AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF A NEW HEAT EXCHANGER FOR A SOLAR DOMESTIC HOT WATER
Abstract
Abstract
Renewable energy sources have the capacity to play a significant role in replacing conventional fuels in four fields, such as electric power production, hot water production, transportation of fuels, and countryside (off-grid) power services fuels in four fields. One of the most widely known in solar thermal applications is solar water heating system.
In the present paper a comparison of the thermal performance of two designs of heat exchanger of solar domestic hot water system was achieved. The comparison was carried out in terms of the heat exchanger overall heat transfer coefficient (UA) product, maximum tank temperature, thermal stratification. The tested heat exchangers were, an immersion heat exchanger (Immhx1) and an external shell-and-coil heat exchanger (S&Chx). The results showed that the heat exchanger of (S&Chx) achieved a higher value of overall heat transfer coefficient (UA), higher thermal stratification, and higher temperature in the upper layers of the tank compared with heat exchanger (Immhx1). Regarding the energy obtained from solar radiation, collected and transferred to the collecting tank, the performance of the heat exchanger (S&Chx) was better compared with heat exchanger (Immhx1)
Key words: Heat exchanger, solar water heating system, overall heat transfer coefficient
