Instituto Superior Tcnico

18/12/2012

CONSUMER SOLAR THERMAL POWER

Introduo Investigao

Manuel Nascimento - 52294

Presentation Summary
Solar thermal power components and setups
The main component for thermal power setups is the
collector, whose function is to capture the solar
irradiation, absorbing its energy. Theyre composed of
tightly packed, multiple crisscrossing absorber tubes where
the solar rays enter and their energy is thermally
transferred to the HTFs (heat transfer fluids) that flow in
the tubes. HTFs will later transfer collected energy to
potable water in a fashion depending on the setup. The
most common HTFs in use are water and glycol-water
mixtures. Water is cheaper and easy to use but can freeze
during winter in some locations. Using glycol-water
mixtures prevents freezing and provides greater thermal
absorption. The most widely used collectors are flat panel
collectors which are flat insulated boxes with glass surfaces
on top through which the solar rays penetrate and where
the cylindrical absorber tubes are. The insulation also
provides a hot house effect, further contributing to solar
energy capture. Also popular but more expensive are the
CPC (compound parabolic collectors), that use parabolictype mirrors below the tubes in order to concentrate the
solar radiation (within their optical critical angles) into the
absorbers. These can be inside an insulated box or by
themselves. Studies show that while CPCs are not as
efficient as flat panel when HTF temperature is equal to
ambient temperature, they lose efficiency more slowly as
the temperature rises.
There are two major types of Solar Thermal Power setups:
Termosyphon Circulation and Forced Circulation. In the
Termosyphon setup, the simplest and cheapest, the hot
water tank is mounted directly above the collectors, on the
outside of the building (usually roof). The sun heats up the
HTF in the collectors making it less dense, making it flow
naturally upwards to the water tank above. There, through

a heat exchanger component, its heat is transferred to the

potable water connected to the buildings piping system.
The cold HTF then returns to the bottom of the collectors,
continuing the cycle. Usually, the water tank has an
electrical resistance inside to provide additional heating
when the solar irradiation is not enough to meet the
demand. Because in this setup the water tank is on the
outside, its more prone to energy losses. Also, its only
possible to have smaller capacity tanks (< 200l). Since the
HTF flow occurs naturally, there is no possibility of
control. If the solar irradiation is not enough (clouds and
cold weather), the HTF may not be hot enough to heat the
water but still flow to the tank and exchange heat with it,
effectively cooling the water.
In the Forced Circulation system, the water tank is placed
inside the building and the HTF flow is controlled through
automatic pumping. This way, the HTF is only channeled
to the water tanks heat exchanger if its temperature is
high enough. Because the tank is inside, fewer energy
losses are expected and theres a possibility of using other
types of systems for auxiliary heating in the tank, such as
conventional gas or electrical boilers. Forced Circulation
systems are more complex and expensive, but more
scalable, powerful and versatile. Larger systems can
provide additional hot water for house heating and cooling
through the walls, floor, radiators and air conditioning.
There are various systems of these available in the market.
A Portuguese company, Rigsun (www.rigsun.pt), sells a
wide array of kits, entire setups made up of all the
different necessary components and dimensioned for
different consumption needs. For instance, the Sani line
can be used to heat water and the Poli line can be used to
heat water and also the inside of the house or building.

ABSTRACT

The aim of this presentation was to characterize the existing solar thermal power systems to heat water in domestic or small
building environments and describe how to calculate the energy they provide and how much money can be saved on traditional
water heating systems (gas, electricity). Firstly, the main components and installation setups for these systems are reviewed and
some commercially available kits are presented. Then, the required information and methodology for determining the supplied
solar energy is briefly reviewed. Lastly, a case study is considered for a 4 person family using one of the mentioned kits. Using
SolTerm software, we explore how to calculate the solar energy supplied and how much money can be saved, discussing the
results obtained for our project. Further savings in energy bills using these systems for ambient heating are briefly discussed. It
can be concluded that solar thermal systems are efficient for hot water heating, particularly in places with better sunshine.
Installing a kit at home is profitable even using a bank loan and will reduce energy bills and lower CO2 emissions. Purchasing
with ones capital, the invested capital will be recovered well before the end of systems lifetime of 20 years. Software solutions
are invaluable tools to study the potential implementation of these systems and to help tailor and optimize the systems
components for specific locations, building characteristics and hot water consumption profiles.

The main consideration one has to take into account is the

number of people in the house that the solar system is
intended to work in. The panels should be installed facing
directly South and with an inclination equal to the latitude
of the location. However, it can be demonstrated that
small offsets from these parameters (within 10) will not
compromise the performance significantly. Lastly, as a
general rule, one should design the system to have a solar
fraction of around 90% in the Summer, that is, to provide
about 90% of the energy necessary to heat the water.

Calculating the supplied energy

To determine the supplied energy from the solar system,
basically its necessary to evaluate the solar energy
absorbed by the system and subtract the heat losses in
each component. However, those quantities depend on
multiple variables and there is a multitude of factors to
consider. Firstly one needs to know in detail the average
solar irradiation profile (for all the solar radiation
components: direct, diffuse and reflected from the Earths
surface) for each day of the year which in itself is a
extensive problem. Then the thermodynamic properties of
the solar system components are considered and the
energy balance is established. In the first item of the
bibliography theres a detailed explanation of all the steps,
but going in detail was outside the scope of this work.
More importantly, there are software solutions available to
design these kinds of solar systems and analyze the results,
in terms of energy and of economics. For instance,
SolTerm is a software designed by LNEG (Laboratrio
Nacional de Engenharia e Geologia) that has all the solar
irradiation data necessary for Portugal and has the
equations for innumerous typical solar setups (thermal and
photovoltaic), as well as a library of many components and
systems on the market in Portugal. Inputting the required
thermodynamic quantities for each component of the
system (manually, consulting the manufacturers technical
data or via the internal library), and also the average hourly
hot water consumption profile for each month, the
software does the calculations and presents an analysis in
respect to energy and economic considerations (using
current and predicted energy tariffs). It also takes into
account the costs of maintenance and substitution of parts
in percentage of purchase price (percentages can be
selected). The Software can also suggest improvements on
the setup by trying to optimize one of the different
energetic criteria at a time, like solar fraction, solar energy
waste, usage of auxiliary energy and collector orientation.

Case study using SolTerm

SolTerm software was used to analyze the viability of
installing a forced circulation type Sani 300-2 solar
thermal system with a typical gas boiler as the auxiliary
heater in a 4 person family home in the Lisbon area. The
system comprises 2 solar panels (4.7 m2 in total), a 300L
water tank, costs 4200 (VAT included) and has a rated
average solar fraction of 60% to 80%. A hot water
consumption plan was considered involving 2 showers in
the morning, 2 in the late afternoon and water for lunch
and dinner cooking and dish washing. It can be assumed a
typical water usage of 95 L/person.day, because a typical
shower/bathtub flows 6L/min and, considering a 15

minute shower, that makes 90L. The remaining 5L can be

considered for cooking, dish washing and other activities.
Consulting the technical specs from Rigsuns website, the
solar setup was replicated in the software and results were
obtained.
Regarding the energy results, the single most important
and useful figure obtained is the solar fraction. An average
global yearly solar fraction of 81.8% was obtained,
strongly suggesting that using this system would be
effective and profitable. In detail, about 3974 kWh of
energy would be saved. If the solar system would replace a
conventional gas boiler for water heating (esquentador),
about 5300 kWh of natural gas would be saved. That
means 1.3 ton of equivalent CO2 not emitted to the
atmosphere, effectively lowering the ecological footprint.
With respect to the economics, using reasonable values for
inflation and TAEG interest rate, two cases were
considered for the purchase of the solar system:
contracting a 5 year bank loan (bill of about 93/month)
or using ones own capital. Regardless, the savings in the
natural gas bill will be of about 572/year during the 20
years of typical life-time of these systems. When using a
bank loan, the real total profit after 20 years would be
about 4700 . During the first 5 years there would be
expenses of about 50/month, but after that and until the
end of the 20 year expected life time of the system, there
would be savings of about 42.7 /month. Using ones own
capital, because there arent interest rates to be paid, the
profitability is even higher: a real profit of 6136, meaning
a profitability rate of 7% a year, which is higher than a
high-yield financial investment. In 12 years the invested
capital would be recovered.
By using a different system that could also contribute for
house heating, like a Rigsuns Poli line kit, additional
savings could be obtained by replacing (if only partially)
conventional heaters (lets consider electrical radiators).
With a solar fraction for ambient heating of 50% (Poli line
rates at 30%-50%), using heating half the year (colder
months) and recalling the present electrical tariff (about
0.21/kWh) one could expect savings of up to 255/year.

Conclusions
Its easy to see that solar thermal systems are effective and
efficient in replacing traditional hot water heating,
especially in places with high solar irradiation. Installing a
kit at home is profitable, even if a bank loan is needed,
providing cuts in energy bills and lowering CO2 emissions.
If no bank loan is needed, one will get the invested money
well before the end of the systems lifetime and with
profitability higher than a good financial application.
Software tools like SolTerm are essential to design and test
the systems configuration, making it possible to tailor and
optimize the installation for specific locations, building
types and hot water consumption profiles. This makes
sure what you choose to install will meet your needs
effectively. Since the solar irradiation availability in
Portugal is quite good, only a lack of awareness and the
financial crisis can explain why there isnt a wider
proliferation and investment on these systems.