Impact of Stearic Acid as Heat Storage Material on Energy Efficiency and Economic Feasibility of a Vacuum Tube Solar Water Heater

K. Chopra, V. V. Tyagi (), Sudhir Kumar Pathak, Apaar Khajuria, A. K. Pandey, Nazaruddin Abd Rahman, Muhamad Mansor and Ahmet Sari
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K. Chopra: School of Mechanical Engineering, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra 182320, India
V. V. Tyagi: School of Energy Management, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra 182320, India
Sudhir Kumar Pathak: School of Energy Management, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra 182320, India
Apaar Khajuria: School of Mechanical Engineering, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra 182320, India
A. K. Pandey: Research Centre for Nano-Materials and Energy Technology (RCNMET), School of Engineering and Technology, Sunway University, Kuala Lumpur 46150, Malaysia
Nazaruddin Abd Rahman: Institute of Power Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Kajang 43000, Malaysia
Muhamad Mansor: Institute of Power Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Kajang 43000, Malaysia
Ahmet Sari: Department of Metallurgical and Material Engineering, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon 61080, Turkey

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 11, 1-18

Abstract: The overheating of heat pipes, poor transfer of heat across the absorber and finned heat pipes, and inability to provide hot water in the late evening hours are major problems associated with conventional heat pipe vacuum collector systems. The amalgamation of highly conductive storage material between the absorber tube (heat collecting surface) and the heat pipe is an effective way to overcome these problems. In this study, a stearic acid amalgamated vacuum tube solar collector system was designed and fabricated and its thermal output compared with a conventional vacuum tube system without storage material under the same environmental conditions. The experimental results showed that the amalgamation of stearic acid as storage material enhanced the thermal output of the solar system compared to the conventional one. The desired heat gain of the solar system with storage material increased by 31.30, 23.34, and 18.78% for Test 1_40 °C, Test 2_45 °C, and Test 3_50 °C, respectively. The technoeconomic analysis showed that almost 118.80 USD in revenue could be earned by the proposed solar system at the end of 15 years. The total running cost of ELG and the developed solar system was observed to be 202.62 and 86.70 USD, respectively. On average, the cost of hot water production using the solar system and ELG was found to be 0.0016 and 0.004 USD/L, respectively. The value of LEC was found to be 0.062 USD/electricity unit, which was much lower than the LEC value of ELG (0.116 USD/electricity unit). The value of NPW (73.73 USD) indicated high acceptability of the proposed system. The payback time is lower than the life of the system, indicating its suitability for use in the commercial sector. Therefore, the proposed solar system is highly recommended over conventional water heating systems in urban and rural areas.

Keywords: energy; vacuum tube solar water heating; technoeconomic investigation; thermal energy storage material (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: 2023
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