately 1.8 x 10" MW, which is many thousands of times larger than the present consumption rate on the earth of all commercial energy sources. Thus, in principle, solar energy could supply all the present and future energy needs of the world on a continuing basis. This makes it one of the most promising of the unconventional energy sources. In addition to its size, solar energy has two other factors in its favour. Firstly, unlike fossil fuels and nuclear power, it is an environ- mentally clean source of energy. Secondly, it is free and available in adequate quantities in almost all parts of the world where people live. However, there are many problems associated with its use. The main problem is that it is a dilute source of energy. Even in the hottest regions on earth, the solar radiation flux available rarely exceeds 1 kW/m” and the total radiation over a day is at best about 7 kWh/ m?. These are low values from the point of view of technological utilization. Consequently, large collecting areas are required in many applications and these result in excessive costs. Asecond problem associated with the use of solar energy is that its availability varies widely with time. The variation in availability occurs daily because of the day-night cycle and also seasonally because of the earth's orbit around the sun. In addition, variations occur at a specific location because of local weather conditions. Consequently, the energy collected when the sun is shining must be stored for use during periods when it is not available. The need for storage also adds significantly to the cost of any system. Thus, the real challenge in utilizing solar energy as an energy alternative is of an economic nature. One has to strive for the development of cheaper methods of collection and storage so that the large initial investments required at present in most applications are reduced. A broad classification of the various methods of solar energy utilization is given in Table 1.8. It can be seen that the energy from the sun can be used directly and indirectly. The direct means include thermal and photovoltaic conversion, while the indirect means include the use of water power", the winds, biomass, wave energy and the temperature differences in the ocean. * Water power is at present the only commercial solar option. It will not be discussed in this book since the technology for its use is relatively conventional and well established.Introduction 23 | Table 1.8 Classification of Methods for Solar Energy Utilization | Soler Energy Utilization Direct Methods Indirect Methods Thermal Photovoltaic Water Wind Biomass Wave Ocean Power Energy Temperature Differences 1.4.3. The Nuclear Option Under the nuclear option, the two alternatives under study are 1. the breeder reactor, and 2. nuclear fusion. The Breeder Reactor In order to understand the working of a breeder reactor, it is necessary to describe the fission reactions in a little detail. Naturally occurring uranium contains three isotopes, U2, U*® and Us ‘The relative percentages of these isotopes are as follows: 0.006 per cent, 0.711 per cent, U*® 99.283 per cent. Of these isotopes, only U** undergoes spontaneous fission when subjected to bombardment by slow neutrons. It is in fact the only naturally occurring fissile material. The fission reaction which occurs is shown in Fig. 1.10. The break-up of U** when subjected to neutron U ye8 U5 (piso. + (Neutrons) + (Energy released) Moderator to slow down neutrons Fig. 1.10 Fission Reaction of U?* bombardment yields fission prodt.ts, neutrons and the release of a large amount of energy as heat (8.2x10’kJ per g of U”"5). The24 Solar Energy neutrons are slowed down by a moderator, and used to bombard the U? nucleus again, thereby setting up a controlled chain reaction. A nuclear reactor working on the above reaction and utilizing only U*> is called a burner reactor. All reactors working in present day nuclear power plants are essentially burner reactors and thus waste the abundant U" isotope present in naturally occurring uranium. Although U2" is not a fissile material, it is a fertile material, ie. it can be converted by neutron bombardment into a fissile material, plutonium 239. Similarly, naturally occurring thorium 232 is also a fertile material. It can be converted into U** which is fissile material. Both these reactions are shown in Fig. 1.11. 238 py 239 (Fissees + (Neutrons) + Energy feleased | Fission Th282 me j233 (Frost + (Neutrons) +( Energy released ) Fig. 1.11 Breeder Reactions for U® and Th? It will be seen that the neutrons generated by the fission reaction serve two purposes. They help in converting a fertile material to a fissile material and also sustain the fission reaction for the fissile material formed. The above reactions are called breeder reactions if they produce more fissile material than they consume, and the nuclear reactor in which they are caused to occur is called a breeder reactor. Breeding is achieved by having both fissile and fertile materials in the reactor core under conditions which provide enough neutrons to propagate a chain reaction in the fissile material as well as to convert more fertile material into fissile material than was originally present. Thus, a breeder reactor working on the U* to Pu?" cycle utilizes naturally occurring uranium almost completely and thereby helps to extend the supply of uranium by a factor of about 100. Similarly, a breeder reactor working on the Th” to U* cycle helps in utilizing the vast thorium resources of the world.Introduction 25 For India, the Th”? to U** breeder cycle is of particular significance, because of fairly large deposits of thorium in the monazite beach sands in Kerala. It is estimated that India has reasonably assured supplies of 300 000 t of monazite containing 7 to 9 per cent of thorium.* Reactors working on various breeder cycles have been built. However, the major effort has been on liquid-metal cooled, fast breeder reactors working on the U2" to Pu?"® cycle. In the seventies, it appeared that breeder reactors would be in commercial operation by the turn of the century. However, fears of nuclear accidents, difficulties associated with radioactive waste disposal and the possibility of plutonium being misused for weapons have caused the breeder development programme to be -losed or to be slowed down in some countries. In India, a fast breeder test reactor (FBTR) with a capacity of 40 MW (thermal) and 13.2 MW (electrical) is being commissioned in stages at Kalpakkam. The reactor is cooled by liquid sodium and uses a mixed carbide of uranium and plutonium as the fuel. At the moment, a small core with a capacity of 8 MW (thermal) is being tested. The successful operation of the FBTR will be followed by the construction and operation of a 500 MW (electrical) prototype fast breeder reactor, which is currently in the design stage. Nuclear Fusion In nuclear fusion, energy is released by joining very light atoms. If the current research on controlled fusion is eventually successful, and fusion reactors are built, they could provide the ultimate solution to the world’s energy problem. The reactions of interest involve the fusing of the heavy isotopes of hydrogen (deuterium D and tritium T) into the next heavier element, viz. helium. They are as follows D+D—>T +p+ 40 MeV (1.2) D+ D —>‘*He +n+ 32 MeV (1.3) D+ T > ‘He +n+176 MeV (1.4) D + *He > ‘He + p + 18.3 MeV (1.5) 6D 2 ‘He + 2p + 2n+ 43.1 MeV (1.6) Equations (1.2) and (1.3) show that two nuclei of deuterium can fuse in two ways. Both ways are equally probabie. In the first, tritium and one proton are formed, while in the second, helium-3 and one neutron are formed. The energy released by the fusion reaction is as indicated. Tritium is unstable and combines with deuterium to form helium-4 and one neutron, Eq. (1.4), while helium-3 combines with deuterium *Survey of Energy Resources 1974, op. cit,, p. 213.26 Solar Energy to form helium-4 and one proton, Eq. (1.5). The net result, Eq. (1.6), is the addition of all the four reactions. It indicates that six deuterium nuclei are converted to two helium-4 nuclei, two protons and two neutrons with an energy release of 43.1 MeV. Eqs (1.2) and (1.3) are referred to as the D-D reactions, Eq. (1.4) as the D-T reaction and Eq. (1.5) as the D-*He reaction. Deuterium occurs naturally in sea water and it is estimated that the fusion of all the deuterium in just one cubic metre of sea water would yield an energy of 12x 10° kJ. Thus the fusion of deuterium represents an essentially inexhaustible source of energy. A fusion reaction can be self-sustaining only if the rate at which energy is lost from the reacting fuel is less than the rate at which energy is generated by the fusion reaction. This is only possible above a certain critical temperature which is estimated to be of the order of 10° K for the above mentioned reactions. Thus the key problems in the development of a nuclear fusion reactor are the attainment of the required high temperature by initially heating the fuel charge and the confinement of the heated fuel for a long enough time for the reaction to become self-sustaining. The research being conducted to solve these problems is proceeding broadly along two conceptual directions—magnetic confinement and laser induced fusion. In the first concept, the fuel charge (in the form of a charged particle gas composed of positively charged nuclei and free electrons) is contained in a hermetically sealed vacuum chamber and is heated to the required high temperature by passing an electric current through it. At this temperature, the fusion reactions can take place successfully only if the gas is confined within a certain volume for a specified time and not allowed to come into contact with the containing chamber’s walls. This confinement is achieved by the application of a very strong, specially shaped magnetic field. In the second concept, the fuel charge is in the form of very small pellets. These are positioned one by one at a specific location and subjected to intense focussed laser beams which heat the pellets to the required temperature and cause fusion to occur. By adopting this method, the confinement time is substantially reduced and the need for a magnetic field is removed. Of the reactions given in Eqs (1.2)-(1.5), the D-T reaction takes place at the lowest temperature, about 10’ K. It is therefore the least demanding in terms of its heating and confinement requirements. Attention has been focussed on using this fact. It has been suggested that since tritium does not occur naturally, the D-T reaction should be supplemented by one using lithium as follows D+ T > ‘He + n +176 MeV (1.4) n + ‘Lim ‘He + T+ 48 MeV (17) D + ‘Li 2*He + 22.4 MeV (1.8)Introduction 27 Thus it appears likely that the D-T reaction in association with lithium will be exploited first for achieving controlled nuclear fusion. However its use will be limited by the availability of lithium. Intensive research in nuclear fusion is in progress in all the technologically advanced nations. Although no research group has as yet come close to achieving the conditions mentioned, significant advances have been made in the last few years. 1.4.4 Tar Sands and Oil Shale As supplies of crude oil are getting depleted, attention is increasingly being focussed on two naturally occurring sources, called tar sands and oil shale. Tar sands is an expression generally used to describe porous sandstone deposits impregnated with heavy viscous oils called bitu- men. Fairly large deposits of tar sands are found in many countries. There are no major technical problems involved in the production of synthetic crude oil from these sands and commercial production on a large scale may begin as supplies of naturally occurring crude oil dwindle. In fact, production on a small scale has been going on in Canada since 1967. Aschematic diagram indicating the processes involved in producing synthetic crude oil from tar sands is shown in Fig. 1.12. The sands obtained from surface mining are first passed through a conditioning drum where water, steam and caustic soda are added and a slurry is formed. The slurry passes into a separation tank where the coarse sand settles at the bottom and a froth of bitumen, water and fine mineral matter forms on the top. The froth is diluted with naphtha and subjected to centrifugal action. As a result, fine mineral matter and water is removed. After this, the naphtha is recovered and recycled, and the bitumen obtained is subjected to hydroprocessing and desul- phurization to produce synthetic crude oil. Estimates of the world’s resources of the oil available in tar sands have ranged from 2500 to 6000 billion barrels. Of these, 5 to 25 per cent may be recoverable. Assuming a value of 15 per cent and using the higher estimate of 6000 billion barrels, the recoverable reserves come out to be 900 billion barrels, a value comparable to the currently estimated oil reserves of 1000 billion barrels. The largest deposits of tar sands are in Canada and Venezuela. No significant deposits have been located in India. The term ‘oil shale’ refers to a finely textured rock mixed with a solid organic material called kerogen. When the oil shale is heated, the kerogen decomposes and yields crude oil. A schematic diagram indicat- ing the processes involved is shown in Fig. 1.13. Pilot plants for producing crude oil from oil shale have been in operation in a few28 Solar Energy Water steam Saystic Hydro- processing/ desulphu- tization Sand Fine mineral Synthetic matter and crude oil water Fig. 1.12 Production of Synthetic Crude Oil from Tar Sands Heat Oil shale Crusher Retort Crude Spent oil shale Fig. 1.13 Production of Crude Oil from Oil Shale countries for many years and some commerical production is also going on. The world’s deposits of oi] shale are quite large. High grade knownIntroduction 29 reserves expected to yield 25 to 100 gallons per ton of shale are alone estimated to be about 900 billion barrels. Total resources of this yield quality may contain as much as 17000 billion barrels. India has significant resources in the north east. It is estimated that these could yield about 500 billion barrels, an amount hundred times the present proved oil reserves. One major problem associated with the use of both tar sands and oil shale is the environmental degradation associated with surface mining and with the disposal of large amounts of sand and spent shale rock which remain after the crude oil is obtained. This problem would need careful attention if either of these energy alternatives is to be used on a large scale in the future. 1.4.5 Miscellaneous Sources Two other sources of energy, which are attracting increasing attention, will now be mentioned. These are: 1. tidal energy, and 2. geothermal energy. Tidal Energy ‘Tides are generated primarily by the gravitational attraction between the earth and the moon. They arise twice a day. In mid-ocean, the tidal range is only a metre or less, but in some coastal estuaries, it is much greater. This is due to the amplification of the tidal wave as it moves up the narrowing channel of the estuary. Basically, in a tidal power station, water at high tide is first trapped in an artificial basin and then allowed to escape at low tide, The escaping water is used to drive water turbines which in turn drive electrical generators. Jeffreys* has estimated that the rate of tidal energy dissipation for the world is about 3 x 10° MW. However, only a small fraction of this can be exploited since, for practical purposes, one needs a certain minimum difference of level between the high and low tides. In addition, the geography of a location has to be suitable from the point of view of the civil construction involved. Hubbert? has compiled the available information on favourable locations and the tidal power which can be generated at each of them, and estimates that a maximum capacity of 63 800 MW can be harnessed. Some of the major sites are in the Bay of Fundy in North America, in the White Sea in *H. Jeffreys, “Tidal Friction”, Nature 246, 346 (1973). +MK. Hubbert, Resources and Man (Chapter 8), W.H. Freeman and Co, (1969).30 Solar Energy USSR, and in Mont Saint-Michel in France. It is to be noted therefore that tidal power is a small resource and can at best supply the localized needs of a few regions. The first commercial tidal power station in the world was con- structed in France in 1965 across the mouth of the La Rance estuary. It has a capacity of 240 MW. The average tidal range at La Rance is 8.4 m and the dam built across the estuary encloses an area of 22 km“. In India, three potential regions for exploiting tidal energy have been identified. These are the gulfs of Cambay and Kutch in Gujarat and the Hooghly Estuary in West Bengal. The variation of the tidal range at four sites in these regions is given in Table 1.9. Table 1.9 Variation of the Tidal Range at Four Possible Sites in India . Spring tide Neap tide Site pongo Gn) angela), Average (m) Bhavnagar 10.29 3.60 7.00 (Gulf of Cambay) Navlakhi TAT 3.74 5.45 (Gulf of Kutch) Kandla 6.32 3.68 5.00 (Gulf of Kutch) Sagar 4.71 1.40 3.06 (Hooghly Estuary) The figures in Table 1.9 indicate that there is scope for developing tidal power plants at these sites. Large scale plants are possible in Cambay and Kutch, while only small scale plants can be developed in West Bengal. A techno-economic feasibility report for a tidal power scheme to generate 900 MW in the Gulf of Kutch has been prepared. Geothermal Energy Geothermal energy is energy coming out of the molten interior of the earth towards the surface. The average rate at which this heat emerges is about 0.05 W/m?, while the radial temperature gradient which causes this heat flow is about 0.03°C per metre. Thus, on an average, the temperature of the earth increases by 30°C per kilometre as one moves inwards. Because of non-homogeneities in the earth’s crust, there are numer- ous local hot spots just below the surface where the temperature is in fact much higher than the average value expected. Ground waterIntroduction 31 comes into contact with the hot rocks in some of these locations and as a result, either dry steam or wet steam and water are formed. A well drilled to these locations causes the dry or wet steam to emerge at the surface where its energy can be utilized either for generating electricity or for space heating. The first geothermal power plant was erected at Larderello in Italy in 1904. Over the years, more plants have been installed in the region, with the installed capacity being 504 MW in 1992. The largest concentration of geothermal power stations is in the Geysers area in California, USA. Here the installed capacity in 1992 was 2212 MW. For the world as a whole the total installed capacity in 1992 was 5092 MW. An estimate of the amount of electricity which could be generated from geothermal dry or wet steam sources all over the world has been made by White*. This estimate indicates that about 62 500 MW could be generated for a period of 50 years. Although this is a sizeable amount when compared to the present installed capacity, it is a small resource when viewed in the overall perspective of the power needs of the world. Thus, this source of geothermal energy can at best sustain a large number of small power plants in certain regions and take care of the power needs of these regions. The geothermal resource, which is really large, is the heat stored locally at depths of 1 or 2 km in the earth’s mantle in hot dry rocks with which water has not come into contact. Utilization of these sources requires development of techniques for artificial fracture of the rocks, the injection of water into the fractures and subsequent recovery of the steam for driving turbines. In India, geothermal resources in the form of steam and hot water are known to exist along the West Coast, in Ladakh, and in parts of Himachal Pradesh. However, no firm estimates of their potential for generating electricity are available. 1.4.6 Comparisons It will be useful to end this chapter by comparing the various energy alternatives in terms of the energy available for utilization. The comparison is presented in Table 1.10, the energy alternatives being classified under three categories, 1. very large, 2. large, and 3. relatively small *PE. White, “Geothermal Energy”, US Geological Survey Circular 519, Washington, DC (1965).32 Solar Energy Table 1.10 A Comparison of Energy Alternatives in Terms of Their Magnitudes Renewable (RY Category Source Non-renewable (NR) Very large Nuclear fusion NR Large Solar energy—indirect R Breeder reactor NR Oil shale NR Tar sands NR Relatively small Solar energy—direct R Tidal energy R Geothermal energy NR We define a ‘very large’ source as one which has the potential to generate many times the present world’s requirement of power for many hundreds of years. The nuclear fusion alternative is such a source, since the deuterium required is virtually inexhaustible. The deuterium is of course non-renewable, but that factor does not seem to be relevant in view of the amount available. A large’ source is one which has the capacity to generate the power requirements of the world either on a continuing basis if it is renewable, or for a time span of the order of fifty or a hundred years if it is non-renewable. The indirect utilization of solar energy through water power, wind energy, bio-mass, etc. can be classified as a ‘large’ renewable source. On the other hand, alternatives like the breeder reactor, oil shale and tar sands are also ‘large’ sources, but non-renewable. A ‘relatively small’ source is one which can only meet the power requirements of certain specific regions or communities either ona continuing basis if it is renewable, or for a time span of the order of fifty or a hundred years if it is non-renewable. The direct utilization of solar energy via the thermal or photovoltaic route, or tidal energy can be classified under this category. Both these sources are also renewable. In contrast, geothermal energy also comes under this category, but is non-renewable.The Solar Energy Option—An Overview of Thermal Applications In Chapter 1, the solar energy option has been identified as one of the promising alternative energy sources for the future. The nature of this source, its magnitude and its characteristics have been described, and a classification of the various methods—direct and indirect—for utiliz- ing solar energy has been given. In this chapter, attention will be focussed on the direct thermal approach. Various devices used for thermal collection and storage will be described in brief. This will be followed by an overview of a number of solar thermal applications in many of which these devices are used Other methods for utilizing solar energy through photovoltaic conversion, wind energy, etc. will be described in Chapter 10. 2.1 DEVICES FOR THERMAL COLLECTION AND STORAGE In any collection device, the principle usually followed is to expose a dark surface to solar radiation so that the radiation is absorbed. A part of the absorbed radiation is then transferred to a fluid like air or water.34 Solar Energy When no optical concentration is done, the device in which the collection is achieved is called a flat-plate collector. The flat-plate collector is the most important type of solar collector because it is simple in design, has no moving parts and requires little maintenance. It can be used for a variety of applications in which temperatures ranging from 40°C to about 100°C are required. A schematic diagram of a liquid flat-plate collector is shown in Fig. 2.1. As stated earlier, it consists of an absorber plate on which the solar radiation falls after coming through one or more transparent covers (usually made of glass). The absorbed radiation is partly transferred to a liquid flowing through tubes which are fixed to the absorber plate or are integral with it. This energy transfer is the useful gain. The remaining part of the radiation absorbed in the absorber plate is lost by convection and re-radiation to the surroundings from the top surface, and by conduction through the back and the edges. The transparent covers help in reducing the losses by convection and re-radiation, while thermal insulation on the back and the edges helps in reducing the conduction heat loss. The liquid most commonly used is water. A liquid flat-plate collector is usually held tilted in a fixed position on a supporting structure, facing south if located in the northern hemisphere. It is discussed in detail in Chapter 4. Fluid passage Beam radiation Diffuse Absorber plate radiation WY Transparent cover Thermal insulation Casing Fig. 2.1 Liquid Flat-plate Collector A schematic cross-section of a conventional flat-plate collector for heating air (commonly referred to as a solar air heater) is shown in Fig. 2.2. The construction of such a collector is essentially similar to that of a liquid flat-plate collector except for the passages through which the air flows. These passages have to be made larger in order to keep the pressure drop across the collector within manageable limits. In the diagram shown, the air passage is simply a parallel plate duct. The solar air heater is discussed further in Chapter 5. When temperatures higher than 100°C are required, it becomesThe Solar Energy Option—An Overview of Thermal Applications 35 Transparent cover Insulation Absorber plate Supportin: stand Fig. 2.2 Solar Air Heater necessary to concentrate the radiation. This is achieved using focussing orconcentrating collectors. A schematic diagram of a typical concentrat- ing collector is shown in Fig. 2.3. The collector consists of a concentrator ; Drive motor- Receiver (Absorber tube with Gearbox Pivoting receiver concentric glass cover) assembly unit * Foundation Cylindrical parabolic concentrator Fig. 2.3 Cylindrical Parabolic Concentrating Collector and a receiver. The concentrator shown is a mirror reflector having the shape of a cylindrical parabola. It focusses the sunlight onto its axis, where it is absorbed on the surface of the absorber tube and transferred to the fluid flowing through it. A concentric glass cover around the absorber tube helps in reducing the convective and radiative losses to the surroundings. In order that the sun’s rays should always be focussed36 Solar Energy onto the absorber tube, the concentrator has to be rotated. This movement is called tracking. In the case of cylindrical parabolic concentrators, rotation about a single axis is generally required. Fluid temperatures up to 400°C can be achieved in cylindrical parabolic focussing collector systems. The generation of still higher working temperatures is possible by using paraboloid reflectors (Fig. 2.4) which have a point focus. These require two-axis tracking so that the sun is in line with the focus and the vertex of the paraboloid. Concentrating collectors are described in Chapter 6. Receiver Polar drive jackscrew Supporting base Counter weight Fig. 2.4 Paraboloid Concentrating Collector As stated earlier, one of the major problems associated with the utilization of solar energy is its variability. For this reason, most applications require some type of energy storage system. The purpose of such a system is to store energy when it is in excess of the requirement of an application and to make it available for extraction when the supply of solar energy is absent or inadequate. Energy storage can be in various forms—thermal, electrical, mechanical or chemical. Thermal energy can be stored as sensible heat or as latent heat. Sensible heat storageThe Solar Energy Option—An Overview of Thermal Applications 37 is usually done in an insulated container containing a liquid like water or a porous solid in the form of pebbles or rocks (Fig. 2.5). The first type is preferred with liquid collectors, while the second type is compatible with air heaters. In the case of latent heat storage, heat is stored in a substance when it melts and extracted when the substance freezes. Sensible heat storage systems operate over a range of temperatures, while latent heat storage systems operate essentially at the tempera- ture at which the phase change takes place. Both these forms of thermal storage are analysed in Chapter 7. From solar Toload collectors Insulated reste 2 Insulate \ iqui les container _.| Higuid Insulated container N Screen ~ < { To collectors From load (a) (b) Fig. 2.5 Schematics of Two Forms of Sensible Heat Storage—(a) Liquid, (b) Porous Solid Other forms of storage are possible if the application involves some energy conversion process. For example, if mechanical work is being obtained after conversion, storage could be done in large sized fly- wheels or in compressed air. It has been suggested that compressed air could be stored in large underground chambers. Similarly, if electrical power is being obtained after conversion, storage could be in the form of electric batteries. Many types of electric batteries are used for the purpose, the most common being lead-acid batteries.38 Solar Energy An alternative scheme for storage, which is also receiving consider- able attention, is the utilization of solar energy for the production of hydrogen, which can be used subsequently whenever desired as a fuel. Hydrogen can be stored in gaseous form in pressure vessels, in liquid form in cryogenic containers or in the form of metallic hydrides. Hydrogen is a very clean fuel from an environmental standpoint. In liquid form, it also has the advantage of providing a large amount of energy per unit volume. Anovel device which combines the functions of both collection and storage is the solar pond. It consists of an expanse of water about a metre or two in depth in which salts like sodium or magnesium chloride are dissolved. The concentration of the salt is more at the bottom and less at the top. Because of this, the bottom layers of water are denser than the surface layers even if they are hotter and natural convection does not occur. Thus, the heat from the sun's rays absorbed at the bottom of the pond is retained in the lower depths, and the upper layers of water act like a thermal insulation. The solar pond is taken up for detailed consideration in Chapter 8. 2.2. THERMAL APPLICATIONS We will now survey a number of thermal applications. These are, (1) water heating (2) space heating (3) power generation (4) space cooling and refrigeration (5) distillation (6) drying, and (7) cooking It may be noted that most of the above applications use one or more of the devices described in Sec. 2.1. It may also be noted that applications 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 use the heat energy collected from solar radiation directly, while applications 3 and 4 use the collected heat in thermodynamic cycles to obtain work in one case and cooling in the other. 2.2.1 Water Heating We begin with descriptions of water-heating systems because solar water heating is one of the most attractive solar thermal applications from an economic standpoint. In many countries of the world, it is already competing on equal terms with systems using other energy sources. A diagram of a simple, small capacity, natural circulation system, suitable for domestic purposes, is shown in Fig. 2.6 (also refer PhotoPlate 1 Photo 1 Forced Circulation Flat-plate Collector Water Heating System. Note the Use of Booster Mirrors for Achieving Higher Temperatures (Courtesy: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., Corporate R and D, Hyderabad) Photo2 Domestic Natural Circulation Solar Water Heater. Capacity : 100 Litres Per Day (Courtesy: NRG Technologists, Vadodara)aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.The Solar Energy Option—An Overview of Thermal Applications 39 Hot water for use Insulated stora; tank ge Cold water in Fig. 2.6 Small Capacity Natural Circulation Water Heating System No, 2). The two main components of the system are the liquid flat-plate collector and the storage tank, the tank being located above the level of the collector. As water in the collector is heated by solar energy, it flows automatically to the top of the water tank and it is replaced by cold water from the bottom of the tank. Hot water for use is withdrawn from the top of the tank. Whenever this is done, cold water automatically enters at the bottom. An auxiliary heating system is sometimes provided for use on cloudy or rainy days. Solar water heating is a good example to illustrate one of the assets of the direct use of solar energy which has not been mentioned so far. This is the possibility of matching the temperature achieved in the heating device (in this case the flat-plate collector) with the tempera- ture required for end use. As a result of this matching, the ther- modynamic efficiency based on considerations of availability of energy can be shown to be higher in the case of a solar water heating system than a water heating system using natural gas or electricity. Solar water heaters of the natural circulation (thermosyphon) type were used fairly widely in many countries from the beginning of the twentieth century till about 1940 until cheap oil and natural gas became available. Now they are being installed again. They are in widespread use in countries like Israel, Australia and Japan. In India, the market for domestic solar water heating systems has been steadily growing in the last decade. It is estimated that about 10000 systems had been installed by the end of 1992. Most of theaa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.The Solar Energy Option—An Overview of Thermal Applications 41 the storage tank. The pump is switched on whenever this difference exceeds a certain value and off when it falls below a certain value. Provision is also usually made for an auxiliary heater. In Fig. 2.8, the auxiliary heater is shown as an immersion heater located in the storage tank. Often it is located on the hot water line leading out of the storage tank. Solar water systems of the type shown in Fig. 2.8 are well suited for factories, hospitals, hotels, offices, etc. About 5000 units have been installed in India in the last decade. The total collector area of all solar water heating systems currently installed in the country is estimated to be about 200000 m?. Typically these systems cost about Rs 5000 per square metre of collector area used. Vent Auxiliary heater Fig. 2.8 Industrial Solar Water Heating System—Closed Loop Configura- tion Many variations are possible in the configuration shown in Fig. 2.8. A popular variation is one with an open loop configuration shown in Fig. 2.9. In such a configuration, the water flows from a cold water tank through the collectors to an insulated hot water storage tank from where it is withdrawn for use. The control of such a system is usually designed so that hot water at the required temperature flows out of the collector array, the flow rate being adjusted to meet this tempera-aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.The Solar Energy Option—An Overview of Thermal Applications 45 The question which may well be asked is why the use of passive methods has slowly decreased to the point where they are hardly used. The answer lies in the fact that while a passive method does provide comfort, it does not provide the same degree of comfort as an active heating or cooling system. For example, a passive method might result in a daily temperature fluctuation of 10°C in a living space and might not be able to take care of an extreme climatic condition adequately. On the other hand, a properly designed active method would probably result in a smaller variation of 3° or 4°C, and would take care of all situations. For this reason, with increased expectations of comfort, passive methods have been slowly discarded. Now, however, with rising fossil fuel costs, people are again realizing the virtues of passive methods and they are being slowly “rediscovered”. In many new buildings, hybrid systems using both passive and active methods are being considered. In this way, the size of the active system is considerably reduced. 2.2.3. Power Generation The generation of electrical power is one of the most important applications of an energy source. Here we shall discuss only methods for solar thermal power generation.* Other methods using solar energy will be described in Chapter 10. Solar thermal power cycles can be classified as low, medium and high temperature cycles. Low temperature cycles work at maximum temperatures’ of about 100°C, medium temperature cycles work at maximum temperatures up to 400°C, while high temperature cycles work at temperatures above 400°C. Low temperature systems use flat-plate collectors or solar ponds for collecting solar energy. Recently, systems working on the solar chimney concept have been suggested. Medium temperature systems use the line focussing parabolic collector technology. High temperature sys- tems use either paraboloidal dish collectors or central receivers located at the top of towers. Low Temperature Systems A diagram of a typical low temperature system using flat-plate “From a historical viewpoint, it is of interest to note that the first experiments on the generation of solar thermal power in India were conducted by an Englishman, William Adams, about one hundred years ago. Adams stayed in Colaba, Bombay and performed his experiments in the compound of his bungalow. He used a spherical réflector 12 m in diameter, made from sheets of glass mirror. ‘The sun’> rays were focussed on a boiler having a capacity of about 60 litres and the steam generated was used to drive a 2.5 HP steam pump. Adams’ work is described in a book written by him entitled Solar Heat—A Substitute for Fuel in Tropical Countries for Heating Steam Boilers and Other Purposes (Education Society's Press, Byculla, Bombay, 1878).aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.The Solar Energy Option—An Overview of Thermal Applications 49 entrating Collectors g 3 ao 2 oS a = 2 7 g go os 2 oO & § 6 2 5 8 3 3 oa 2 3 s oO g & s E ae 3 8 = wo ni D 2aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.The Solar Energy Option—An Overview of Thermal Applications 53 1. Generator 2. Condenser 3. Expansion valve 4, Evaporator Cooling 5. Absorber water 6. Liquid pump 7. Heat exchanger Fig. 2.17 Solar Absorption Refrigeration System which is rich in the refrigerant. Refrigerant vapour is boiled off at a high pressure and goes to the condenser where it is condensed into a high pressure liquid. The high pressure liquid is throttled to a low pressure and temperature in an expansion valve, and passes through the evaporator coil. Here, the refrigerant vapour absorbs heat and cooling is therefore obtained in the space surrounding this coil, The refrigerant vapour is now absorbed into a solution mixture withdrawn from the generator, which is weak in refrigerant concentration. This yields a rich solution which is pumped back to the generator, thereby completing the cycle. The rich solution flowing from the absorber to the generator is usually heated in a heat exchanger by the weak solution withdrawn from the generator. This helps to improve the performance of the cycle. Some of the common refrigerant-absorbent combinations used are ammonia-water and water-lithium bromide, the latter being used essentially for air-conditioning purposes. Typical values for the coefficient of performance (the ratio of the refrigerating effect to the heat supplied in the generator) range between 0.5 and 0.8. Unfortunately the installation cost of solar thermal refrigeration systems is high. Thus although many experimental studies have been conducted, no commercialization has taken place.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.The Solar Energy Option—An Overview of Thermal Applications 57 —<- Feed () Blower Fig. 2.21 Forced Circulation Dryer (Indirect Gain) Solar cooker designs generally fall into one of two categories. One category is the box-type cooker which essentially consists of a rectan- gular enclosure insulated on the bottom and sides, and having one or two glass covers on the top. Solar radiation enters through the top and heats up the enclosure in which the food to be cooked is placed in shallow vessels. A typical size available has an enclosure about 50 cm square and 12 cm deep. Temperatures around 100°C can be obtained in these cookers on sunny days and pulses, rice, vegetables, etc., can be readily cooked. The time taken for cooking depends upon the solar radiation and varies from 4 to 2} hours. A single glass reflector whose inclination can be varied is usually attached to the box-type cooker. A sketch of such a cooker is shown in Fig. 2.22. The addition of the mirror helps in achieving enclosure temperatures which are higher by about 15 to 20°C. As a result, the cooking time is reduced. Cookers with reflectors on all four edges have also been built. Box-type cookers with no reflector or with one reflector are simple to use and require little attention. As a result, they have found theaa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Swi WG = wz Three Solar Radiation This chapter is concerned with the availability of solar radiation as an energy source. Extra-terrestrial radiation, its spectral distribution and the radiation at the earth's surface is discussed first. Instruments used for measuring solar radiation and methods used for presenting data are then described. The geometry of solar radiation and the various angles used are defined so that it is possible to convert the flux on one plane to an equivalent flux on another. Equations for predicting the availability of solar radiation at a location are also given. 3.1 SOLAR RADIATION OUTSIDE THE EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE The characteristics of the sun’s energy available outside the earth’s atmosphere are first considered. The sun is a large sphere of very hot gases, the heat being generated by various kinds of fusion reactions. Its diameter is 1.39 x 10° km, while that of the earth is 1.27 10‘ km. The mean distance between the two is 1.496 x 10° km. Although the sun is large, it subtends an angle of only 32 minutes at the earth's surface. This is because it is also at a very large distance. Thus, the beam radiation received from the sun on the earth is almost parallel. The brightness of the sun varies from its centre to its edge. However, for engineering calculations, it isaa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Solar Radiation 65 Solar radiation Scattered radiation reflected back to space Mt Upper limit of Mmosphere Scattering Absorption Earth's atmosphere Beam or Sed radistio Diffuse radiation (Scattered radiation reaching earth’s surface) Earth's surfi i“ Fig. 3.2 Schematic Representation of (i) the Mechanisms of Absorption and Scattering, and (ii) Beam and Diffuse Radiation Received at the Earth's Surface directions in the sky is not uniform. The diffuse radiation is therefore said to be anisotropic in nature. However in many situations (e.g. part or heavy cloud cover), the intensity from all directions tends to be reasonably uniform. It is then modelled as being perfectly uniform and is said to be isotropic in nature. A term called the air mass (AM) is often used as a measure of the distance travelled by beam radiation through the atmosphere before it reaches a location on the earth’s surface. It is defined as the ratio of the mass of the atmosphere through which the beam radiation passes to the mass it would pass through if the sun is directly overhead (i.e. at its zenith). The zenith angle @; is the angle made by the sun’saa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Solar Radiation 69 Fig. 3.5 Pyrheliometer for Measuring Beam Radiation (1. Tube Black- ened on Inside Surface, 2. Alignment Indicator, 3. Black Ab- sorber Plate, 4. Thermopile Junctions, 5. Two-axis Tracking Mechanism) a sunshine recorder shown in Fig. 3.6 (refer Photo No. 4). The sun's rays are focussed by a glass sphere to a point on a curd strip held in a groove in a spherical bowl mounted concentrically with the sphere. Whenever there is bright sunshine, the image formed is intense enough to burn a spot on the card strip. Through the day as the sun moves across the sky, the image moves along the strip. Thus, a burnt trace whose length is proportional to the duration of sunshine is obtained on the strip. 3.4 SOLAR RADIATION DATA Most radiation data is measured for horizontal surfaces. A typical daily record of the global and diffuse radiation measured on a clear day isaa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Solar Radiation 73 Fig. 3.9 Average Daily Diffuse Radiation Over India in cal/cm?-day (From Mani and Chacko.)aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Solar Radiation 77 Example 3.1 Calculate the angle made by beam radiation with the normal to a flat-plate collector on December 1 at 0900 h (local apparent time). The collector is located in New Delhi (28°35’ N, 77°12’ E), and is tilted at an angle of 36° with the horizontal and is pointing due south. For this case, y=0° and Eq. (3.6) is applicable. On December 1, n=335. From Eq. (3.2), . | 360 = 23.45 sin (382 (284+ 290) =-22.11° At 0900 h (local apparent time), w = 45°. Substituting in Eq. (3.6), we have cos § = sin (-22.11°) sin (28.58° — 36°) + cos (-22.11°) cos 45° cos (28.58° — 36°) 6982, @=45.7° The angle @ can also be calculated using Eq. (3.8) in conjunction with Egs (3.5) and (3.9). From Eq. (3.5) cos 8, = sin 28.58° sin (-22.11°) + cos 28.58° cos (-22.11°} cos 45° = 0.389522 0, = 66.72° From Eq. (3.9) cos ¥, = [cos 66.72° sin 28.58° — sin (-22.11°)|/sin 66.72° cos 28.58° = 0.70103 Y, = 45.49° Substituting into Eq. (3.8), we get cos @ = cos 66.72° cos 36° + sin 66.72° sin 36° cos (45.49° — 0°) = 0.6982. @=45.7° Apparent Motion of the Sun It will be useful at this stage to describe the apparent motion of the sun as seen from the earth. To an observer on the earth, on any given day, the sun rises in the east, moves in a plane tilted at an angle of (90° — 6) with the horizontal, and finally sets in the west. Thus, the apparent plane in which the sun moves intersects the horizontal in aaa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Solar Radiation 81 3.6 EMPIRICAL EQUATIONS FOR PREDICTING THE AVAILABILITY OF SOLAR RADIATION Since measurements of solar radiation are often not available, attempts have been made by many investigators to establish relationships linking the values of radiation (global or diffuse) with meteorological para- meters like number of sunshine hours, cloud cover, and precipitation. Some of these equations will be given in Sections 3,6.1-3.6.5 and their use illustrated with the help of a few numerical examples. These equations are generally valid for cloudy skies. 3.6.1 Monthly Average Daily Global Radiation The first attempt at estimating solar radiation was due to Angstrom who suggested that it could be related to the amount of sunshine by a simple linear relation of the form F, 3 =a+b/=— (3.14) where, H, = monthly average of the daily global radiation on a ____ horizontal surface at a location (kJ/m?-day), H,= monthly average of the daily global radiation on a horizontal surface at the same location on a clear day _ (kJ/m?-day), = monthly average of the sunshine hours per day at the _ location (h), Smax= monthly average of the maximum possible sunshine hours per day at the location, i.e. the day length on a horizontal surface (h), a, b= constants obtained by fitting data. Because of difficulties in deciding what constitutes a clear day, Page* suggested that H, in Eq. (3.14) be replaced by Ho, the monthly average of the daily extra-terrestrial radiation which would fall on a horizonatl surface at the location under consideration. H, 5 = =a+b/=— (3.15) Ay (=) Values of a and b have been obtained for many cities in the world by Lofet al. They are given in Table 3.2. A similar set of values have also *J.K. Page, Proc. U.N. Conf. New Sources of Energy, Rome, 4, 378 (1961).aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Solar Radiation 85 3.6.2 Monthly Average Daily Diffuse Radiation Based on a study of data for a few countries, Liu and Jordan* showed that the daily diffuse-to-global radiation ratio could be correlated against the daily global-to-extra-terrestrial radiation ratio. The cor- relation was expressed by the ees cubic equation Ha s where Hy= monthly ayerage of the daily diffuse radiation on a horizontal surface (kJ/m?-day). The other symbols have the same meaning as given earlier. The ratio (H,/Ho) is often denoted by the symbol Kp and is called the monthly average clearness index. Kreitht has pointed out that Eq. (3.18) has been obtained with a value of 1394 W/m? for the solar constant. When available Indian data was analysed,i the following linear equation was obtained ii A, Ha _ 1.411 - 1.696| = (3.19) H, Ao In a separate study, Gupta et al.** have obtained the equation Fe}? H,) = 1.390 - 4: oar| = +5531) =| - 3.108] (3.18) Ao Ay Ha = 1.354 - 1.570 | (3,20) a, Ho Equations (3.19) and (3.20) are valid for 0.3 <(H,/Ho) < 0.7. They agree well with each other. However, when compared with Liu and Jordan’s Eq. (3.18), it is observed that there are significant differences. These are due to the fact that the diffuse component is much larger in India. Example 3.5 Estimate the monthly average daily diffuse radiation on a horizontal surface at Baroda during the month of March. *B.Y.H. Liu and R.C. Jordan, “The Interrelationship and Characteristic Distribution of Direct, Diffuse and Total Solar Radiation”, Solar Energy, 4(3), 1 (1960). +F Kreith and J.F. Kreider, Principles of Solar Engineering, Chapter 2, McGraw-Hill, New York (1978). Vijay Modi and S.P. Sukhatme, “Estimztion of Daily, Total and Diffuse Insolation in India from Weather Data”, Solar Energ,, 22, 407 (1979). **C.L. Gupta, K. Usha Rao and T.A. Reddy, “Radiation Design Data for Solar Energy Applications”, Energy Management, 3, 299 (1979).aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Solar Radiation 89 Once again putting 7g equal to Io on April 15, we get I, __3738 23564 37 034 T, = 2389 kd/m*-h Finally, from Eq. (3.22), 14 = 7820 x (3738/37034) = 789 kJ/m?-h Instead of Eq. (3.22), if we use Eq. (3.23), a slightly different value is obtained. We get \ (0.69800 + 0.38625 cos 37.5°) 1, = 780 kd/m?-h Comparison Between Predicied and Measured Values Measured values of Hy, H,,1, and I, for New Delhi are given in Tables A 3.1 and A 3.2. Table 3.4 gives a comparison between the predicted and measured values. It is seen that in all the cases the predicted values are in reasonably good agreement with the measured values. Table 3.4 Comparison between the Predicted and Measured Values of Solar Radiation Location : New Delhi Month : April Time —:_ 0900-1000 h (LAT) Predicted Measured Difference (%) Fi, (cim-day) 235642. 966 a Hi, (kJ/m?-day) 7820 8902 12.2 T, (kJ/m?-h) 2389 2617 8.7 Tq (kdfm?-h) 789 850 72 3.6.5 Daily and Hourly Diffuse Radiation Anumber of correlations have been suggested for predicting the value of the daily diffuse radiation Hg from a given value of the daily global radiation H, on an individual day. These correlations are useful because the daily global radiation is recorded at many stations, whereas the daily diffuse radiation is not. Collares-Pereira and Rabl* have suggested the following correlation base¢ on an analysis of data recorded at a number of stations in the United States. *M., Collares-Pereira and A. Rabl, op. cit.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Solar Radiation 93 3.7 SOLAR RADIATION ON TILTED SURFACES From the preceding sections, it is seen that very often measuring instruments give the values of solar radiation falling on a horizontal surface. The same is also true of the empirical equations given in Sec. 3.6. However, most solar equipments (e.g. flat-plate collectors), for absorbing radiation, are tilted at an angle to the horizontal. It therefore becomes necessary to calculate the flux which falls on a tilted surface. This flux is the sum of the beam and diffuse radiation falling directly on the surface and the radiation reflected onto the surface from the surroundings. Beam Radiation The ratio of the beam radiation flux falling on a tilted surface to that falling on a horizontal surface is called the tilt factor for beam radiation. It is denoted by the symbol r,. For the case of a tilted surface facing south (i.e. y= 0°), cos 8 = sin & sin ( — B) + cos 5 cos w cos ( — B) while for a horizontal surface cos 6, = sin g sin 5+ cos @ cos 5 cos w = 0088 _ sin 8 sin ( — B) + cos 8 cos @ cos (¢~ B) ~ cos 0, sin 9 sin 8+ cos cos 8 cos @ 8.30) Hence ry Similarly, expressions for r, can be derived for other situations in which the tilted surface is oriented in a different direction with #0? Diffuse Radiation The tilt factor ry for diffuse radiation is the ratio of the diffuse radiation flux falling on the tilted surface to that falling on a horizontal surface. The value of this tilt factor depends upon the distribution of diffuse radiation over the sky and on the portion of the sky dome seen by the tilted surface. Assuming that the sky is an isotropic source of diffuse radiation, we have for a tilted surface with a slope B, rq= tts (3.31) since (1+ cos B)/2 is the radiation shape factor for a tilted surface with respect to the sky. Reflected Radiation Since (1 + cos B)/2 is the radiation shape factor for a tilted surface withaa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.il. 12. Solar Radiation 97 Booster mirrors Fig. 3.14 Problem 6 the collectors (line BB), derive an expression for the correct indination y of the booster mirrors in terms of B, 6 and ¢. . Plot the variation of the day length on a horizontal surface through the year for the following locations: Srinagar (34°06' N, 74°51’ E), Calcutta (22°39 N, 88°27’ E) Vishakhapatnam (17°43" N, 83°14’ E) ‘Thiruvananthapuram (8°29 N, 76°57’ E) . Calculate the day length on May 1 and December 1 for a south-facing surface tilted at an angle of 40° and located at New Delhi (28°35’ N, 77°12’ E). Calculate the hour angle at sunrise and sunset on a plane surface tilted at an angle of 40°. Given = 28° N, § = -21° and y= 48°. Calculate the length and direction of the shadow cast on the ground by a 1 m long vertical stick for the following situation Location Bombay (19°07’ N, 72°51’ E) Date February 13, 1980 Time 1000 h (IST) A horizontal stick, 1 m. long, is fixed at right angles to a vertical south facing wall (y= 0°). Calculate the length and direction of the shadow cast by the stick on the wall for the following situation Location Jodhpur (26°18' N, 73°01’ E) Date November 5 Time 0900 h (LAT) ‘Test the validity of the recommendation that the value of Ho for July can be taken equal to the value of Ho on the seventeenth of the month by doing calculations for Shillong (25°34’ N, 91°56" E).aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Liquid Flat-plate Collectors 101 considerations of energy input and raw material origin will become increasingly important. The present rate of production of liquid flat-plate collectors in the world, as well as in India, is low. However, it is increasing rapidly. About 200 000 m? have been installed in India in the 1980's. The typical cost of a good quality collector is about Rs 3500 per square metre. Installed costs of systems are usually about 1! times the above cost, since they include the cost of erection, piping and accessories. 4.2 PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS We will now take up for detailed consideration the performance analysis of a liquid flat-plate collector. The analysis will first be done for a steady state situation* in which the liquid is flowing through tubes bonded on the under-side of the ‘absorber plate. Later on, the results for other types of flat-plate collectors will be given and transient effects will be considered. An energy balance on the absorber plate yields the following equation for'a steady state Qu =ApS - qi (4.1) in which , qu=useful heat gain, i.e. the rate of heat transfer to the working fluid, iS =incident solar flux absorbed in the absorber plate, A, =area of the absorber plate, qi=rate at which heat is lost by convection and re-radiation from the top, and by conduction and convection from the bottom and sides. From Sec. 3.7, the flux incident on the top cover of the collector is given by Eq. (3.33) Tp =T gry + Tara + In + Tar, Each of the terms in the above equation is multiplied by a term called the transmissivity-absorptivity product (ta) inorder to deter- mine the flux S absorbed in the absorber plate. Thus, S =[ro(tas + Uara + (In + Ir M(t) (4.2) *Strictly speaking, a steady state situation is never obtained. However, quasi-steady state situations (in which the values of the parameters of interest change very slowly) are often obtained over extended periods of time.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Liquid Flat-plate Collectors 105 ‘Hence, t= (1p? + pi(1- pp? + pid - pp? +... =( pra tpitete. oy” (-py?_1-p1 = = 4.10) 1-p?) 1+pr (20) Similarly, _1-pn TH = ¥en (4.11) These results can be readily extended to a system of M covers for which it can be shown that 1-pr t= 74M ~1p, + GM - py (4.12) _ 1-pn and <0" Tan te (4.13) 4.3.2 Transmissivity Based on Absorption The transmissivity based on absorption can be obtained by assuming that the attenuation due to absorption is proportional to the local intensity (Bouger’s law). Consider a beam of intensity J,, incident normally on a transparent cover of thickness 5, and emerging with an intensity J, (Fig. 4.3). From Bouger’s law dI =~ KI dx where K is a constant of proportionality and is called the extinction * coefficient. It will be assumed to have a value independent of wave- length. Integrating over the length traversed by the beam, we have Tg Bh (4.14) In case the beam is incident at an angle 6,, the path traversed through the cover would be (6,/cos ,), where @ is the angle of refraction. Then Eq. (4.14) gets modified to the form Tq = eR e088 (4.15) The extinction coefficient K is a property of the cover material. Its value varies from about 5 to 25 m™ for different qualities of glass. A low value is obviously desirable.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Liquid Flat-plate Collectors 113 j= 0.86 (Rez) "? (4.27) where j =j-factor given by (hy/pCpV..)Pr™® Rez =Reynolds number (V.L*/v) based on the characteristic dimension L* = 4A,/C, A, =collector gross area, C, =circumference associated with the collector gross area. Equation (4.27) was recommended on the basis of extensive wind tunnel experiments performed on square and rectangular plates} inclined at various angles of attack and yaw to an on coming air flow. The experiments involved mass transfer with the naphthalene sub- limation technique being used for the determination of the mass transfer coefficients. The analogy between heat and mass transfer was used for suggesting the heat transfer correlation. Comparisons for the same situation show that Eq. (4.26) substan- tially overestimates the convective loss from the top. Since Eq. (4.27) has been obtained on the basis of extensive data and for more realistic ‘flow situations, it appears desirable to use it in preference to Eq. (4.26). The only short-coming from which it suffers is that it is a forced ‘convection relation. As such, it is likely to underestimate the heat transfer at very low velocities when the natural convection component could be important. Sky Temperature The effective temperature of the sky is usually calculated from the following simple empirical relation in which temperatures are ex- pressed in Kelvin. Teuy = Ta - 6 (4.28) 4.5.2 Bottom Loss Coefficient The bottom loss coefficient U;, is evaluated by considering conduction and convection losses from the absorber plate in the downward direction through the bottom of the collector. It will be assumed that the flow of heat is one dimensional and steady (Fig. 4.8). In most cases, the thickness of insulation provided is such that the thermal resistance associated with conduction dominates. Thus, neglecting the convective resistance at the bottom surface of the collector casing, we have +E.M. Sparrow, J.W. Ramsey and E.A. Mass, “Effect of Finite Width on Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow about an Inclined Rectangular Plate”, Journal of Heat Transfer, Trans. ASME, 101, 199 (1979).aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Liquid Flat-plate Collectors 117 Characteristic dimension L'= 4A, _ 4 x (1.90 + 0.08)(0.90 + 0.08) “"C, ~ 2(1.90 + 0.08 + 0.90 + 0.08) =131m 5x 1311 15.80 x 106 * Rez = = 0.2074 x 10° From Eq. (4.27), Jj = 0.86 x (0.2074 x 10°” = 0.001 888 Therefore, Ay = 0.001 888 x 1.173 x 1.005 x 2.5 x 10° x (0.701) ** = 7.04 Wim-K After substituting these values into Eqs (4.32)-(4.34), we obtain the values of T,; and T,2 which satisfy the equations. The calculation is shown in tabular fashion: Tes (K) Tea (K) (q/A,) from Eq. (4.32) Eq. (4.33) Eq. (4.34) 325 305 174.8 167.6 127.9 326 307 165.7 160.7 153.4 326.4 307.4 162.0 161.1 158.6 326.5 307.6 161.1 160.4 161.1 The values of (q;/Ap) in the last line of the table are reasonably close to each other. Therefore the average value of 160.9 W/m’ is acceptable. Since the values of T,; = 326.5 K and 7,2 = 307.6 K are close to the original assumptions of 325 K and 305 K, it will not be necessary to repeat the calculations for hy _.1, A: <2 and h, with these new values. Therefore, 160.9 as 24 U:= Gag.2 — 297. = 950 Wim -K Using Eq, (4.29), bottom loss coefficient 0.05 Us= jigg = 0.68 Wim?-K From Eq. (4.31), side loss coefficient (0.90 + 1.90) x 0.16 x 0.05 0.90 x 1.99 x 0.04 = 0.33 W/m?-K U,aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Liquid Flat-plate Collectors 121 Simplifying, . aT _ UL Ss aed bed [z -T.- Al (437) Equation (4.37) is then solved using the boundary conditions x=0, a =0 and This yields the solution Te (" + a] ') cosh mx Ss) m(W —D,) 4 To (= “a cosh [ne where m = (U;/k,5,)"? ‘The temperature distribution obtained is similar to that for a long rectangular fin. The rate at which energy is conducted through the plate to one fluid tube from both sides dt, =- 2hy8, 4 dy oe dx 1 =(W-D,/2 IepSp (W-D, =2 (‘s?] (S — UT yo - T2)] tanh ES 5 Pay 1 ‘The rate at which energy absorbed just above the tube flows in =D IS - Ux(T po - Ta)) dy Thus the useful energy gain for all the NV tube of the collector over a length dy is given by =NIS — UL — Ta) 2 {2 (*e) tenn "Dd De) +p.]ey (4.38) Equation (4.38) can be written in a simpler manner by introducing the concept of plate effectiveness $, which is defined as the ratio of the heat conducted through the plate to the fluid tube, to the heat which would have been conducted if the thermal conductivity of the plate material was infinite. It is easily shown thataa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Liquid Flat-plate Collectors 125 ¢ Plate absorptivity/emissivity = 0.95 * Outer diameter of tube =18mm ¢ Inner diameter of tube =14mm ¢ Tube centre-to-centre distance 12cm * Glass cover emissivity/absorptivity 0.88 ° Kb, 0.0524 per plate ° Refractive index of glass relative to air= 1.526 ¢ Location of collector = Pune (18°32’ N, 73°51’ E) ° Date = May 15 ¢ Time 11 a.m. (IST) * Collector tilt = latitude angle ¢ Surface azimuth angle =0° oh = 665 Wim? * I, (uniformly distributed over the sky)= 230 W/m? * Adhesive resistance = Negligible * Fluid to tube heat transfer coefficient = 205 W/m?-°C * Water flow rate 70 kg/h ° Water inlet temperature 60°C ¢ Ambient temperature = 25°C *. Wind speed =3.1m/s * Back insulation thickness 5cm * Insulation thermal conductivity =0.04 Wim-°C Assume that the side loss coefficient is 10 per cent of the bottom loss coefficient. Calculate, . the angle of incidence of beam radiation on the collector, the total solar flux incident on the collector, . (7O)p and (t0x)y the incident flux absorbed by the absorber plate, the collector heat-removal factor and overall loss coefficient, the water outlet temperature, and . the instantaneous efficiency. NAKED 1. Angle of Incidence of Beam Radiation On May 15, n = 135. From Kq. (3.2), 8 = 23.45 sin [Bee (284+ 138) =18.79° From Eq. (3.12), LAT = 11 h ~ 4(82.50 - 73.85) minutes + (+ 2.6 minutes) = 11 h-32.0 min = 10h 28.0 min.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Liquid Flat-plate Collectors 129 5.67x 10°(TA - Ta hey nal Tes) + 2ST IO ar F) A (1,1, 0.88 "0.88 = hea cal Ter Tea) + 4.455 x L0S(T4 - TS) (4.51) an (Te ~ 298.2) + 5.67 x 10° x 0.88(T-2 - 292.24) = hy(Tig ~ 298.2) + 4.990 x 10°(T4 — 72.899 x 10%) (4.52) Assume 7,; = 331 K and 7,2 = 310 K. Calculation of hy - ¢1: Mean temperature = 5486+ 331 = 339.8 K = 66.6°C k = 0.0295 Wim-K v= 19.66 x 10° m/s Pr = 0.695 1, GIES = SED) 0028" 9605 co 8.80 Raz cos B= 9.815 =2517 <1 = 2.517 x 0.0295/0.025 = 2,971 Wim?-K Calculation of he - 2: hy- Mean temperature = 3814310 = 320.5 K = 47.3°C # = 0.0281 Wim-K v=17.68 x 10° m’/s Pr =0.698 1 21 x 0.025% 320.5 * 17.68?x 10" x 0.698 cos 18.53° Ra, cos B = 9.81 = 21264 Nu, = 0.229 x (21264)? = 2.821 2.821 x 0.0281 hero = 0025 = 3.171 Wim?-Kaa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Liquid Flat-plate Collectors 133 ni (%) 20 10 0 8 9 10 " 12 13 14 15 16 IST (h) Fig. 4.11 Variation of Instantaneous Efficiency of a GI Collector over a Day (n; Based on Absorber Plate Area) + energy is collected, can be approximately calculated if it is assumed that the values of instantaneous efficiency and solar radiation are valid for half an hour on either side of the instant considered. Making this approximation, the efficiency averaged over 10 hours from 0730 to 1780 h works out to be 37.4 per cent. 4.9 EFFECTS OF VARIOUS PARAMETERS ON PERFORMANCE It is evident from the preceding sections and from Example 4.3 that a large number of parameters influence the performance of a liquid flat-plate collector. These parameters could be classified as design parameters, operational parameters, meteorological parameters and environmental parameters. In this section, the effects of some of these will be considered. The parameters discussed are the selectivity of the absorber surface, the number of glass covers, the spacing between the covers, the tilt of the collector, the fluid inlet temperature, the incident solar flux, and dust settlement on the top glass cover. 4.9.1 Selective Surfaces Absorber plate surfaces which exhibit the characteristics of a high value of absorptivity for incoming solar radiation and a low value of emissivity for out-going re-radiation are called selective surfaces. Such surfaces are desirable because they maximize the absorption of solar 7aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Liquid Flat-plate Collectors 137 Sec. 4.8 is considered again and its performance with and without a selective surface at 1200 h (IST) calculated..The only changes made from the earlier data are as follows: (1) It is assumed now that the tubes are clamped on the underside of the absorber plate instead of being brazed. This is a cheaper method of fabrication but results in a bond resistance which is assumed to be 0.15 m-°C/W in this case. (2) The mean flow rate is taken as 60 kg/h. (3) The ambient air temperature is assumed to be 30°C. (4) With the selective surface, two cases are considered. In one case, it is assumed that a= 0.95 and ¢, = 0.12, while in the other, it is assumed that o. = 0.85 and e, = 0.11. The calculations are repeated in a manner similar to that adopted earlier and the results obtained are indicated in Table 4.2. Table 4.2 Effect of a Selective Surface on Performance of Gi Collector Selective absorber plate Nonselective absorber plate 0: = & = 0.95 a= 0.95 & = 0.12 Tom (K) 356.1 359.3 U; (Wim?-K) 3.87 2.56 qu (W) 593.6 682.9 Tyo (K) 341.7 342.95 ni (%) 43.3 49.8 It is seen from Table 4.2 that with a nonselective absorber plate, the top loss coefficient is 3.87 W/m?-K and the efficiency is 43.3 per cent. These values are similar to those given in Table 4.1, where U, = 3.72 Wim?-K and n; = 45.2 per cent. The differences are due to the changes (1) to (3). On the other hand, with the first selective surface, in which the value of « is unchanged while the value of ¢, is 0.12, significant differences are observed. The top loss coefficient drops to 2.56 W/m?-K, while the efficiency increases by 6.6 per cent to 49.8 per cent. With the second selective surface, in which the value of «is much less, it is observed that while the value of U; is the same as that for the first selective surface, the efficiency is much lower and almost the same as for the non-selective surface. This is primarily due to the fact that the value of S decreases with lower a. It is to be noted that for both the selective surfaces, the value of (c/e,) is almost the same. For the first, it is 7.9 and for the second 7.7. This shows that a high value of (a/€)) is not adequate for obtaining a good performance with a selective surface. Along with the high value of (a/e,), it is necessary that the value of a should also be high.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Liquid Flat-plate Collectors 141 Czarnecki* who simplified the problem by assuming that extra- terrestrial insolation was falling on the collector. They calculated the annual insolation per unit area by integrating the expression for the flux on a tilted surface first over the day length and then summing up over the days of the year. Taking y=0, so that the daily insolation is maximized, the following expression is obtained i | Annual Insolation = Ely J oer 1+ 0.033 cos ns =o x (sin 6 sin 6 — B + cos 8 cos w cos 6 — B)dw They have plotted their results in the form of relative insolation (the ratio of annual insolation for given values of ¢ and B to the annual insolation for ¢=0 and B=0) against the latitude 6 for tilts of 0, 0.9, 1.2 and 1.5. The results are shown in Fig. 4.14 and indicate Relative annual insolation eS o 2 @ 0.7 - 1 4 1 ° 10 20 30 40 Latitude $ (degrees) Fig. 4.14 Variation of Relative Annual Insolation with Latitude for Collec- tors Tilted at Various Values of § and with y=0° *R.N. Morse and J.T. Czarnecki, “Flat-plate Solar Absorbers: The Effect on Incident Radiation of Inclination and Orientation’, Report E.E.6, Mechanical Engineering Division, C.S.LR.O., Melbourne (1958).aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Liquid Flat-plate Collectors 145 4.9.5 Fluid Inlet Temperature The fluid inlet temperature is an operational parameter which strongly influences the performance of a flat-plate collector. The effect is best illustrated by again doing calculations for the case of the GI collector of Sec, 4.9.2. Results are obtained with fluid inlet temperature varying from 40 to 90°C, while the values of the other parameters are held constant (Table 4.6). Table 4.6 Effect of Fluid Inlet Temperature on Performance of Gl Collector at 1200 h (IST) Tri CC) 40 50 60 70 80 90 Tym (K) 340.9 348.5, 356.1 363.6 371.0 378.4 U; (Wim?-K) 3.69 3.77 3.87 3.95, 4.05 4.15 Gu (W) 712.8 654.8 593.6 531.3 465.7 398.1 Tho (K). 323.4 332.6 341.7 350.8 359.9 368.9 ni (%) 52.0 47.7 43.3 38.7 33.9 29.0 It is seen from Table 4.6 that the efficiency of the collector decreases sharply and at an increasing rate with increasing values of 7); (see also Fig. 4.15), the value falling from 52.0 to 29.0 per cent as Ty; increases from 40 to 90°C. This decrease is because of the higher temperature level at which the collector as a whole operates when the fluid inlet temperature increases. Because of this, the top loss coeffi- cient as well as the temperature difference with the surroundings increases, the heat lost increases and the useful heat gain decreases. 4.9.6 Incident Solar Flux The influence of incident flux on the collector efficiency is plotted in Fig. 4.16 from the results given earlier in Table 4.1. It is seen that the efficiency increases with the flux, the increase being more pronounced at lower values of flux. As stated in Sec. 4.9.5, the fluid inlet temperature and the ambient temperature essentially determine the losses from a collector. Hence, if these quantities are constant and the incident flux increases, the useful heat gain and the efficiency must increase. It should be noted that the incident flux is composed of beam, diffuse and reflected radiation and that the variation obtained in Fig. 4.16 is influenced by the relative proportion of these components. 4.9.7 Dust on the Top Cover The preceding calculations of the flux transmitted through the covers of the collector have been done under the assumption that the top cover is clean and has no dust accumulated on it. This assumption is acceptable only if the cover is continuously cleaned. However, in anyaa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Liquid Flat-plate Collectors 149 Although this is a valid assumption for most situations, there are also some situations which require a transient analysis. Surprisingly very few of these appear to have been studied. ‘We will now consider one type of transient problem. On any day, a collector takes a few hours in the morning to reach its operating temperature, after which it may operate under quasi-steady conditions. ‘Thus, a transient analysis is needed for these hours (from say 7 to 10 a.m.) to consider the heating of the collector from its overnight low temperature to its operating temperature. Following Duffie and Beckman*, we will do an approximate lumped-parameter analysis for asingle-cover collector for this situation. We assume that the absorber plate and tubes, the bottom and side insulation, and the water in the tubes have a heat capacity (mC), and are at the same temperature Tm, while the cover has a heat capacity (mC), and is at a temperature T,. Since there is no useful heat gain during this period, we obtain the following energy balance equations for the absorber plate and the cover 4 4, (MO)p AT pm _ S| hp -Tym = 7.) + (Tam —- Te) A, dt » B+ ; Ep fe — (Uy + U,)(Tpm - Ta) (4.56) (mC), dT, _ (Tym - Te) ‘Ap dt = hp-cT om ~ Te) +7 eel [ove ~ (hy (Te - Ta) + O8-(Te — Tey) (4.57) We combine the convective and radiative losses from the top by defining overall coefficents U,, and U2 as follows (Tm - TE) ate and = Uya(T.— Ta) = hy (Te - Ta) + 6 €<(Te ~ Tay) Thus, Eqs (4.56) and (4.57) become Un(Tpm — Te) = hep - cL pm — Te) + (mC), aT, (Op Tom Uy pm Ty (Un+ UN Tom Te) (4.58) 3 *J.A. Duffie and W.A, Beckman, Solar Energy Thermal Processes, John Wiley, New York (1974).aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Liquid Flat-plate Collectors 153 collector under test, a liquid pump, a heat exchanger, and a storage tank with an electric immersion heater. A bypass is provided around the pump so that the mass flow rate can be adjusted to the prescribed value. The purpose of the heat exchanger is to remove heat. Thus the combination of the heat exchanger and the storage tank (with the electric immersion heater) provide a means for adjusting and controlling the inlet fluid temperature to the collector to a desired value. The standard specifies that the collector shall be tested under clear sky conditions in order to determine its efficiency characteristics. On any given day, data is recorded under steady state conditions for fixed values of m and T;;. For each set of fixed values, it is recommended that an equal number of tests be conducted symmetrically before and after solar noon. Thus, for example, if data of four tests are recorded, these could be at 1100, 1130, 1230 and 1300 h (LAT). In this way, any bias because of transient effects is eliminated. If such data is recorded for four inlet temperatures on different days, then a total of 16 data sets are obtained. This is the minimum number recommended. The principal measurements made in each data set are the fluid flow rate (m), the fluid inlet and outlet temperatures of the collector (Tj and T,,), the solar radiation incident on the collector plane (I7), the ambient temperature (T,), the pressure drop across the collector (Ap), and the wind speed (V.,). The efficiency is calculated from the equation Gu Cy (Typ ~ Thi) Alp Alp As stated earlier, readings are recorded under steady state condi- tions. A collector is considered to be operating under steady state conditions if the deviation of the experimental parameters is less than the following specified limits over a 15 minute period: © Global radiation incident on collector plane +50 Wim? (4.64) « Ambient temperature +1°C ¢ Fluid flow rate 1% © Fluid inlet temperature +0.1°C © Temperature rise across collector +0.1°C In addition, it is specified that the value of J7 should be greater than 600 W/m*, the wind speed should be between 3 and 6 m/s, and the fluid flow rate should be set at approximately 0.02 kg/s per square metre of collector gross area. It is to be noted that although the procedure suggested is for outdoor testing, it is also applicable for indoor testing with a solar simulator. The efficiency values calculated from Eq. (4.64) are plotted against the parameter (7;; — T.)/I7. The reason for doing this is apparent if one considers the Hottel-Whillier-Bliss equation. Dividing both sides of Eq. (4.48) by Az, we haveaa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Liquid Flat-plate Collectors 157 only a tubular surface is able to withstand the stresses introduced by the pressure difference. A number of evacuated tube collector (ETC) designs have been developed. One design consists of a number of long cylindrical flat-plate collector modules side-by-side. Each module (Fig. 4.20a) has a metal absorber plate with two fluid tubes housed in an evacuated, cylindrical glass tube. The absorber plate has a selective surface coating on it. Glass-to-metal seals are provided between the fluid tubes and the end covér of the glass tube. From the point of view of thermal stresses, it is necessary to have these at one end. For this reason, the two tubes are joined at the other end inside the glass cover and form a ‘U’, with one tube acting as the inlet tube and the other as the outlet tube. A second design is shown in Fig. 4.20b. Here each module consists of three concentric tubes with the space between the outer two tubes, which are made from glass, being evacuated. The outer surface of the middle tube acts as the absorbing surface and has a selective surface coating on it. The liquid flows in through the innermost metal tube and flows out through the annulus between this tube and the middle tube. In a third design (Fig. 4.20c), the U tube of Fig. 4.20a is replaced by a heat pipe. The length of the heat pipe inside the evacuated glass tube constitutes the evaporator section in which heat is absorbed and the fluid inside the heat pipe evaporates. The evaporated fluid rises to the condenser section where it condenses. The heat of condensation ‘Absorber plate with acu Giass-to-metal seal Section AA gacace Heat ples Condenser Soa ion Fig. 4.20 Various Designs of ETC Modules: (a) Flat-plate Type (b) Con- centric Tube Type (Cc) Flat-plate Type with Heat Pipeaa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Liquid Flat-plate Collectors 161 Square or rectangular cells Array of capillary tubes Types of Honeycomb Structures Fig. 4.23 Transparent Insulation Honeycomb Collector loss coefficient is reduced significantly. Rommel and Wittwer* have reported some test data on such a collector using a polycarbonate honeycomb with rectangular cells (8 x 4 mm). The top loss coefficient is given to be 0.9Wim'K, and the overall loss coefficient to be 1.7 Wim? K. At the same time, it should be noted that the plastic honeycomb structure has good transmission characteristics. This is due to the fact that the wall material is exceptionally transparent to solar radiation. Also the dimensions of the honeycomb cells ensure that the solar radiation is essentially scattered in the forward direction as it penetrates the honeycomb structure after a series of reflections and refractions. Rommel and Wittwer report a transmissivity-absorptivity product of 0.76 for beam radiation at normal incidence. Thus efficiency values comparable to those of an evacuated tube collector were obtained. The technology of constructing honeycomb collectors is not very complicated. For this reason, it is claimed that for high temperature *M, Rommel and V. Wittwer, “Flat-plate Collector for Process Heat with Honeycomb Cover—An Alternative to Vacuum Tube Collectors”, Proc. Biennial Congress of ISES, Hamburg, Germany, Volume 1, 641 (1987).aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Liquid Flatplate Collectors 165 thick) is used to support the absorber plate. This slab is light-weight and has a low thermal conductivity. Thus, it provides adequate insulation on the back side of the collector. The PVC network is arranged in such a manner that it provides a parallel flow through the individual tubes. The metal mesh reinforcement helps to increase the ability of the concrete to withstand handling stresses. A concrete collector is thermally massive; hence, the concept of instantaneous efficiency does not carry any significant meaning with respect to its thermal performance. On the other hand, the performance is best judged on the basis of the daily efficiency (n), which is defined as the ratio of the useful energy obtained during the day to the total radiation incident on the collector area during the day (H7). Extensive tests have been carried out to find out the effect of tube spacings, flow rates and fluid inlet temperatures on the thermal performance of the collector. Of the collectors tested, it has been found that the collector with a pitch of 6 cm, operating at a flow rate of 1.2 Ipm: gives the best thermal performance. Typical results of a whole day’s testing at a fixed fluid inlet temperature are shown in Fig. 4.26. The figure shows the variation of the useful energy gain and solar flux incident on the collector plane. It is observed that the useful energy of the collector follows the same pattern of variation as that of the solar radiation. However, unlike a conventional collector, the useful energy from the concrete collector is available only after sometime has elapsed in the morning. This is because the concrete collector has a large thermal mass and requires more time to heat up to the operating conditions. For the same reason, the maximum of the useful energy occurs after the maximum of solar flux, the phase lag being about 40 to 45 minutes. Furthermore, the collector continues to deliver useful energy for sometime even after sunset. Experimental values of the daily efficiency of the collector are plotted against the parameter (T}; — T,)/Hr, where T;; is the fluid inlet temperature and T, is the average ambient temperature for the day. It is seen that the daily efficiency varies linearly with (T;;- Ta¥Hr and decreases as (T;;-T.)/Hr increases. This behaviour is similar to the dependence of the instantaneous efficiency on the parameter (Ty: - TaVIy in the case of a conventional collector. The daily efficiency of a concrete collector can be expressed by an equation of the form n=A-BUT pi - TyVH7 (4.7) where A and B are constants. For the collector having a tube pitch of 6 cm and a flow rate of 1.2Ipm, A=0.527 (dimensionless) and B=0.239 MJ/m?-day-°C.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.180 Solar Energy The pressure drop across the collector is calculated from Eq. (5.27). We have f=0.079 x 55155 = 0.009 167 4fpL,V” Hence pressure drop = ; _ 4 0.009167 x 1.077 x 2 x 3.4397 ~ 2x 0.0296 = 15.78 Nim” = 1.61 mm of water Finally, it may be noted that if we use the more correct performance Egs (5.18) to (5.24), we would obtain the following slightly different results, F’=0.754 Fp = 0.686 qu = 813.9 W and ni = 0.428 5.3 OTHER TYPES OF AIR HEATERS 5.3.1. Variations on the Conventional Type We now describe solar air heaters which are variations on the conventional type. Some of them are shown in Fig. 5.1. Flow Between the Cover and Absorber Plate Consider first the air heater of Fig. 5.1 (b) in which the air flows in a parallel plate passage between the cover and the absorber plate. The method of analysis of this type is similar to that adopted for the conventional type. Making the same assumptions as in Sec. 5.2, and writing energy balances for the absorber plate, the cover plate and the air flowing in between, we get For Absorber Plate 8 = hp (Tpm — Tf) + her(Tpm — T) + Uo (Tpm — Ta) (6.28) For Cover Ay(Tpm — Te) = Ut (Te - Ta) + hye (Te - Tp) (5.29)aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.184 Solar Energy m =0.075[3.40 — ((L — Lp/L,\°") for Re < 15.000 = 0,138(1.435 - ((L - Lp/L,}°""} for Re > 15000 fis the friction factor and the characteristic dimension in Re is again the equivalent diameter d,. Example 5.2 Consider again the solar air heater of Example 5.1 with continuous longitudinal fins fixed to the bottom side of the absorber plate. Assume the following additional data: Centre-to-centre distance between fins Fin height .3cem Fin thickness =0.3cm Take the value of the radiative heat transfer coefficient to be the same. Calculate (1) air outlet temperature, (2) instantaneous efficiency, and (3) pressure drop. We will first use Eq. (5.41) to calculate the values of the convective heat transfer coefficients. Assuming a mean fluid temperature of 60°C for the purpose of evaluating the properties of air, we have p = 1.060 kg/m® C, = 1.005 kd/keg-K k = 0.0290 Wim-K v= 18.97 x 10° m/s Pr = 0.696 5 ri — 42.5 x 1.5 - 0.3 x 1.3) Equivalent diameter d, = (2.5 +13) _ 4x 3,36 “76 = 1.768 cm =2.5cm 200 3600 x 1.060 x 40 x 3.36 x 104 = 8.900 m/s Ve 2 Re = Vae _ 3.900 x 1.768 x10 = 3635 v 18.97 x 10 Substituting into Eq. (5.41), Nu = 0.023 x 3635°° x 0.696°* = 14.035 Average air velocity =aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.188 Solar Energy As a result, a breakage in a glass cover or a cut in a plastic cover could cause a breakdown in the air heating system. The fifth design, viz. the jet plate air heater, also yields a higher efficiency but at the cost of a higher pressure drop. Overlapped Glass Plate Air Heater The overlapped glass plate air heater was first used in 1957 by Lof* in a residential solar heating system in Colorado. The heater consists of a series of overlapping parallel glass plates, the lower most being blackened (Fig. 5.5). Air flows parallel to the glass plates and in between them. A honeycomb cell passage is used at the inlet in order to direct the air and to ensure that its velocity is uniform. The bottom of the unit is insulated. Selcuk} has analysed the heater by writing energy balance equations for each glass plate and air stream. Solutions have been obtained by numerical techniques and compared with experimental data. From these it is seen that good efficiencies are obtained for moderate temperature rises. For example, an efficiency of about 60 per cent is obtained with an air outlet temperature of 40°C. The air heater also has the advantage of having a low pressure drop. On the other hand, the area of glass required is excessive, being about four times the collector face area. [ Flow straightener -Clear glass Cover ‘— Blackened glass ‘— Insulation Fig. 5.5 Overlapped Glass Plate Solar Air Heater Matrix Air Heater In the matrix air heater, the fluid flows through a porous matrix on which solar radiation is directly incident. The radiation thus *G.0.G. Lof, M.M. El-Wakil and J.A. Duffie, “The Performance of Colorado Solar House’, U.N. Conference on New Sotf¥ces of Energy, Rome (1961). +M.K. Selcuk, “Thermal and Economic Analysis of the Overlapped Glass Plate Solar Air Heater”, Solar Energy, 18, 165 (1971).aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.192 Solar Energy significant improvement in the useful heat gain and the collection efficiency. For the specific case of a spacing of 10 cm between the absorber plate and the bottom plate and a flow length of 2 m, the increase in efficiency was calculated to be 26.5 per cent for a mass flow rate per unit area of 50 kg/h-m*. However, the authors have not calculated the additional pressure drop associated with the introduc- tion of the jet plate. This is also likely to be significant. Absorber plate Fig. 5.9 Jet Plate Solar Air Heater 5.4 TESTING PROCEDURES The standard procedures suggested for testing solar air heaters are similar in most respects to those described in Sec. 4.12 for testing liquid flat-plate collectors. A schematic diagram showing the essential features of the test set-up is shown in Fig. 5.10. It is a closed loop consisting of the solar air heater to be tested, a blower and an apparatus for reconditioning the air which ensures that the air enters the air heater at the desired temperature T;;. Provision is made for measuring the same quantities specified earlier. Some precautions are, however, necessary. Since the fluid is air, it has to be ensured that it is well mixed at the exit from the air heater before its temperature is measured. The mixing is achieved with the help of vanes. As an additional precaution, the temperature both at the inlet and exit of the air heater is measured at a number of locations across the duct cross section. Measurements are made under the conditions specified earlier and the results are also presented in the same manner. A typical set of results given by Gupta and Garg* is shown in Fig. 5.11, It will be noted that the European practice of plotting the parameter (T;- T,)/T7 on the *C.L, Gupta and H.P. Garg, “Performance Studies of Solar Air Heaters", Solar Energy, 11, 26 (1967).aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.208 Solar Energy Similarly for the other tracking modes we obtain the following results: ‘Tracking mode 1 Il IV cos 0 0.9359 0.9980 0.9204 1 1% 1.0023 1.0688 0.9857 1.0709 Iyrs(Wim?) 496.1 529.0 487.9 530.1 The values of I,r, obtained over the day are given in Table 6.1. The total incident energy from 0600 to 1800 h is also obtained by adding the values of I,r,. The assumption made is that the instantaneous value is also the average value for a one hour period. It is seen that the maximum total is obtained with mode V. This is as expected since mode V involves two-axis tracking and gives normal incidence. The other modes involve continuous one-axis tracking or one daily adjust- ment and yield lesser totals. The results obtained are obviously dependent on the latitude of the location, the day of the year and the input radiation data. Table 6.1 Comparison of Tracking Modes LAT * Tory (Wim?) @) Mode I Mode Il Mode Il Mode IV Mode V 0630 2=—s«99.1Ss153.8 = 360.4 «346.1 376.1 0730 230.7 254.5 476.1 445.1 483.6 0830 327.9 335.0 489.0 451.3 490.4 0930 422.3 424.0 511.9 471.2 511.9 1030 495.9 496.1 529.0 487.9 530.1 1130 552.4 552.4 554.0 512.2 556.4 1230 525.3 525.3 526.9 487.0 529.1 1330 495.9 496.1 529.0 487.9 530.1 1430 443.2 445.0 537.2 494.5 537.2 1530 317.0 323.9 472.8 436.4 474.2 1630 2114 233.2 436.5 408.0 443.3 1730 106.3 165.0 386.6 3713 403.4 Total 4.227 “4. 404 5.809 5.399, 5.866 (kWh/m?) In practice, modes II, III and IV are the most common. Mode V is not preferred because of the complexity of providing motion about two axes, while mode I is not used because it does not yield an image onaa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Concentrating Collectors 213 All other symbols have been defined earlier. Equations (6.27) and (6.28) are a set of two nonlinear equations which have to be solved for the unknowns (q;/L) and T, after substituting the values of hy. and hry. Heat Transfer Coefficient between the Absorber Tube and the Cover The natural convection heat transfer coefficient hp, for the enclosed annular space between a horizontal absorber tube and a concentric cover is calculated by using a correlation due to Raithby and Hollands.* het hk where keg = effective thermal conductivity defined as the thermal conductivity that the motionless air in the gap must have to transmit the same amount of heat as the moving air, and Ra* = Modified Rayleigh number related to the usual Rayleigh number by the following equation In@ilD)___ pan mf 1 1 ) =0.317(Ra*)!4 (6.29) (Ra*)“ = (6.30) The characteristic dimension used for the calculation of the Rayleigh number is the radial gap b = (D,; — D,)/2. Properties are evaluated at the mean temperature (7pm + T,)/2. It is to be noted that the effective thermal conductivity ke cannot be less than the thermal conductivity k. Hence (keg/k) is put equal to unity if the use of Eq. (6.29) yields a value less than unity. The relationship between the heat transfer coefficient hp, and the effective thermal conductivity can be found by equating expressions for the heat exchange rate per unit length. We have ates of T, T.) =h, ~ nD, in DalDa ° pm ~ Te) = hy ~ MDT pm — T.) a Thus, hp-e™ 5 as By 6.31) The limitations on using Eq. (6.29) are that Ra* should be less than 10’, and 6 should be less than 0.3D,. *G.D. Raithby and K.G.T. Hollands, “A General Method of Obtaining Approximate Solutions to Laminar and Turbulent Free Convective Problems”, Advances in Heat Transfer, 11, 265 (1975).aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.218 Solar Energy and Nanda* have developed a semi-empirical equation for directly calculating the overall loss coefficient. This equation eliminates the need for an iterative calculation. 1 1 1 D1 Cy Tym ~ TI + [ocr +72)(Tym + To) / {2 +7 E = }] Ui (Dy 1 * Es] fs + oe(T? + T2yT. + | 88) The constant C; has been obtained from the correlation of Raithby and Hollands and is given by the expression C= 17.74 (Lym + T)°* DoDpo"? + Dep”) The cover temperature T, is given by 0.4 Te-Ta \_ Do), -061 G+ 9p)T pm ee |= oosors (2: he 2-3e,+ Too (6.41) (6.40) if 333 < Typ < 513 K, and by 0.4 zz] naw la 3€,+ co. (1+ 8€)T pm 90 | (6-42) if 513 < Tym < 623 K. While using Eqs (6.39)-(6.42), T,,,, T. and T,, are expressed in K, D,, D,; and D,, in m, 6 in Wim?-K‘, and h,, in Wim?-K. The value of U, is obtained in W/m*-K. Eq. (6.39) has been developed for the following range: O.1< &<0.95 0.0125 sD, < 0.15 m 15 $hy $60 Wim-K 273 <7, £3138 K Eqs.(6.41) and (6.42) estimate the glass cover temperature to within + 10°C. This estimate is good enough to obtain U; from Eq. (6.39) to an accuracy of + 1 per cent for 333 < T,, < 513 K, and to an accuracy of + 2 per cent for 513 < Tym < 623 K. *S.C. Mullick and S.K. Nanda, “An Improved Technique for Computing the Heat Loss Factor of a Tubular Absorber’, Solar Energy, 42, 1 (1989).aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.222 Solar Energy F' =——_._—___—. = 0.9304 1 0.04135 | 1324] 35 * 0.0381 x 192.7 mC, ___0.0986 x 2.449 x 10° nD,U;L x 0.04135 x 13.28 x 3.657 Therefore, from Eq. (6.24), heat-removal factor Fp = 38.275 [1 — exp(— 0.9304/38.275)] = 0.9192 . «4 _ (1.25 — 0.04135) _ Concentration ratio C = 2x0.04135 = 9.304 = 38.275 Thus from Eq. (6.23), useful heat gain rate q,, = 0.9192(1.25 - 0.04135) x 3.657 x [+2608 - B28 150 - a9] = 1289.8 W Therefore, rate of heat loss =(W- DLS - qu = (1.25 ~ 0.04135) x 3.657 x 486.03 — 1289.8 = 858.46 W = MD LU(Tpm— Ta) 858.46 Hence (Tym ~ Ta) = 004135 x 3.657 x 15.28 Tym = 167.97°C = 441.13 K We will now calculate the value of U; corresponding to this value of Tym and show that it is equal to the assumed value. The procedure of Example 6.2 will be followed. Assume T, = 60.23°C = 333.39 K From Egs (6.29) and (6.31), we get hy-¢= 5.113 Wim? K = 136.07°C From Eq. (6.32), hy = 34.119 Wim?-K Substituting these values of T,, hp. and hy in Eqs (6.27) and (6.28), we haveaa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Concentrating Collectors 229 Mode I is similar to mode IJ. Thus, calculations show that the performance closely matches that obtained with mode II at all times of the year. However, since only one adjustment is made every day, the incidence angles are a little greater than those in mode II and the performance is, therefore, slightly inferior. It is to be noted however that the value of the intercept factor has been assumed to be constant in the calculations. This may not be valid for mode I because the image is not formed on the focal axis. Mode III In this mode, the collector is rotated about a horizontal N-S axis. Thus, the tracking takes care of the azimuthal swing of the sun, but not the swing in the altitude. On both the days considered, the angle of incidence is small in the early and late hours of the day and goes through a maximum at noon. However, the change in the angle of incidence over a day is not as large as in modes I and II. For this reason, the performance under this mode at times away from solar noon is significantly better than the performance at these times in modes I and II. On the other hand, at solar noon, the performance under this mode is not equal to that obtained with mode V, since the angle of incidence is not zero. Thus, as seen in Fig 6.7, the efficiency variation curve for mode II intersects the efficiency variation curves obtained with modes I and II and tends to be flat for four or five hours every day. This results in a fairly uniform useful heat gain. The performance of the collector is now quite sensitive to the latitude as well as the day of operation. Thus in the example considered, since the latitude of Bombay is 19.12°N and since on April 15 the declination is only + 9.4°, the angle of incidence through the whole day is small. It varies from a minimum of 1.8° at 0730 h to a maximum of 9.7° at noon. The performance of the collector in mode III at all times of the day on April 15 is therefore very near to that obtained with mode V. On the other hand, on Dec. 15 the declination is -23.3°, and the performance deviates significantly from that obtained in mode V. Mode IV In this mode, the collector is rotated about a N-S axis parallel to the earth’s axis of rotation and the angle of incidence is always equal to the declination angle. As a result, the performance of the collector is independent of the latitude. Since the declination varies only between the limits of -23.45° and +23.45°, the performance in this mode is always close to that obtained in mode V. On the two equinox days of March 21 and September 21, when the declination is zero, the performance is the same as in mode V.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Concentrating Collectors 235 Axis of CPC i / Axis of parabola 1 Parabola 2 Parabola 1 Fig. 6.11 Geometry of a Compound Parabolic Concentrating Collector 2 x ¥* 26(1 + sin 0,) (6.44) where the focal length OB = 8 (1 +sin @,). The coordinates of the end points of the segment CD are as follows, Point C: x=b cos 0, y 2a - sin 6,) Point D: x=(b + W) cos @, 1% (1 - sin 6,) p + a The height-to-aperture ratio of the concentrator is given by 2 H Jos mezd+o1 “| (6.45) The surface area of the concentrator is obtained by integrating along the parabolic arc. Rabl* has shown that the ratio of the surface area of the concentrator to the area of the aperture is given by the expression *A. Rabl, “Optical and Thermal Properties of Compound Parabolic Concentrators”, Solar Energy, 18, 497 (1976).aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Concentrating Collectors 241 Transparent cover Concentrator Absorber surface Fluid passages Insulation Fig. 6.13 Compound Parabolic Collector with Flat Absorber Surface acceptance angle* is given by (J,/C). Thus, the total effective flux entering the aperture plane is [J,r, + (Ig/C)] and S= [ae + 4 tp.0t (6.56) where Tt = transmissivity of the cover, Pe = effective reflectivity of the concentrator surface for all radiation, a = absorptivity of the absorber surface. The values of t, p, and are assumed to be the same for beam and diffuse radiation. It is to be noted that the flux S is based on the area of the aperture. In order to obtain an expression for the useful heat gain rate, we take an energy balance on an elementary slice dx of the absorber surface at a distance x from the inlet. This yields the equation dq. = [s - dar, = 7.| Wdx (6.57) “The derivation of this expression is not given here. It is based on the use of the reciprocal relation between shape factors for radiative heat exchange.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.250 Solar Energy Mirror | modules 1a) ] Rack assembly Drive _ mechanism Heliostat field controller/ Heliostat controller door Support pedestal Fig. 6.16 A Heliostat receiver fluid. The value of the heat flux can range from 100 to 1000 kW/m? and this results in high temperatures, high thermal gradients and high stresses in the receiver. The value depends on the concentration ratio and varies with the season and the day. It also varies over the surface of the receiver. For these reasons, attention has to be given to the absorber shape, the heat transfer fluid, the arrangement of tubes to carry the fluid and the materials used for construction. There are two types of receiver designs: the external type and the cavity type (Fig. 6.17). The external receiver is usually cylindrical in shape. The solar flux is directed onto the outer surface of the cylinder consisting of a number of panels and is absorbed by the receiver fluid flowing through closely spaced tubes fixed on the inner side. On the other hand, in a cavity receiver, the solar flux enters through one or more small apertures in an insulated enclosure. The cavity contains a suitable tube configuration through which the receiver fluid flows. The geometry of the cavity is such that it maximises the absorption of the entering radiation, minimizes heat losses by convection and radiationaa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Concentrating Collectors 255 (ii) If the mirrors are dished, 150_(_ 32n T= 08 50° (a x 180 * 0.002) =2.64m nx 2 : 0 _ cos 50° A, g * 2.64 [+n 50' 2 } = 15.82 m? 0.38 x m x 150* x tan? 50° Thus, € 15.82 = 2412 PROBLEMS 1. Obtain the expression y= (r+ B+ 20 - 28) for the correct inclination of a south-facing specular reflector fixed on the top edge of a flat-plate collector (as shown in Fig. 6.2) and having the same dimensions as the flat-plate collector. 2. Compare the values of the tilt factor for beam radiation incident on a flat-plate collector with the tilt factors obtained for north and south-facing reflectors fixed to it. Given the following data: * Location of collector-reflector array Madras (13.00°N) © Slope of collector 19° facing south * Date : Jun. 21 and Dee. 21 * Time : 1200 h (LAT) Assume that the reflectors are inclined at angles given by Eq. (6.1) and by Problem 1. 3. A cylindrical parabolic collector is operated in Calcutta (22.65° N, 88.45° E) in tracking mode Il. Calculate the variation in the slope of the aperture plane from 0800 to 1600 h (LAT) on June 21. 4. A cylindrical parabolic collector is located in Pune (18.53° N) and operates in tracking mode I on May 1. Calculate the values of the slope of the aperture plane from 0600 to 1200 h (LAT) at hourly intervals and the corresponding angle of incidence. Calculate also the time at sunrise. 5. Calculate the overall loss coefficient for an evacuated glass tube cylindrical parabolic focussing collector with the follwing data: * Absorber tube: Outer diameter = 6.5 em Inner diameter + Glass cover: Outer diameter = 15.8 em Inner diamete + Aperture * Length of concentratoraa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Thermal Energy Storage 279 3860 9960 S860 F660 0g T68'0 OF60 ZL60 8860 8 0€8'0 T1060 6760 LLEO 660 9% 2920 €%8'0 3160 L960 £860 S660 ¥ 099°0 29L'0 $980 E260 9960 8860 F660 L660 8S GEg0 8990 FLLO 6980 SEBO FL60 S860 G660 9660 0% voro 850 9990 8840 F880 8h60 8960 Z860 1660 9660 8r 08%'0 6680 sES0 1060 St60 I960 6460 6860 9660 ot ZLTO 8960 2680 6o80 9L80 6IGO 2960 PFL60 8860 S660 ol 1600 LSTO PSZO S8E0 VOLO BLL0 PPO 6680 0760 6960 9860 S660 ar 6800 9100 G6ETO LEZO SPIO E90 E20 £080 ZL8'0 9260 £960 S860 9660 ve0'0 GPOO S600 ELT0 £600 SSO LPS0 EF9'0 SEL0 GI80 8880 I1F60 FEO 72660 £100 6200 0900 GIT'0 9170 2980 ZSF0 OSS'O 1990 G6rL0 LER'O L060 L960 S860 L660 0001 200°0 9100 S800 SLO'O 6FI'O 2470 SEO GO FESO 2990 99L'0 898'0 8760 E160 S660 000T £000 800°0 6100 FrO'D S600 68T'0 6920 ShEO 9FFO 8SG°0 9190 8840 £880 1960 6860 000T TOO €00°0 600°0 Z20'0 S00 OZTO ELT €hB0 EEO TrrO P90 £690 SI8'0 F160 LLE0 000T TOO'O £000 O10'0 9200 14900 Z0T'0 PST'O P2z0 BIEO SEFO ZLS0 LIL'0 2980 £960 000T TOO £000 TI0'O I€00 TS0°0 Z80'0 OT'O O00 8620 LZv0 £890 £540 9060 000T T00|0 €00'0 I100 6100 FE0'O 0900 ZOT'O 69T'0 O70 SFO F090 LT80 000'T 2000 F000 600'0 LTOO FE0'0 9900 e210 9220 FEEO FS9'0 000'T _ 100'0 £000 400°0 8100 0S0°0 Elo 8980 000T 0% 8t oT PI a or 6 8 L 9 g v £ z T ox 2 = plon aa HON DD belo paq-payoed BUI YL —"L)/L -L) Jo SOMIEA HZ e1GeLaa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.284 Solar Energy The value of T;, the initial temperature of the storage device, is chosen by considering the intended temperature range of the device during use, while the value of the mass flow rate maintained during charging and discharging is calculated from the expression TSC Char, (7.28) where, TSC = theoretical storage capacity of the device for a temperature change from 7; to (T; + AT)). From the data recorded, the charge and discharge capacities of the device are obtained by integration as follows, 5 - Ty, + T; C. =m, | (Ty —Tp) dt - (UA)t [Ps “ 1 (7.29) 0 4, Ca= nC, | (Tp -Tyi dt (7.30) 0 The standard recommends that the performance of the thermal storage device should be judged by the values of C, and C, calculated from Eqs (7.29) and (7.30) along with plots of dimensionless tempera- ture (Tj, - T;;/AT; vs. time obtained for the two conditions specified. 7.3. LATENT HEAT STORAGE In a latent heat storage system, heat is stored in a material when it melts and extracted from the material when it freezes. A number of such materials (called ‘phase change materials’ or PCMs) have been investigated from the point of view of their suitability for solar energy applications. Some of them are listed in Table 7.5 along with the values of their melting points and latent heats of fusion. The PCMs may be considered under the following groupings: (1) Organic materials, (2) Hydrated salts, (3) Inorganic materials. The most suitable PCMs under the category of ‘organic materials are paraffin waxes. They are readily available with melting points in the range of 40° to 60°C. This makes them suitable for space heating and cooling applications. The properties of one typical paraffin wax are given in Table 7.5. It will be noted that it does not have a well-defined melting point.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.290 Solar Energy Chen* have selected this reaction after studying a number of thermal decomposition reactions since it satisfies most of the criteria mentioned earlier, Some other reactions which have been suggested for energy storage are the thermal decomposition of various metal oxides} and of calcium hydroxidet. 4KO, @ 2K,0 + 30, (7.32) 2PbO, @ 2PbO + O2 (7.33) Ca(OH), 2 CaO +H,0 (7.34) Despite the fact that the energy stored per unit volume in the proposed reactions is high, it is apparent that thermochemical storage systems would be too costly for short-term storage. It is possible that they may have a role to play only where long-term storage is required around the ambient temperature and the locations where the forward and reverse reactions occur are separated by some distance. PROBLEMS 1. Awell-mixed water storage unit contains 3000 kg of water and is provided with auxiliary heating of 3 kW as shown in Fig. 7.12. Data for the useful heat gain from the collectors, ambient temperature and rate of withdrawal to the load on a particular day from 0300 to 1200 h are as follows: Hour Qu (kJ/h) Ta C) ‘™Mioad (kg/h) (0300-0400 0 16 200 0400-0500 0 16 200 0500-0600 0 18 220 0600-0700 0 20 260 0700-0800 4000 22 260 0800-0900 15 000 24 260 0900-1000 30 000 26 230 1000-1100 50 000 28 220 1100-1200 70.000 30 220 Assume: (i) The auxiliary heater switches on when the temperature in the tank falls below 45°C. (ii) Make-up water at 24°C enters at the same rate as the rate of withdrawal to the load. (iii) (UA); = 60 kJ/h-°C. *W.E. Wentworth and B. Chen, ‘Simple Thermal Decomposition Reactions for Storage of Solar Thermal Energy’, Solar Energy, 18, 205 (1976). +J.A, Simmons, “Reversible Oxidation of Metal Oxides for Thermal Energy Storage”, Proc ISES Meeting, Winnipeg, 8, 219 (1976). ¢L. Fujii, K. Teschiya, Y. Shikekura and M.S. Murthy, “Thermal Decomposition of Calcium Hydroxide Pellets for Energy Storage, “Trans. ASME, J. Solar Energy Engg., 111, 245 (1989).aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.296 Solar Energy Mexico and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Larger ponds include one of 2000 m? at Miamisburg, Ohio to provide hot water for a swimming pool and one of 3500 m” at El Paso, Texas to provide hot water for a factory. The largest solar pond built so far is the 250000 m? pond at Bet Ha Arava in Israel. The heat collected in this pond has been used to generate 5 MW of electrical power using an organic fluid Rankine cycle. In India, the first solar pond having an area of 1200 m? was built at the Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhav- nagar in 1973. Experimental research ponds having areas of 100 and 240 m? respectively were operated for a few years at Pondicherry and at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, while a 1600 m? solar pond was built in Bhavnagar again in the eighties. A solar pond having an area of 400 m’ has been constructed at Masur (Karnataka) to meet the hot water needs of a rural community; and one having an area of 300 m” has been built to supply hot water for the students hostel of an engineering college at Hubli (Karnataka). The largest pond built in India so far is located at Bhuj (Gujarat). (Refer Photo No. 6.) The pond has an area of 6000 m”. It has been operating since September 1993 and supplies the process heat needs of a nearby dairy. 8.2 DESCRIPTION A schematic diagram of a solar pond is shown in Fig. 8.2. As stated Saline water, Lt. Fresh water run-off ~ inlet Return, sonar BA Hot water "7 _ “water | — Surface convective zone Scz || —Concentration gradient zone NCZ |i — Lower convective zone Loz Fig. 8.2 Schematic Diagram of a Solar Pond earlier, it combines the functions of heat collection with long-term storage and can provide sufficient heat for the entire year. Typically, it is about 1 or 2 metres deep with a thick durable plastic liner laid at the bottom. Materials used for the liner include low density polyethylene (LDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), woven polyester yarn (XB-5), and hypalon reinforced with nylon mesh. Saltsaa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Solar Pond 301 Flux reflected from the water surface =p + Tapa = (0.964 - 0.210) x 0.020 + (0.210 x 0.059) = 0.027 kWim? Therefore, flux entering the water = 0.964 — 0.027 = 0.987 kW/m? Equation (8.5) is used for calculating the transmissivity based on absorption at depths of 0.01, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 m. At x=0.01 m, 1, for beam radiation (t,,) = 0.36 — 0.08 In (0.01/cos 11.01°) = 0.7269 1, for diffuse radiation (tag) = 0.36 ~ 0.08 In (0.01/cos 40.63°) = 0.7063 Hence, solar flux (J) at a depth of 0.01 m = Tytrotab + Ldtrd tad = (0.964 - 0.210) (1 - 0.020) x 0.7269 + 0.210 x (1 — 0.059) x 0.7063 = 0.677 kW/m? Similarly, we obtain the following values of solar flux at the other depths: Depth 01, #O8 , 410, 415 m Solar flux (J) 0.541, 0.984, 0.882, 0.301 kW/m? The variation of solar radiation flux with depth is plotted in Fig. 8.4. The large amount of energy absorbed near the surface is clearly obvious. In the present case, assuming that the surface convective zone is 10 cm thick, it is seen that 0.396 kW/m”, amounting to 41 per cent of the incident energy, is absorbed in it*. This energy is almost entirely lost to the surroundings and is one of the main reasons accounting for the low collection efficiency of a solar pond. It is also seen from Fig. 8.4 that the flux penetrating to the bottom of the pond is 0.301 kW/m?, which amounts to 31 per cent of the incident energy. Finally, it is worth noting that Eqs (8.4) and (8.5) for calculating the *Most of the radiation absorbed in the surface convective layer has wavelengths ranging from 1 to 2 um. From the point of view of the collection efficiency of a solar pond, it is unfortunate that water is opaque to radiation in this range.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.306 Solar Energy lower convective zone of finite thickness, but a surface convective zone of negligible thickness. Diurnal variations are neglected and the temperature of the lower convective zone is obtained in the form A = Ty = Tn + Tin cos (cot — 8) A where Ty = annual average temperature in the lower convective zone, Ty = amplitude, w = frequency, and 6 = phase Jag with the variation of insolation. The annual average ten:perture Ty is time independent and is obtained quite easily by solving the heat conduction Eq. (8.6) in the steady state. The following solution is obtained, a A‘ (8.9) A T.,= annual average ambient temperature, A H,= annual average global radiation, K; =(K,/cos @), where 9» is the angle of refraction corresponding to an effective angle of incidence. This is taken to be the angle of incidence on the equinox day at 1400 h (LAT) at the location under consideration, 2, = depth of the pond at the bottom of the non-convective zone, load = annual average heat extraction rate. The other symbols 1,, #, A;, Kj and A, have been defined earlier. Equation (89) is a simple and useful equation for calculating the average performance or for estimating the area of a solar pond for a given requirement. a The time dependent component of Tyy, viz. Ty cos (wt — 8), is more difficult to calculate. The procedure for doing so will not be given here. Rabl and Nielsen have used their solution to carry out detailed calculations for many locations in the USA having widely differing climates. They find that the solar pond performs well for all the locations and can supply adequate heating even in regions near the Arctic circle. For latitudes around 40°, they find that the pond should be approximately comparable in surface area and volume to the space it is to heat. Calculations also show that for a given location, heat load and annual mean extraction temperature, there is an optimum value of /; corresponding to which the pond area is a minimum. Example 8.2 Estimate the area of a solar pond required for supplying 5 x 10° kJ of energy per year at an annual mean temperature of 70°C for an industrial process heat application. The pond is located in Nagpuraa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.310 Solar Energy Example 8.3 Use Kq. (8.18) based on Kooi’s analysis for calculating the area of a solar pond working under the same conditions as in Example 8.2. Take the depth of the surface convective zone to be 0.10 m and assume that the temperature of this zone is equal to the ambient air temperature. *- Substituting into Eq. (8.18), we get 226.9 x 0.976 5 0.89654) | (x xc1n0.s065 158 549 =A, { (095-010) 5, K ek sovonees — 9.648 ay 26.3] ~ (0.95 - 0.10) Using the values of A; and K; given in Eq. (8.4), we get, 158 549 = A, [226.9 x 0.412 - 0.76 x 43.7] (8.20) Therefore Ap = 2639 m?. This value is slightly higher than the value of 2368 m? obtained by using the Rabl and Nielsen formula. It is likely to be a better estimate because the finite thickness of the surface convective zone has been considered. From Eq. (8.20), it is seen that for the solar pond under considera- tion, the equivalent transmissivity-absorptivity term is only 0.412. . Fortunately the value of the equivalent loss term is also low, viz. 0.76 Wim?-K. Analytical treatments like those due to Weinberger or Rabl and Nielsen require a number of simplifying assumptions, and are useful only for obtaining reasonably good estimates of pond performance. In order to obtain more correct answers, it becomes necessary to solve the basic equations numerically, using finite difference procedures. Numerical methods give greater freedom to incorporate appropriate initial and boundary conditions and permit a more realistic repre- sentation of climatic conditions as well as load variations. Eliseev et al.* obtained finite difference solutions for the tempera- ture distribution in ponds varying in depth from 10 to 80 cm. The climatic data of Tashkent was used for the purpose. They neglected the presence of the surface convective zone and therefore used the following boundary condition at the surface instead of Eq. (8.7), or 1: Fr =_4 e+ Qet+Qr) (8.21) k=0 “P However, they considered the variation of properties like density and *V.N. Eliseev, Yu.U. Usmanov and LN. Teslenko, “Theoretical Investigation of the ‘Thermal Regime of a Solar Pond”, Geliotekhnika, 7, 17 (1971).aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.316 Solar Energy All these steps were undertaken with the intention of avoiding the use of a liner. However, after a few months of operation, the side wall developed cracks in a number of places and it became necessary to put a liner of high-density black polyethylene. The pond was initially filled with water at 30°C. The heating-up was quite rapid and a temperature of 70°C was attained in 87 days. Because of the leakage which began when the temperature touched 70°C, the maximum expected temperature of 80°C was not attained in the summer of 1980. The lowest temperature during the annual cycle was 50°C in December. The authors have made an economic evaluation and have calculated that the cost of heat delivered by the pond is about Re 0.20 per kWh (thermal). This is a little more than the estimate of $0.015 (Re 0.14) made by Nielsen five years earlier. Srinivasan* has discussed his experience of operating a small 240 m? solar pond in Bangalore over a period of 5 years starting in 1984. The pond was rectangular in shape with dimensions of 30 m by 8 m at the bottom, and a side slope of 45°. The lining consisted of two layers of 0.3 mm thick low density polyethylene. A third leyer was also used on the side walls. During the experimentation, the thickness of the LCZ was limited to 0.4 m, the thickness of the NCZ was varied from 0.2 to 1.0 m, and the thickness of the SCZ varied from 0.3 to 0.6 m. Through the five year period, the temperatures attained in the storage zone ranged from a minimum of 50°C to a maximum of 75°C. Based on his studies, Srinivasan obtained a number of useful results. From the point of view of heat extraction, he showed that it was best to use an immersed copper heat exchanger in preference to an external heat exchanger. For maintaining the salt concentration gradient, a simple passive method was found to be adequate for a small pond, a polyvinyl chloride pipe (25 cm in dia and 4 m long) was suspended vertically at the centre of the pond. The bottom of the pipe was 10 cm from the bottom of the pond. 8 holes (5 cm diameter) were drilled around the circumference about 30 cm from the bottom. About 100 kg of salt was dumped into the tube daily. This salt dissolved within a day and measurements showed that it helped to maintain the required salt concentration gradient without causing any local problems. Srinivasan also developed a simple two-zone model for predicting the seasonal temperature variations in the pond. The predictions of the model agreed well with the measurements made and showed that in small ponds, maximum temperatures in excess of about 70°C would *J, Srinivasan, “Performance of a Small Solar Pond in the Tropics", Solar Energy, 45, 221 (1990).aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.Solar Pond 321 essentially stagnant or moves with a slow velocity. The growth gives the water a greenish colour and severely decreases the transmissivity. Prevention of the growth is therefore essential. The usual practice is to subject the water to some form of chemical treatment. Chlorination of the water and the addition of small amounts of copper sulphate have been found to be very effective in this respect. Fouling Due to Dirt and Leaves The transmissivity of the water is also decreased by the presence of unsettled dirt or leaves which are blown into the pond from the surroundings. With the passage of time, such materials usually settle to the bottom where the effect on performance is negligible. However, it is desirable to remove such debris by skimming it off from the surface before it begins to settle. Effect of Bottom Reflectivity The effect of the reflectivity of the bottom of a solar pond on the performance of the pond has been studied by Srinivasan and Guha”*. They find that an increase in the bottom reflectivity (on account of accumulation of dirt or excess undissolved salt) can lead to a deteriora- tion in pond performance. In the case of dirt, the increase in reflectivity is not very high. As a result, the performance of the pond is not affected significantly. However in the case of undissolved salt, the increase in reflectivity is quite high leading to a substantial deterioration in the performance of the pond. 8.6 OTHER SOLAR POND CONCEPTS As stated earlier, a number of other concepts have also been suggested for building solar ponds. Some of these will now be described. The Solar Gel Pond The concept of any solar pond hinges on the presence of a non-convec- tive zone to trap the solar energy collected in the lower convective zone. In a solar gel pond, a thick layer of a polymer gel floats on the lower convective zone and acts as the non-convective zone. The gel has good optical and thermal insulating properties. Wilkinst has demonstrated _ *J. Srinivasan and A. Guha, “The Effect of Bottom Reflectivity on the Performance of a Solar Pond", Solar Energy, 39, 361 (1987). +E.Wilkins, “Operation of a Commercial Solar Gel Pond", Solar Energy, 46, 383 (1991).aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.326 Solar Energy small electrical energy bills for running equipments like pumps, blowers, etc., and for local taxes. Thus we define: Annual solar savings* (ASS) = Fuel savings - Payment on loan — Maintenance charges — Electrical energy bill — Local taxes + Tax deductions (9.3) Cumulative solar savings (CSS) over a certain number of years (n) is the sum of the annual solar savings over the period minus the initial down payment made at the time of installation of the solar system. Life cycle savings (LCS) is the cumulative solar savings calculated over the life time (n,) of a system plus the resale value of the system at the end of its life time. Thus, a CSS = E (ASS), - (Initial down payment) (9.4) jal LCS = (CSS), Aerofsil | / \ U vs Propeller tyP@ = Darrieus / type Wy GH Troposkein shape Guy 4 wires Fig. 10.7 Various Types of Wind Machine Rotors The Darrieus rotor is shaped somewhat like an egg beater. It consists of two or three blades having an aerofoil cross section. Along the length, the blades are curved into a shape called a troposkein. The troposkein is the shape which a rope would take up if rotated about a vertical axis. It is to be noted that both the Savonius and Darrieus type run independently of the direction of the wind because they rotate about a vertical axis. On the other hand, horizontal axis machines have to face the direction of the wind in order to generate power. Multi-blade Type Wind Machine A simplified sketch of a multi-blade type wind machine is shown in Fig. 10.8. The main elements are the rotor, the wind mill head (casing), the tail vane, the transmission system and the supporting structure (tower). The machine is normally used for pumping water. For this reason, an additional component at the base of the tower is a water pump. The rotor overhangs at one end of the shaft emerging from the windaa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.aa You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.SOLAR ENERGY Principles of Thermal Collection and Storage Second Edition The second edition of this authoritative text on solar energy provides complete information on its collection and storage for thermal applications. Salient Features e Reflects many of the developments that have taken place in solar technologies and devices in the last decade e Incorporates a chapter on economic analysis of solar thermal systems Provides a brief but comprehensive treatment of other methods like photovoltaic conversion, wind energy, energy from biomass, and ocean thermal energy conversion e Has numerous solved problems based on Indian data and an updated set of practice problems with answers at the end of each chapter ehh SP SUKHATME is currently the Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Banaras Hindu University in 1958. Subsequently he did his postgraduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received the degrees of Master of Science in 1960 and Doctor of Science in 1964. He has been a faculty member in the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai since 1965. I SBN O-07- il 4 I a Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited 7 West Patel Nagar, New Delhi 110.008 Visit our website at: www.tatamegrawhill.com