 The experimental evaluation and improvements of a novel thermal diode pre-heat solar water heater under simulated solar conditionsM. Smyth, P. Quinlan, J.D. Mondol, A. Zacharopoulos, D. McLarnon and A. Pugsley Renewable Energy, 2018, vol. 121, issue C, 116-122 Abstract: This paper presents the development through experimental performance characterisation of a pre-heat Integrated Collector Storage Solar Water Heater using a novel thermal diode operation to reduce ambient heat loss during non-collection periods. Using a solar simulator facility at Ulster University, the novel prototype pre-heat Mark IV unit was tested and evaluated. The concept has been designed and developed to be a sustainable pre-heat alternative to other types of solar water heating systems traditionally used in domestic hot water installations. The highest 6 h collection efficiency was 36.17% under solar simulated conditions. The lowest system ‘U’ value was 0.98 Wm−2K−1 with no draw-off conditions. When the current prototype ICS units are compared with other conventional ICS systems, particularly in terms of thermal retention during non-collection periods, an improved performance is clearly demonstrated. The measured thermal losses were approximately 40% less than other similarly measured systems. Keywords: ICSSWH; Pre-heat; Solar simulation; Thermal diode (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:121:y:2018:i:c:p:116-122 DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2017.12.083 Access Statistics for this article Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier |
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