First Law Comparison of a Forced-Circulation Solar Water Heating System with an Identical Thermosyphon

Evangelos I. Sakellariou, Petros J. Axaopoulos (), Bill Vaneck Bot and Kosmas A. Kavadias
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Evangelos I. Sakellariou: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of West Attica, 250, Thivon & P. Ralli Str., Campus Ancient Olive Grove, 12244 Athens, Greece
Petros J. Axaopoulos: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of West Attica, 250, Thivon & P. Ralli Str., Campus Ancient Olive Grove, 12244 Athens, Greece
Bill Vaneck Bot: Laboratory of Energy, Materials, Modelling and Methods, Higher National Polytechnic School, University of Douala, Douala P.O. Box 2701, Cameroon
Kosmas A. Kavadias: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Laboratory of Soft Energy Applications & Environmental Protection, University of West Attica, 250, Thivon & P. Ralli Str., Campus Ancient Olive Grove, 12244 Athens, Greece

Energies, 2022, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-21

Abstract: The main categories of solar water heating systems (SWHSs) are the thermosyphon and the forced circulation (FC). This paper presents an experiment carried out with the aim to compare the energy performance of the FC with a thermosyphon SHWS. Identical SWHSs were installed side by side at the University of West Attica in Athens, Greece. Domestic hot water load was applied to both systems via a microcontroller-based dispensing unit which mimics the demand profile. The trial period comprised the last two months of spring (April and May). For the first law assessment, two energy indicators were utilized: the solar fraction (SF) and the thermal efficiency of the system (η th ). On days with distinctive weather conditions, both systems obtained approximately equal SF and η th values, without a specific preference between the ambient conditions and the type of SWHS. Regarding a four-day nonstop operation, the FC overperformed the thermosyphon system at both energy indicators. Namely, for the FC and the thermosyphon SWHS, the SF was calculated to be 0.62 and 0.48, and the η th was 68.2% and 53.3%, respectively.

Keywords: solar water heating systems; thermosyphon; force circulated; solar fraction; thermal efficiency; first law analysis (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: 2022
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