Experimental Analysis of Control Methods in Solar Water Heating Systems

Pawel Znaczko, Kazimierz Kaminski, Norbert Chamier-Gliszczynski, Emilian Szczepanski and Paweł Gołda
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Pawel Znaczko: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Koszalin University of Technology, 75-453 Koszalin, Poland
Kazimierz Kaminski: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Koszalin University of Technology, 75-453 Koszalin, Poland
Norbert Chamier-Gliszczynski: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Koszalin University of Technology, 75-453 Koszalin, Poland
Emilian Szczepanski: Faculty of Transport, Warsaw University of Technology, 00-662 Warsaw, Poland
Paweł Gołda: Air Force Institute of Technology, 01-494 Warsaw, Poland

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-16

Abstract: This paper focuses on an analysis of selected control methods in solar heating systems. Proportional, ON-OFF, and new proposed IPC control methods were tested. Experimental tests were conducted under natural conditions using the author’s method of clustering measurement days. In the form of thermal energy gains in the storage tanks, the results for all tested control methods are presented. The ON-OFF control method is suitable for low variability of solar radiation conditions but is ineffective under dynamic solar radiation conditions. The proportional controllers collect thermal energy under high variability solar radiation effectively, but they tend to cause thermal drifts from the system under high heat load. The proposed IPC control method prevents the waste of heat energy and makes more efficient use of the high and dynamic solar radiation. In conclusion, energy gains depend more on the level of solar radiation and less on its variability. However, the variability of solar radiation makes control in solar systems more challenging, and it is one of the factors that should determine the control strategy. The novelty of this work is based on an extension of the control algorithm by adding the temperature at the entry and exit of the solar coil. This makes it possible to eliminate thermal drift and observe the intensity of heat transfer to the water in the tank.

Keywords: proportional control; ON-OFF control; solar water heating systems; solar collector; control methods; solar radiation; weather conditions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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