Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com

Solar Energy 83 (2009) 700714 www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Optimal design of a forced circulation solar water heating system for a residential unit in cold climate using TRNSYS
Alireza Hobbi *, Kamran Siddiqui
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Received 28 March 2007; received in revised form 22 June 2008; accepted 27 October 2008 Available online 17 November 2008 Communicated by: Associate Editor Dr. C. Estrada-Gasca

Abstract An indirect forced circulation solar water heating systems using a at-plate collector is modeled for domestic hot water requirements of a single-family residential unit in Montreal, Canada. All necessary design parameters are studied and the optimum values are determined using TRNSYS simulation program. The solar fraction of the entire system is used as the optimization parameter. Design parameters of both the system and the collector were optimized that include collector area, uid type, collector mass ow rate, storage tank volume and height, heat exchanger eectiveness, size and length of connecting pipes, absorber plate material and thickness, number and size of the riser tubes, tube spacing, and the collectors aspect ratio. The results show that by utilizing solar energy, the designed system could provide 8397% and 3062% of the hot water demands in summer and winter, respectively. It is also determined that even a locally made non-selective-coated collector can supply about 54% of the annual water heating energy requirement by solar energy. 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Flat-plate collectors; Solar water heating; Forced circulation; TRNSYS

1. Introduction Satisfactory performance and reliability of a solar water heating system requires adequate sizing of its components as well as accurate prediction of the delivered useful energy and outlet water temperature. In cold regions the thermal losses from the solar water heating systems are high, solar irradiance is low, and freezing of the uid inside the collector is an issue. Therefore, optimization of the system parameters is very important to achieve an adequate performance. The performance of solar water heating systems with at-plate collectors has extensively been studied theoretically and experimentally over the past several decades. For instance, Hottel and Woertz (1942) established the fundamental quantitative relations among the performance parameters, Bliss (1959) derived the mathematical models
*

Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 780 838 5150. E-mail address: alihobbi@yahoo.com (A. Hobbi).

for eciency factors for a variety of solar collectors; Liu and Jordan (1963) reported a simple procedure to predict the long-term performance of a collector; Whillier and Saluja (1965), Gupta and Garge (1968), and Yeh et al. (2003) studied the eect of several design details on the system performance; San Martin and Fjeld (1975), and Siebers and Viskanta (1977) compared the performance of dierent congurations of the at-plate collector; and Hahne (1985) investigated the eect of various parameters on the eciency and warm-up time of at-plate collectors. Most of these studies, however, investigated the performance over a short period of time and for simplied operating condition. Dierent computational tools have been developed to numerically evaluate the long-term performance of solar systems and study the eect of design parameters. TRNSYS 16 (Klein et al., 2004) is extensive software for transient simulation of solar systems (thermal or PV), low energy solar multi-zone buildings, renewable energy systems, fuel cells

0038-092X/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.solener.2008.10.018

A. Hobbi, K. Siddiqui / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 700714

701

Nomenclature Ac CB Cp Dr,i Dr,o F FR 0 F f hf,i Ht IT k L l _ m n t Qu Collector area, m2 Bond conductance, h m2K/kJ Specic heat of uid, kJ/kg C Inside diameter of the pip, m Outside diameter of the pipe, m Fin eciency factor Collector heat removal factor Collector eciency factor Solar fraction (annual or monthly) Heat transfer coecient between the pipe wall and the circulating uid, W/m2 oC Tank height, m Solar radiation incident rate on the collector surface per unit area, W/m2 Thermal conductivity, W/m2 oC Pipe length, m Collector Length, m Collector ow rate, kg/s Number of riser tubes Thickness, m Useful energy collection rate from the collector, W Tmain Tset Tin Tout UL Utop Vc W w Monthly average inlet water temperature, oC Set temperature, C Collector inlet uid temperature, C Collector outlet uid temperature, C Collector overall heat loss coecient, W/m2 oC Collector top heat loss coecient, W/m2 oC Tank volume, m3 Tube spacing, m Collector width (nW), m

Greek symbols a Solar absorptance u Latitude angle, () b Tilt angle, () q Density of the uid, kg/m3 s Solar transmittance e Solar emittance g Collector eciency Heat exchanger eectiveness eHX Absorber plate thickness, m dp

and their related equipments. This program has been widely used to study and optimize solar systems. There have been several studies that used TRNSYS to evaluate the eect of dierent design parameters and operating conditions on the performance of Thermosyphon Solar Water Heating (TSWH) system. For example, Morrison and Braun (1985) studied the characteristics of horizontal and vertical tanks; Shariah and Ecevit (1995) studied the eect of dierent load temperatures on the performance of the TSWH systems with auxiliary electric heaters; Shariah and Lo f (1996) investigated the eect of tank height on the performance and annual solar fraction; Shariah and Lo f (1997), and Michaelides and Wilson (1997) studied the eect of an auxiliary electric heater and its location; Shariah et al. (1999) studied the eect of thermal conductivity of the absorber plate, and Shariah et al. (2002) optimized the tilt angle of the collectors. TRNSYS has also been used to optimize the design parameters of TSWH system (Shariah and Shalabi, 1997). Kalogirou and Papamaracou (2000) compared the simulation results from TRNSYS with the experimental values for a TSWH system and found good agreement. Few studies, however, used TRNSYS to study the performance of forced circulation solar water heating systems. For instance, Buckles and Klein (1980) compared performance of dierent congurations of the forced circulation systems. Michaelides and Wilson (1996) optimized the design criteria of an active SWH system for the hotel application. Wongsuwan and Kumar (2005) studied the performance of forced circulation system experimentally and numerically. The numerical simulations were conduced

using TRNSYS and articial neural network. The results from both numerical models were found to be in good agreement with the experimental values. However majority of the studies, that used TRNSYS for their investigations, were focused on the TSWH systems, which are suitable for warm regions where the winters are mild and therefore liquid freezing is not an issue and the thermal losses from the system is small. In cold regions where the outdoor temperature typically remains below freezing for 46 months, thermosyphon system is not an appropriate choice. Although the use of secondary ow loops (such as antifreezes solutions and phase change uids) with low freezing point is an option for TSWH systems; however, forced circulation systems with a secondary ow that uses an antifreeze uid would be a suitable conguration for the SWH systems in the cold climates. In addition, the at-plate collectors are cost eective, easy to fabricate and install, more architecturally adaptive, and requires less operating and maintenance cost that the other kinds of the solar collectors (i.e. evacuatedtube and concentrating). Forced circulation SWH systems have been studied and used over the past decade, but fewer studies (compared to those for TSWH) are reported in the literature on the optimization of various system design parameters particularly for the cold regions and small applications. For instance, Furbo et al. (2005) recommended design of large SWH as low ow systems with hot water tanks with external heat exchangers and stratication inlet pipes; Nayak and Amer (2000) evaluated nine dynamic test procedures for evaluation of the at-plate col-

702

A. Hobbi, K. Siddiqui / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 700714

lectors; Tsilingiris (1996) developed a simple simulation model for large SWH systems; Kikas (1995) studied laminar ow distribution of reverse and direct return circuits in solar collectors; Prapas et al. (1995) studied the thermal behavior of large central SWH; Fanney and Klein (1988) investigated the inuence of ow rate and also incorporation of an auxiliary heat exchanger on the performance; Chiou (1982) developed a numerical method to determine the variation of the performance due to non-uniform ow distribution; and Klein and Beckman (1979) presented a general design method for closed-loop SWH systems. The present work is focused on using TRNSYS to analyze a forced circulation solar water heating system for a singlefamily residential unit in Montreal, Canada. A comprehensive study has been conducted to study all design parameters of the system and to determine their optimum values. The monthly and annual solar fractions of the entire system are used as the optimization parameters. 2. Water heating load In solar heating system design, it is necessary to estimate the long-term (annual and/or monthly) average heating loads. The water heating load or the amount of energy required to warm water from the inlet cold water to a desired temperature, is dependent on several factors such as hot water consumption rate, cold water inlet and desired hot water set temperatures, location and orientation of the building, and system characteristic. This load also includes any heat loss from the storage tank, piping system, the amount of energy that is required to reheat the water that was already heated but not used, and the wasted hot water from sink, shower, dishwasher and laundry machine which is drained without being used. In the present study, these parameters are determined as below. 2.1. Household hot water consumption The hot water consumption depends on the lifestyle of people, season of the year, time of the day, and geographical parameters. Several studies have estimated the hot water consumption for a single-family dwelling in North America. Babbitt (1960) suggested 227378.5 l/day for one bath and 378.5757 l/day for two-bath houses. Becker and Stogsdill (1990) indicated average household consumption of 236 l/day; Gilbert et al. (1985) estimated 250.6 l/day with maximum hourly use of 15.533.7 l based on a study of 110 single-family dwellings; and Perlman and Mills (1985) studied 59 homes in Canada and found an average value of 236 l/day, varying from 171 l/day in July to 249 l/day in January. Hiller (1998) monitored 14 homes

and reported 224 l/day of consumption. Kempton (1987) studied eight single-family dwelling units and found that the hot water usage varies from 44.3 to 126 l/day per person. Based on these studies and by considering additional 10% for the wasted hot water, an averaged hot water consumption of 246 l/day for the dwelling unit is considered in the present study. 2.2. Inlet cold water temperature Monthly average inlet water temperature (Tmain) is a function of outdoor ambient air and main supply water intake temperatures. NAHB (2002) has compiled average monthly inlet water temperature over a year for several North American cities. For Montreal, Tmain varies from 45 C in winter to 1112 C in summer. Marcoux and Dumas (2004) measured the actual cold water inlet temperature for Montreal for several days of each month from 1994 to 2004. Because of a signicant dierence between the values from these two studies, the actual measurements of Marcoux and Dumas (2004) are considered to be more realistic and thus, used in the present study. Their monthly averaged values are given in Table 1. 2.3. Hot water load prole The hourly distribution of hot water consumption in a day can be aected by several factors. It can vary from day to day, from season to season and from family to family. Dierent cyclic load proles such as Rand, constant, early morning, early afternoon, late morning, or late afternoon have been considered and studied in the literature. For this study, hot water consumption of 246 l/day is distributed during a day according to the Rand prole (Mutch, 1974) as shown in Fig. 1.

30
Hot water Consumption (l/h)

25 20 15 10 5 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

Time of the Day (h)

Fig. 1. Daily hot water consumption prole (246 l/day).

Table 1 Monthly averaged main cold water temperature in Montreal in (C) (Marcoux and Dumas, 2004). Month Temperature (C) January 3.3 February 2.9 March 2.9 April 5.5 May 11.2 June 15.8 July 20.8 August 22.3 September 20.1 October 15.4 November 10.4 December 5.6

A. Hobbi, K. Siddiqui / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 700714

703

3. System model An indirect forced circulation system with secondary ow loop (i.e. antifreeze uid) and an external heat exchanger is modeled in this study. The secondary ow, which absorbs and transports the solar energy, is circulating between hot side of a heat exchanger and a collector. The ow is assumed to be a solution of glycol in water with different percentages (in volume) to avoid water from freezing. The secondary uid exchanges the collected thermal energy to potable water that is circulating between the cold side of the heat exchanger and hot water storage tank. The produced hot water from the tank then passes through an auxiliary electrical heater that warms the water when the produced water is cooler than the desired set temperature or during the overcast days. Contrarily, when the produced water is warmer than the set temperature, a 3-way tempering valve will add cold water to adjust the temperature. An optional in-tank heater was also considered in the original study, but the results are not presented in this paper. Present study is focused on two dierent sets of simulations for the indirect system. The rst set of simulations is conducted to optimize the whole system parameters for a given collector characteristic factors. This is followed by the second set of simulations, which is conducted to optimize the collector parameters to achieve the optimum values of the collector eciency and characteristic factors. The simulations are conducted using TRNSYS simulation program. The main components of the system are described below and schematically shown in Fig. 2.

 Flat-plate collector with dierent areas: To optimize the system, characteristic factors from the standard test data (Fanney and Klein, 1983) have been selected with FR(sa)n = 0.84 and FRUL = 4.67 W/m2 C. To optimize the collector, a theoretical collector is modeled, and the collectors monthly and annual eciencies as well as collectors characteristic factors are determined and studied over a wide range of design parameters. The collector is considered to be facing south with the tilt (b) equal to als latitude (i.e. u = 45.5). Montre  Heat Exchanger: Studying dierent options, a constant eectiveness counter ow heat exchanger is selected.  Fully stratied storage tank (6 nodes): Dierent tank heights and tank volumetocollector area ratios are considered. Overall tank heat loss coecient is assumed to be between 2.5 and 3 kJ/h m2 K.  Forcing function: To apply actual monthly averaged main cold water temperatures and hourly load prole corresponding to 246 l/day of demand, forcing functions from TRNSYS library are used. Cold water temperature is considered to vary every month according to the actual data that are given in Table 1.  Auxiliary electric heater: An auxiliary electric heater connected in series with the storage tank is considered. The electric heater is located before the tempering valve mixing point. Both the tempering valve and auxiliary heater are set to the desired hot water temperature, Tset = 60 C.  Flow circulation pumps: One pump is considered to circulate ow between heat exchanger and collector, and the other one between heat exchanger and storage tank.
Hot fluid to the heat exchanger

Temperature Semsor FLAT-PLATE COLLECTOR (tilted)

Pipe length with insulation MAIN COLD WATER INLET

Pipe length with insulation

on

3-WAY TEMPERING VALVE FINAL HOT WATER OUTLET optional in-tank auxiliary heater Temp. Semsor MAIN STORAGE TANK

Cold fluid to the solar collector EXPANSION TANK

off

CONTROLLER

PUMP-2

COUNTER FLOW HEAT CIRCULATION EXCHANGER PUMP-1

AUXILIARY HEATER

Fig. 2. Schematic of the indirect forced circulation system model.

704

A. Hobbi, K. Siddiqui / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 700714 Table 2 Range of design parameters for the rst set of simulations. Design parameters Ac Cp (glycol-water) Vc/Ac Tmain Tset eHX m _ =Ac Din/out Lin-out (2L) Uin-out Ht Utank FR(sa)n FRUL u q Values 8, 6, 4, 3 m2 3.24.0 kJ/kg C 20300 l/m2 2.922.3 C 60 C 0.31 560 kg/h m2 19.94, 25.4, 38.3, 50.5 mm 432 m 3 kJ/h m2 K 0.42.4 m 2.53 kJ/h m2 K 0.84 6.8 kJ/h m2 K 45.5 1000 kg/m3

An on/o dierential controller that generates the on/o signals operates these pumps. For the controller, lower input temperature is the tank cold side (from tank to heat exchanger), the monitoring temperature is the tank hot side (from tank to load) outlet temperature, and the upper limit is the collector hot water outlet temperature. Upper and Lower dead bands are set to be 10 C and 5 C, respectively. The ow rate in the cold side of the heat exchanger is aected by daily hot water consumption pattern. The ow rate in the hot side can vary and it is subjected to the collectors suggested optimum ow rate per square meter of the collector area.  Connecting pipes (supply and return) between the collector and hot side of the heat exchanger: Dierent pipe lengths and pipe internal diameters are considered for the rst set of simulations. The overall heat loss coecient is considered to be 3 kJ/h m2 K for both sets of simulations. Connecting pipes between the heat exchanger and storage tank are assumed to be short with negligible losses.  Weather and Meteorological data: It is taken from the Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) data bank of TRNSYS for Montreal. Monthly or annual solar fraction, which is the fraction of the total hot water energy that is supplied by solar system, is calculated using the equation from Buckles and Klein (1980), f QLoad QAuxiliary =QLoad 1

Table 3 Range of design parameters for the second sets of the simulations. Design parameters dp hf,i Dr,i Dr,o n k (copper) k (aluminum) k (steel) tinsulation kinsulation (Rock Wool) Ub Uside CB ap (selective surface) ep (selective surface) ep (non-selective surface) Glass thickness sg (low iron glass) eg (sa)n V (wind) Range of parameters 0.11.5 mm 1004000 W/m2 K 0.0080.0254 m 0.009530.0289 m 424 393 W/m K 221 W/m K 45.3 W/m K 5 cm 0.04 W/m K 0.9 W/m2 K 0.12 W/m2 K 20 h m2 K/kJ 0.97 0.1 0.95 4 mm 0.91 0.88 0.88 4.2 m/s

where, QLoad is the total energy removed from the system to support the water heating requirements and QAuxiliary is the total auxiliary energy supplied to the system to support the portion of the total load that is not provide by the solar energy. The solar fraction is a better indicator of the system performance compared to the other parameters such as collector eciency or heat removal factor, since it manifests the overall performance of the entire system not a component. Monthly or annual collector eciency, which is the ratio of the useful energy gain to the absorbed solar energy by the collector, is computed using equations from Due and Beckman (1991), _ p T out T in =Ac I T g Qu =Ac I T mC F R san F R U L T in T ambient 2

4. Simulation results and discussion 4.1. Optimization of system parameters 4.1.1. Required collector area The model is studied for four dierent collector areas (Ac) that are 8, 6, 4, and 3 m2; to estimate the monthly and annual solar fractions and to determine the adequate collector area. The initial value of the hot water tank volume-to-collector area ratio (Vc/Ac) is set equal to 75 l/ m2, which is the base value for the f-chart method (Klein et al., 1976). The collector mass ow rate-to-collector area _ =Ac ) is also initially set equal to 40 kg/h m2, which ratio (m is within the recommended range in the literature (e.g. Beckman et al., 1977 or Baughn and Young, 1984).

FR or collector heat removal factor, which relates the actual useful energy gain to the useful energy gain if the entire plate was at the inlet uid temperature was calculated using the equation from Due and Beckman (1991), _ p 1 expAc U L F 0 =mC _ p =Ac U L F R mC 3

where, IT, UL and F0 are computed from the simulation output using equations from Due and Beckman (1991). The other selected design parameters and their ranges are given in Tables 2 and 3 for rst and second sets of simulations, respectively.

A. Hobbi, K. Siddiqui / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 700714

705

A 40% mixture of propylene glycol in water (Cp = 3.8 kJ/ kg C at 50 C) is initially considered as the collector uid. The result of monthly solar fraction (f) for each collector area is depicted in Fig. 3. The results show that for an indirect system with glycol solution, an 8 m2 collector is able to supply 9099% of the hot water demand from May to September. Results also indicate that for 6 and 4 m2 collectors, f is around 8093% and 6376%, respectively, during May to September. The 6-m2 collector is, thus, able to supply around 3060% of hot water demand during cold months. Comparison of monthly f for dierent collector areas shows that replacing an 8 m2 with a 6 m2 collector deteriorates the solar fractions by only 6.612.6% between May Sept and by 18.626% between OctoberFebruary, whereas replacing an 8 m2 collector with a 4 m2 one reduces the solar fractions by 31.242.7% between MaySeptember and by 5980% between October and February. Moreover, considering the cost, space requirements, and reliability issues of large collectors (i.e. 8 m2) that suppose to supply 9099% of the required hot water, a collector with 6 m2 of area that provides 8093% of the demand in summer can be considered as the adequate size for the present application in Montreal. The results (not shown here) also indicate that the reduction of the monthly solar fraction, for a 6 m2 collector, due to incorporation of heat exchanger and secondary ow indirect system, is only about 515% compared to the direct system. This degradation of solar fraction decreases as collector area reduces. 4.1.2. Eect of glycol percentage in solution A glycol-water solution is used as the collector uid to avoid freezing problems. The specic heat of glycol-water solution varies with temperature and volumetric percentage of glycol in water. Within the operating temperature range of the at-plate collectors (i.e. 5110 C) the specic heat of 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% ethylene-glycol in water vary from 37804022, 36033901, 34183628, and 3223 3628 J/k K, respectively. These values for the same percentages of propylene glycol in water vary from 39404169, 38074109, 36523999, and 34743879 J/kg K, respectively

(ASHRAE, 2005, Chapter 21). The solution densities for both ethylene and propylene glycol at the mentioned temperature range, varies from about 963 to 1079 kg/m3. To study the eect of glycol percentage (i.e., the eect of specic heat variation) on the monthly f and g, the simulations were conducted for dierent values of Cp varied from 3.2 to 4.0 kJ/kg K for a 6 m2 collector with Vc/Ac = 75 l/m2, and _ =Ac 40 kg=h:m2 . The solution density is considered to m have an average value of 1000 kg/m3 in the concerned range. The variation of the monthly f is depicted in Fig. 4. The results show that the eect of Cp on the monthly and thus annual f is almost insignicant. The simulation results (not shown here) also indicate that Cp also has no signicant impact on the collector eciency (g). Therefore, selecting the percentage or type of glycol solution could be based on the mixtures freezing point, cost, and corrosion parameters. Considering daily minimum temperature of 17 C for Montreal, a 4050% solution of propylene glycol, which is also less toxic than ethylene-glycol would be appropriate for the winter. The results also indicate that the degradation of f values in the indirect system, compared to the direct system, is mainly due to inclusion of the heat exchanger not due to the addition of glycol into the water. 4.1.3. Eect of the collector mass ow rate _ ) on the annual The eect of collectors mass ow rate (m _ =Ac ranging from and monthly f and g was simulated for m 5 to 60 kg/h m2. Ac and Vc/Ac were kept constant at 6 m2 and 75 l/m2, respectively. Cp was set equal to 3.8 kJ/ kg C. The variation of the annual solar fraction with _ =Ac is plotted in Fig. 5. The plot shows that f increases m _ =Ac increases from 5 to 20 kg/h m2. It increased rapidly as m from 0.49 at 5 kg/h m2 to a maximum value of approximately 0.67 in the range 2030 kg/h m2. Then f starts to _ =Ac and become decrease with a further increase in m _ =Ac 60 kg=h:m2 . The results approximately 0.62 at m from simulations (not shown here) indicate similar trend for g. It was also observed that the maximum values of
1.0

1.0
Solar Fraction

0.9 0.8

0.8 Solar Fraction 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Fig. 3. Variation of the monthly solar fraction for dierent collector areas; 8 m2 (), 6 m2 (j), 4 m2 (N), 3 m2 (d).

Fig. 4. Variation of the monthly solar fraction for dierent specic heats (Cp) in kJ/kg C; Cp = 4 (j), Cp = 3.8 (4), Cp = 3.7 (*), Cp = 3.5 (s), Cp = 3.2 (e).

706
0.70 0.65 Annual Solar Fraction 0.60

A. Hobbi, K. Siddiqui / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 700714

0.55 0.50 0.45 5 10 20 30 40 2 m/Ac (kg/hr.m ) 50 60

Fig. 5. Variation of the annual solar fractions versus the collector ow rate-to-area ratio (m_/Ac).

the monthly f (i.e. 0.930.95) occur in July, which are about 42% greater than annual fraction and the minimum values (i.e. 0.220.3) occur in November, which are 5458% less than the annual fraction. The results indicate that the oper_ increases the collecation of the system at the optimal m tors useful solar energy gain (Qu) that in turn improves f _ =Ac and g. The results also indicates that as long as the m ratio is around 2040 kg/h m2, the ow rate can be kept constant throughout the year and the monthly variation of ow rate has no signicant eect on the overall solar fraction and collector eciency. The highest and the lowest monthly g are found to be 41% (in October and April) and 36% (in November and December). The optimum values are found to be in good agreement with the previous results for the TSWH systems, e.g. 50 kg/h m2 (Beckman et al., 1977) and 1848 kg/h m2 (Baughn and Young, 1984). 4.1.4. Eect of the tank volume The eect of tank volume on the system performance is studied for various tank volumetocollector area ratios (Vc/Ac) for a 6 m2 collector with 30 kg/h m2 ow rate. The results showing the impact of the variation of Vc/Ac on the annual f is presented in Fig. 6. The results show that
0.70 0.68 Annual Solar Fraction 0.65 0.63 0.60 0.58 0.55 20 30 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 100 200 300 Vc/Ac (lit/m )
2

the annual f increases rapidly as Vc/Ac increases from 20 to 40 l/m2. For Vc/Ac values between 40 and 100, the increase in solar fraction is gradual. For Vc/Ac > 100 l/m2, the annual f starts to descend, which is likely due to an increase in heat losses form the storage tank, as the tank become larger. It is observed that with the increase of tank volume, the rate of the removed energy from the tank to supply the load increases, and the required auxiliary energy decreases. The recommended values are determined to be around 55 65 l/m2 for this study, which is in the moderate range and the annual f for this range is about 2% less than the maximum annual f observed around 100 l/m2. For each Vc/ Ac, it was found that the maximum values of the monthly f (i.e. 0.840.94) occurring in July, which are about 4346% greater than annual fraction, and the minimum values (i.e. 0.240.3) occurring in November, which are 5658% less than annual fraction. For a tank within the recommended range, i.e. with Vc/Ac = 5565 l/m2, the highest and the lowest monthly f is found to be 0.95 in July and 0.3 in November, respectively. The recommended range for Vc/ Ac is found to be in agreement with the other types of solar water heating systems, for instance, 60 l/m2 for the thermosyphon system (Shariah and Lo f, 1996), and 5075 l/ m2 for the active system (Due and Beckman, 1991).

4.1.5. Eect of the tank height The eect of tank height (Ht) on the system performance _ =Ac 30 kg=h:m2 is studied for a 6 m2 collector with m 2 and Vc/Ac = 65 l/m over a range of Ht from 0.4 to 2.4 (m). Fig. 7 presents the variation of the annual f with Ht. The results show that the annual f increases with Ht from 0.4 to 1.2 m, remains almost constant for Ht between 1.2 and 1.8 m, and slightly increases with a further increase in Ht. The results suggest that any tank with Ht in the range of 1.21.8 m is desirable. The preferred value of 1.2 m is comparable to the previous studies such as Shariah and Shalabi (1997) and Shariah and Lo f (1996) who suggested the tank height of 1 m for the thermosyphon systems. It was also observed that for any Ht, the maximum values
0.68

Annual Solar Fraction

0.66

0.64

0.62

0.60 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 Ht (m) 1.6 1.8 2.4

Fig. 6. Variation of the annual solar fraction versus the tank volumeto collector area ratio (Vc/Ac).

Fig. 7. Variation of the annual solar fraction versus the tank height (Ht).

A. Hobbi, K. Siddiqui / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 700714

707

of the monthly f (i.e. 0.90.96) occur in July, which are about 4244% greater than the annual fraction, and the minimum values of the monthly f (i.e. 0.280.3) occur in November, which are 5658% less than the annual fraction. The monthly and annual g (not shown here) are found to be between 0.36 and 0.41 for the studied range. 4.1.6. Eect of the heat exchanger eectiveness The variation of monthly and annual f is studied for different heat exchanger eectiveness (eHX) varying from 0.3 to 1.0. The simulation rst conducted for both parallel and counter ow heat exchangers. It was concluded that a counter ow heat exchanger presents better solar fractions. Fig. 8 shows the impact of the eectiveness of a counter ow heat exchanger on the annual solar fraction. The results show that the f increases with eHX up to eectiveness values around 0.70.8. A further increase in eHX resulted in a slight decrease in f. As eHX increases up to 0.8, f increases as a result of the increase in the useful energy gain from the collector, the energy rate from the tank to the load, and the energy rate from the heat exchanger to the tank, but also as a result of decrease in the required auxiliary energy. Contrarily, as eHX increases further from 0.8 the useful energy gain from the collector, energy rate from the tank to the load, and energy rate from heat exchanger to the tank decreases, and required auxiliary energy increases. This causes reduction of f. It was also found that the maximum values of the monthly f (i.e. 0.87 0.95) occur in July, which are about 4246% greater than annual fraction, and the minimum values of the monthly f (i.e. 0.270.3) occur in November, which are 55% less than the annual ones. A counter ow heat exchanger with eHX around 0.7 (most of the commercial heat exchangers) would be suitable for this application. 4.1.7. Eect of supply and return pipes The eect of the total length (2L) and inside diameter (ID) of the supply and return pipes between the collector and heat exchanger is studied for dierent pipe lengths
0.68

(sum of the supply and return pipes is 2L), varying from 6 to 32 m, and for four dierent pipe inside diameters: 19.94, 25.4, 38.3, and 50.05 mm. Variation of the annual f with the 2L and ID is depicted in Fig. 9. The plot shows that for a given ID the annual f decreases as the pipe length increases. This is, mainly due to an increase in the heat losses as the pipe length increases. However, the higher heat losses from the inlet pipe to the collector, reduces the inlet temperature to the collector resulting in an improvement of the eciency. It is also seen that due to larger heat losses, f decrease as the pipe diameter increases, whereas g increase as the diameter increases because of smaller pressure drop and lower inlet temperatures. The plot also shows that the change in f with pipe length is larger for pipes with large ID and the change in f with pipe diameter increases with the pipe length. For example, when the total length is 6 m, the change in f with pipe diameter is almost negligible and for 32 m, the solar fraction decreased by about 10% as ID increased from 19.95 to 50.5 mm. The results indicate that a pipe with 19.94 or 25.4 mm ID and total length less than 10 (m) would perform better. It was also observed that for the studied pipe diameters and pipe lengths, the maximum values of the monthly f (i.e. 0.89 0.96) occur in July, which are 43% greater than the annual fraction, and the minimum values (i.e. 0.260.3) occur in November that are 5557% less than the annual fraction. Shariah and Shalabi (1997) proposed the pipe inside diameter greater than or equal to 12 mm for the thermosyphon system, which is similar to the suggested values in the present study for the forced system. 4.2. Optimization of the collectors parameter The second sets of simulations are conducted to study the eect of collector design parameters on the monthly and annual f, g, F0 , UL and FR. The theoretical relation between f, g, F0 , UL, FR and collectors design parameters is presented in Due and Beckman (1991). A theoretical at-plate collector is modeled for the same forced circula0.68 0.67 Annual Solar Fraction

Annual Solar Fraction

0.66

0.66 0.65 0.64 0.63 0.62 0.61 0.60

0.63

0.61

0.58

16

24

32

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6 HX

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

Total Length, 2L (m)

Fig. 9. Variation of the annual solar fractions versus the total length of the connecting pipes (2L) for dierent pipe diameters; ID = 19.94 mm (d), ID = 25.4 mm (j), ID = 38.3 mm (N), ID = 50.5 mm ().

Fig. 8. Variation of the annual solar fractions versus the heat exchanger eectiveness (eHX).

708

A. Hobbi, K. Siddiqui / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 700714

tion (indirect) system. It is assumed that the absorber plate is coated with a selective coating (e.g. Black-Chrome or Black-Copper), glazing is a single plate low iron glass, and both back and sides of the collector are insulated with Rock Wool insulation with density of 24 kg/m3. Moreover, the wind velocity is considered to be 15 km/h, which is the al. In this secrecorded maximum wind velocity in Montre tion, the system parameters that were optimized in the previous section are used as constants i.e., Ac = 6 m2, _ 180 kg=h, Vc = 390 l, Ht = 1.2 m, Cp = 3.8 kJ/ m kg C, 2L = 6 m. Likewise, Tset is 60 C, daily consumption rate is 246 l/day, and Tmain values are taken from Table 1. The other design parameter and their ranges are presented in Table 3. 4.2.1. Eect of the absorber plate material Variation of f and g are studied for three dierent absorber plate materials: Copper, Aluminum, and Steel with 1 mm thickness. The 6 m2 collector is 2 3 m. The internal diameter of the collector tubes (Dr,i) and the number of riser tubes (n) are set equal to 24.5 mm and 10, respectively. The values of the annual f, g, F0 , and FR for these three plate materials are presented in Fig. 10. From the results it can be seen that f , g, FR, and F0 decrease with a decrease in thermal conductivity (k). It was also observed that the variation of the characteristic factors is signicant for the smaller values of the thermal conductivity but it becomes insignicant as k increases. For instance, by changing the plate material from copper to aluminum, f , g, F0 , and FR, are reduced, respectively, by only 1.5%, 1.2%, 1.2%, and 1.2%. By changing the copper plate to steel, f , g, F, and FR are reduced by 9%, 10.6%, 10.3% and 10%, respectively. The above results indicate that the fabrication of commercial collectors with copper absorber plate, which is heavier and more expensive, is not necessary and an aluminum absorber plate can perform similar to that of copper. The overall heat loss coecient (UL), for the studied materials, is found to be in range of 12.8012.87 kJ/h m2 K, which indicates that k has small eect on the UL. It was also
0.9 0.8
,, F' and FR

observed that the minimum monthly values of f occur in November (i.e. 0.3, 0.29, and 0.26, for Cu, Al, and St, respectively), which is 56% smaller than their annual values. Maximum values of f occur in July (i.e. 0.96, 0.95, and 0.89, for Cu, Al, and St, respectively), which is 44% greater than their annual values. Monthly values of g are found to be around 0.350.39. Shariah et al. (1999) reported 47% and 1219% improvement of annual f and the characteristic factors, respectively, when they changed the absorber plate material from steel to aluminum. They also suggested using aluminum instead of copper as the absorber plate material. These are consistent with our results. 4.2.2. Eect of the absorber plate thickness The eect of the absorber plate thickness (dp) on the system performance is studied over a range of dp varying from 0.1 to 1.5 mm. The collector is a 2 3 m aluminum plate. Initially, Dr,i is set to 24.5 mm, and the number of the riser tubes (n) is to 10. The variations of the annual f as well as the collector characteristic factors with dp are presented in Fig. 11. The results show that f and the collector characteristics factors are improved by increasing the plate thickness. The plots show that the improvement of these factors is signicant as dp increases from 0.1 to 0.4 mm. However, when dp > 0.4, the inuence of dp on these parameters is weak. Results show that the f , g, F0 , and FR increased by 15.7%, 17.3%, 16% and 15.3%, respectively, as dp increased from 0.1 to 0.5 mm. Whereas, when dp increased from 0.5 to 1 mm, f , g, F0 , and FR increased by 2.3%, 2.6%, 2.6%, and 2.5%, respectively. It was also observed that the inuence of dp, for the studied range, is small on the UL. As dp increased from 0.1 to 1.5 mm, UL decreased from 12.92 to 12.80 kJ/h m2 K. It was found that the minimum monthly values of f (i.e. 0.230.29), and g (i.e. 0.310.35) occur in November, which are 56% and 9.5% smaller than their annual values, respectively. The maximum values of f (i.e. 0.890.96) occur in July, which are 46% greater than their
0.9 0.8 , , F' and F R 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3

0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 45.3 (Steel) 221 (Aluminum)

k (W/mK)

393 (Copper)

0.2

0.1

0.2

0.4

0.5 0.8 p (mm)

1.0

1.2

1.5

Fig. 10. Variation of the annual solar fraction, f (d), collector eciency, g (), collector eciency factor, F (j), and collector heat removal factor, FR (N) versus the thermal conductivity of the plate (k).

Fig. 11. Variation of the annual solar fraction, f (d), collector eciency, g (), collector eciency factor, F (j), and collector heat removal factor, FR (N) versus the absorber plate thickness (dp).

A. Hobbi, K. Siddiqui / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 700714

709

respective annual values. The maximum values of g are about 0.350.39. The dierence between the maximum and minimum values of the remaining studied parameters with their respective annual values was negligible. It is concluded that the plate thickness in the range of 0.6 to 0.8 mm is sucient for the residential applications and thicker plates seems to be not economical. The thickness of 0.8 mm is selected for the subsequent parametric analysis. 4.2.3. Eect of the riser tube diameter For the same 6 m2 collector with aluminum absorber plate of 0.8 mm thickness, the eect of riser tube diameter (Dr,i) is studied over a variety of available commercial copper tube sizes, which are 8, 8.64, 13.84, 16.92, 19.94, and 25.4 mm. The number of riser tubes is assumed to be 10. The eect of Dr,i on the annual f , g, F0 , and FR is shown in Fig. 12. The results show that f , g, F0 , and FR improve as Dr,i increases; however, this increment is about 5% between an 8 mm and a 25.4 mm diameter tube, and it is less than 2.5% between a 13.84 and 25.4 mm diameter tubes. It can be concluded that Dr,i in this range has no signicant inuence on the solar fraction and other collector characteristic factors. Therefore, considering scaling problems inside the tubes, cost, fabrication diculties, and capacity to carry the maximum ow rate, tubes with 13.84 mm to 19.94 mm inside diameters would be more feasible. This optimum diameter range is in agreement with the values reported in Shariah and Shalabi (1997) for TSWH. Results (not shown here) indicate that for Dr,i less than 8 mm, f is very small yet the pressure drop is high; thus, they are not recommended. It was also found that the impact of Dr,i is negligible on UL. As Dr,i increases from 8 to 25.4 mm, UL decreases from 12.84 to 12.81 kJ/h m2 K. It was also observed that the minimum monthly values of f (i.e. 0.280.29) occur in November, which is about 56% smaller than their annual values. The maximum values of f (i.e. 0.920.95) occur in July that is about 45% greater

than their annual values. The dierence between the maximum and minimum values of the remaining studied parameters with their respective annual values was small. Monthly values of g varied from 0.33 to 0.39. 4.2.4. Eect of the number of riser tubes The number of riser tubes (n) is one of the important parameters in design of a at-plate collector. For a xed collector width (w), an increase in n reduces the distance between the riser tubes and vise versa since w = n W. To study the eect of n, the 6 m2 collector (l = 3 m, w = 2 m) with aluminum absorber plate (dp=0.8 mm) is considered. The tubes are considered to be of diameter Dr,i = 13.84 mm. The number of risers varied from n = 4 to n = 24 and the corresponding tube distance varied from W = 50 cm to W = 8.33 cm. The variation of the annual f , g, F and FR with n is presented in Fig. 13. The results show that the annual f , g, F0 , and FR increase with n. However, the percentage increase of these parameters is higher as n increases from 4 to 9. For n > 9, the percentage increase of these parameters becomes relatively small and after n = 14 becomes insignicant. For instance, the increase in the annual f and FR is about 43% and 34%, respectively, as n increased from 4 to 8; whereas, f and FR are increased by only 7.7% and 8.6%, respectively, as n increased from 9 to 16. It was found that the reduction of the overall heat loss coecient by increasing the number of tubes is insignicant. As n increased from 4 to 24, the UL reduced from 13 to 12.74 kJ/h m2 K. It was also observed that the minimum monthly values of f (i.e. 0.170.33) occur in November, which is 5460% smaller than the annual f, and the maximum values of f (i.e. 0.640.99) occur in July, which are about 48% greater than the annual fraction. The dierence between the maximum and minimum values of the remaining studied parameters with their respective annual values was small. Shariah and Shalabi (1997) showed that f reaches to its maximum for n around 8 but stays almost the same as n increases.

0.9 0.8 , , F' and F R

, , F' and F R

1.0 0.9 0.8

0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3

0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3

8.00

8.64

13.84 16.92 D r,i (mm)

19.94

25.40

0.2 4 6 8 9 10 12 n 14 16 18 20 22 24

Fig. 12. Variation of the annual solar fraction, f (d), collector eciency, g (*), collector eciency factor, F (j), and collector heat removal factor, FR (N) versus the riser tube diameter (Dr,i).

Fig. 13. Variation of the annual solar fraction, f (d), collector eciency, g (*), collector eciency factor, F (j), and collector heat removal factor, FR (N) versus the number of riser tubes (n).

710

A. Hobbi, K. Siddiqui / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 700714

4.2.5. Eect of the tube spacing and collectors aspect ratio The dimensions of the collector can be conned by architectural geometry of the building, thus, aecting the aspect ratio (R) of the collector. For a constant Ac, a change in R can be attained by either changing the tube spacing (W) when the tube number (n) is xed, or by altering n when W is maintained constant. Considering Ac = l w = l n W, the aspect ratio can be dened as R = l/w = l/(nW) = Ac/(nW)2. The collector is of the same specication as in the previous section. In the rst case, n is kept constant equal to 14 (a number within the optimum range) and R is varied from 0.2 to 5 by changing W from 39.1 to 7.8 cm, respectively. The results for this case are depicted in Fig. 14. The results show that for a constant n, the annual f , g, F0 , and FR increased with an increase in R (i.e. either increase of tube length or decrease of tube spacing). The percentage increase is large for aspect ratios less than 1, but for R > 1.2, the percentage increase becomes small. For instance, the annual solar fraction is increased by 34% as R increase from 0.2 to 1.2, whereas it increased by only 5.7% as R increased from 1.2 to 5. For the studied range of aspect ratios, UL is varied only between 12.8 and 13.1 kJ/h m2 K. It was also found that the minimum monthly values of f (i.e. 0.210.33) occur in November, which are 5458% smaller than the annual fraction. The maximum values of f (i.e. 0.750.99) occur in July, which are about 4048% greater than the annual values. The dierence between the maximum and minimum values of the remaining studied parameters with their respective annual values was negligible. From the above results it can also be concluded that as long as R is between 1.25 and 2 (i.e. tube spacing is between 15.6 and 12 cm) the system has the lower heat loss and thus better performance. Similarly, Ghamari and Worth (1992) determined the optimum tube spacing to be around 1316 cm, and Shariah and Shalabi (1997) suggested it to be around 815 cm. For the second case W is kept constant at 14.3 cm (within the determined optimum range) and the aspect ratio is diverged by changing n. Since smaller aspect ratios
1.0 0.9 0.8 , , F' and F R 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.5 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.5 R 1.8 2.0 2.5 3.0 4.0 5.0

(below 0.8) have insucient performance and higher aspect ratios have lager UL, the simulation is conducted for the R values between 0.5 and 18. The results for the second case are depicted in Fig. 15. The results show that for a constant W, an increase in R has almost negligible eect on the annual f , g, F0 , and FR. Therefore, when n and W are within the optimum values and Ac is constant, a reduction in n will not aect the performance of the system, appreciably, as long as tube length increases. In other word, system performance and collector eciency increases by either increasing l (i.e. increasing R) or by reducing n when Ac and W are kept constant. Increasing R in this case, increases the ow velocity inside tubes that, in turn, improves the heat transfer rate inside the tubes. Even though the collector ow rate is very small (0.0083 kg/ s m2) and results showed that the dierence between the solar fraction for a collector with n = 4, l = 10.3 m (R = 18), and a collector with n = 14, l = 3 m (R = 1.5) is only 2%, a narrow and long collector with less tubes causes high pressure drops, high friction losses, and also higher heat losses from the surface area of the collector edges which, in practice, reduces the performance dramatically. For example increasing m_ from 30 to 50 kg/h m2 causes 5% reduction in the annual f and 3% reduction in g for R = 12 or 18. Considering results from Section 4.2.4, collectors with n less than 4 or R grater than 9 are not recommended. In other word, if R needs to be increased, W has to be reduced from the optimum value corresponding to R = 1.5. Selecting an adequate aspect ratio needs a balance between all of the parameters, and a reasonable pressure drop inside each tube as well as economical considerations. In this case, as R varied between 0.5 and 18, UL varied from 12.77 to 13.2 kJ/h m2 K. It was also observed that the minimum monthly values of f , and g occur in November, which are respectively 55% and 7.8% smaller than their annual values. The maximum values of f occur in July, which are about 42% greater than their respective annual values. The dierence between the maximum and minimum values of the remaining studied parameters with their

1.0 0.9 0.8 , , F' and F R 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.5 0.8 1 1.2 1.5 1.8 2.5 R 4 8 10 12 18

Fig. 14. Variation of the annual solar fraction, f (d), collector eciency, g (*), collector eciency factor, F (j), and collector heat removal factor, FR (N) versus the collector aspect ratio (R) when n is constant.

Fig. 15. Variation of the annual solar fraction, f (d), collector eciency, g (*), collector eciency factor, F (j), and collector heat removal factor, FR (N) versus the collector aspect ratio (R) when W is constant.

A. Hobbi, K. Siddiqui / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 700714

1.0 0.9 0.8 , , F' and F R 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 50 100 300 500 800 1200 1500 2000 2500 3500 4500 h f.i (W/mK)

711

Table 4 Optimum values of the design parameters for the modeled indirect forced circulation system. Parameters Ac Cp dp k (aluminum) tinsulation 2L Dr,i eHX n W _ =Ac m Vc/Ac Ht ap ep Glass thickness sg eg Value 6 m2 3.8 kJ/kg K 0.60.8 mm 221 W/m K 5 cm 616 m 13.819.9 mm 0.7 914 1215.6 cm 30 kg/h m2 5565 l/m2 1.2 m 0.97 0.1 4 mm 0.91 0.88

Fig. 16. Variation of the annual solar fraction, f (d), collector eciency, g (*), collector eciency factor, F (j), and collector heat removal factor, FR (N) versus the heat transfer coecient inside the tube (hf,i) when ep = 0.1 and (1/CB) = 0.05.

respective annual values was negligible. These results are in good agreement with theoretical studies of Yeh et al. (2003) stated that a proper increase of aspect ratio increases the collector eciency. 4.2.6. Eect of heat transfer coecient inside the tubes The eect of heat transfer coecient inside the tubes (hf,i) was studied for the collector with 6 m2 area, 0.8 mm thick aluminum absorber plate, 13.84 mm ID riser tubes, 14.3 cm tube spacing and R = 1.5. The hf,i was varied from 100 and 300 W/m2 K for laminar ows and 10001500 W/ m2 K for turbulent ows (Due and Beckman, 1991). The plate is considered to have a selective coating with a good contact between the plate and the tubes (i.e. 1/ CB = 0.05 h.m2 K/kJ). The variation of the annual f, g, F0 , and FR are presented in Fig. 16. The results show that the annual f , g, F0 , and FR increased with an increase in hf,i. Plot also shows that the percentage increase is large for smaller value of hf,i i.e. when the ow is in laminar range. For hf,i above 1000 W/m2 K i.e. in the turbulent regime, the percentage increase becomes smaller. It was also found (not shown in here) that the overall heat loss coecient decreased slightly as hf,i increased (i.e. from 13.05 to 12.78 kJ/h m2 K). 5. Optimized design The optimum values of the design parameters obtained in Sections 4.1 and 4.2 for a forced circulation solar water heating system in Montreal, are summarized in Table 4. To evaluate the performance of the optimized system, the simulations were conducted using the optimized parameters listed in Table 4. The monthly and annual values of f , g, F0 , FR, and UL for the optimized system are presented in Table 5. The results show that for a single-family dwelling in Montreal, the optimized system can fulll 8397% of the hot water demand during May to September and 3068% of the demand between October and February. On the

Table 5 Monthly and annual values of f , g, F, FR and UL based on the optimum design parameters. f January February March April May June July August September October November December Annual 0.42 0.62 0.75 0.72 0.83 0.91 0.97 0.85 0.90 0.68 0.30 0.34 0.68 g 0.39 0.39 0.41 0.41 0.41 0.40 0.39 0.38 0.39 0.41 0.36 0.37 0.40 F 0.89 0.88 0.88 0.88 0.88 0.87 0.87 0.88 0.88 0.88 0.89 0.89 0.88 FR 0.85 0.84 0.84 0.84 0.83 0.83 0.83 0.83 0.84 0.84 0.85 0.85 0.84 UL 12.01 12.54 12.89 12.99 13.37 13.60 13.63 13.34 13.04 12.46 11.75 11.78 12.78

annual basis, it can fulll 68% of the hot water demand. The results also show that the best performance of the system is in July in which the monthly solar fraction is 0.97 and the worst performance is in November when the solar fraction is reduced to 0.30. The monthly values of g, F0 , and FR vary between 0.370.41, 0.870.89 and 0.830.85, respectively. For the present simulations the collector plate is considered to be coated with a selective coating (ep = 0.1), which minimizes the plate emittance and thus, improves the collectors performance. However, the application of selective coating on the collector plate requires somehow costly and advanced techniques, such as electroplating, anodization, evaporation, and sputtering (Kalogirou, 2004), which may not be available in many regions. Therefore, to get a more conservative estimate of the performance of a system which incorporates a collector that can be simply fabricated and utilized, simulations were conducted with the non-selective coating such as high

712

A. Hobbi, K. Siddiqui / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 700714

Table 6 Monthly and annual values of f , g, F, FR and UL based on the optimum design parameters using a non-selective coating. f January February March April May June July August September October November December Annual 0.31 0.47 0.59 0.57 0.67 0.74 0.79 0.69 0.73 0.53 0.23 0.25 0.54 g 0.29 0.29 0.31 0.32 0.32 0.31 0.31 0.29 0.31 0.31 0.28 0.26 0.30 F 0.84 0.84 0.83 0.83 0.82 0.82 0.81 0.82 0.82 0.83 0.84 0.84 0.83 FR 0.79 0.78 0.77 0.77 0.76 0.75 0.75 0.75 0.76 0.77 0.78 0.79 0.77 UL 19.76 20.55 21.50 22.19 23.30 23.96 24.35 23.86 23.13 21.84 20.31 19.69 22.04

temperature matt black paint (ep = 0.95) that can be easily applied on the plate, using the parameters in Table 4. The monthly and annual values of f , g, F0 , FR, and UL for this case are tabulated in Table 6. Comparison of results in Tables 5 and 6 shows that by replacing a selective coating with non-selective one, the annual values of f , g, F0 , and FR, are degraded by 21%, 23%, 6%, and 9%, respectively, whereas, UL increased by 72%. With non-selective coating, the system could meet 6779% of hot water demand from May to September, and 2347% of the hot water demand from November to February. This indicates that even a locally made at-plate solar collector (without using any advanced manufacturing methods) can provide 54% of water heating energy requirement annually, provided that the design parameters are in the optimum range. 6. Conclusion

 An indirect forced circulation solar water heating system with at-plate collector that provides hot water requirements of a single-family house in Montreal is modeled. Two sets of simulations were conducted. The rst set was conducted to determine the optimum values of the system parameters and the second set was conducted to determine the optimum values of the collector design parameters. The annual solar fraction was considered as the optimization parameter. From the simulation results it was concluded that:  A 6 m2 collector, with superior values of FR (sa)n and FRUL, is appropriate for this application.  Degradation of the solar fractions from direct to indirect system is mainly due to the incorporation of the additional heat exchanger but less aected by replacement of water with glycol solution as the concentration of glycol solution has no signicant inuence on the system performance. The reduction of solar fractions is about 615.5%. Percentage of the glycol solution in water has small eect on the solar fractions.

 Both the solar fraction and the collector eciency increases rapidly as the collector ow rate increases. After reaching the optimum value at a ow rate around 30 kg/h m2, the solar fraction and the collector eciency decreases with a further increase in the ow rate.  The solar fraction increases with the tank volume up to 80 l/m2. Tanks larger than this size have higher heat loss from the tank to the surroundings that reduces the system performance. The optimum volume is found to be in the range of 5565 l/m2.  The solar fraction increases with the tank height. The percentage increase is sharp when the tank changes from the horizontal tank to the vertical one. The percent increase of the solar fraction with the tank height is small for tank height greater than 1.2 m.  The solar fraction increases with an increase in the heat exchanger eectiveness up to values around 0.70.8. It decreases slightly with a further increase in the eectiveness. A counter ow heat exchanger with eHX around 0.7 is considered to be suitable for the proposed application.  The annual solar fraction decreases as the length and diameter of the pipes connecting the collector to the heat exchanger increases. Contrarily, the collector eciency increases with an increase in pipe length and diameter. Pipe diameters of 25.4 or 38.3 mm with total pipe length (2L) less than 10 m are considered appropriate for the present application.  The annual f , g, F0 , and FR increase with an increase in the thermal conductivity of the absorber plate. Replacing absorber plate material from copper to steel has very signicant eect on the collector and system performance but changing it from copper to aluminum has not signicant eect.  The annual f , g, F0 , and FR increase with an increase in the absorber plate thickness. The percentage increase in the system performance is large as the thickness increases up to 0.6 mm. Further increase of the plate thickness slightly improves the system performance. Plate thickness around 0.8 mm is found to be adequate for this application.  The percentage increase in the annual f , g, F0 , and FR is small for the riser tubes diameters (Dr,i) greater than 8 mm. Considering less pumping requirements, fabrication troubles, erosion, and cost; the pipe diameter of 13.84 mm found to be appropriate for our application.  For a constant collector width, as the number of riser tubes increases, the annual f , g, F0 , and FR improves. Dependency of these factors on the tube number is strong when the tube number is small. When the tubes are more than 14, the inuence of the tube number on the collector and the system performance becomes relatively weak.  For a constant tube number as the aspect ratio increases (either the tube length increases or the tube distance decreases) f , g, F0 , and FR increase continuously. The percentage increase of these parameters for aspect ratios less than 1 is large, and for aspect ratios greater than 1.2, is small. When the tube spacing is kept constant, altering

A. Hobbi, K. Siddiqui / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 700714

713

aspect ratio will change the tube number and the tube length. However, if the tube diameter and spacing are within the obtained optimum values, reduction in the tube number, as the aspect ratio and tube length increases, has negligible eect on the system performance. Aspect ratios around 1.5 found to be suitable for our application.  Increase in the heat transfer coecient has very signicant eect on the system performance when the ow inside the tube is in the laminar regime. For a fully turbulent ow the percentage increase in the annual f , g, F0 , and FR is small with an increase in the heat transfer coecient.  The optimized system can fulll 8397% of the hot water demand during May to September and 3068% of the demand during October to February with an annual value of 68%.  Replacing selective coating with a non-selective coat (e.g. normal matt black paint) reduces the annual solar fraction and collector eciency by 21% and 23%, respectively. However, they could still fulll about 54% of the annual water heating energy requirements by solar energy in a cold climate like Montreal.

Acknowledgements This research is funded by a grant from the Concordia University to Kamran Siddiqui. The authors would like to thank Dr. A. Athienitis for providing an access to the TRNSYS software. References
ASHRAE Handbook 2005. Fundamentals, Chapter 21, ASHRAE, Atlanta, GA. Babbitt, H.E., 1960. Plumbing, third ed. McGraw Hill, New York. Baughn, J.W., Young, M.F., 1984. The calculated performance of a solar hot water system for a range of collector ow rates. Solar Energy 32 (2), 303305. Becker, B.R., Stogsdill, K.E., 1990. A domestic hot water use database. ASHRAE Journal 32 (9), 2125. Beckman, W.A., Klein, S.A., Due, J.A., 1977. Solar Heating Design by the F-Chart Method. John Wiley, New York. Bliss, R.W., 1959. The derivations of several plate-eciency factors useful in the design of at plate solar heat collectors. Solar Energy 3, 5564. Buckles, W.E., Klein, S.A., 1980. Analysis of solar domestic hot water heaters. Solar Energy 25 (5), 417424. Chiou, J.P., 1982. The eect of non-uniform uid ow distribution on the thermal performance of solar collectors. Solar Energy 29 (6), 487502. Due, J.A., Beckman, W.A., 1991. Solar Engineering of the Thermal Processes, second ed. John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York. Fanney, A.H., Klein, S.A., 1983. Performance of solar domestic hot water systems at national bureau of standards-measurements and predictions. ASME Journal of Solar Energy Engineering 105, 311321. Fanney, A.H., Klein, S.A., 1988. Thermal performance comparisons for solar hot water systems subjected to various collector and heat exchanger ow rates. Solar Energy 40 (1), 111. Furbo, S., Vejan, N.K., Shah, L.J., 2005. Thermal performance of a large low ow solar heating system with a highly thermally stratied tank. ASME Journal of Solar Energy Engineering 127, 1520.

Ghamari, D.M., Worth, R.A., 1992. The eect of tube spacing on costeectiveness of a at-plate solar collector. Renewable Energy 2 (6), 603606. Gilbert Associates Inc., 1985. EPRI EA-4006, Research Project 1101-1, Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA. Gupta, G.L., Garge, H.P., 1968. System design in solar water heaters with natural circulation. Solar Energy 12, 163182. Hahne, E., 1985. Parameter eects on design and performance of at plate solar collector. Solar Energy 34 (6), 497504. Hiller, C.C., 1998. New Hot Water Consumption Analysis and WaterHeating System Sizing Methodology, ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia, SF-98-31-3. Hottel, H.C., Woertz, B.B., 1942. Performance of at plate solar heat collectors. Transactions of ASME 64, 91104. Kalogirou, S.A., Papamaracou, C., 2000. Modeling of a thermosyphon solar water heating system and simple model validation. Renewable Energy 21, 471493. Kalogirou, S.A., 2004. Solar thermal collectors and applications. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science 30, 231295. Kempton, Willett, 1987. Residential hot water: a behaviorally-driven system. Energy Eciency: Perspectives on Individual Behavior. American Council for an Energy-Ecient Economy, Washington, DC. Kikas, N.P., 1995. Laminar ow distribution in solar systems. Solar Energy 54 (4), 209217. Klein, S.A., Beckman, W.A., Due, J.A., 1976. A design procedure for solar heating systems. Solar Energy 18, 113. Klein, S.A., Beckman, W.A., 1979. A general design method for closedloop solar energy systems. Solar Energy 22, 269282. Klein, S.A. et al., 2004. TRNSYS Version. 16, Solar Energy Laboratory, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Website: <http://sel.me.wisc.edu/ trnsys>. Liu, B.Y.H., Jordan, R., 1963. The long-term average performance of atplate solar-energy collector. Solar Energy 7 (2), 5374. rature de leau dans laqueduc de Marcoux, C., Dumas, C., 2004. Tempe al, (Consulted in August 2006), <http://www.ashrae-mtl.org/ Montre text/f_ashrae.html>. Michaelides, I.M., Wilson, D.R., 1996. Optimum design criteria for solar hot water system. Renewable Energy 9 (14), 649652. Michaelides, I.M., Wilson, D.R., 1997. Simulation studies of the position of the auxiliary heater in thermosyphon solar water heating systems. Renewable Energy 10 (1), 3542. Morrison, G.L., Braun, J.E., 1985. System modeling and operation characteristics of thermosyphon solar water heaters. Solar Energy 34 (4/5), 389405. Mutch, J.J., 1974. Residential water heating: fuel conservation, economics and public policy. RAND Report, R 1498. Nayak, J.K., Amer, E.H., 2000. Experimental and theoretical evaluation of dynamic test procedures for solar at-plate collectors. Solar Energy 69 (5), 377401. NAHB Research Centre Inc., 2002. Domestic Hot Water System Modeling for the Design of Energy Eciency Systems, Marlbro, MD. Prapas, D.E., Veliannis, I., Evangelopoulos, A., Sotiropoulos, B.A., 1995. Large DHW solar system with distributed storage tanks. Solar Energy 55 (3), 175184. Perlman, M., Mills, B.E., 1985. Development of residential hot water use patterns. ASHRAE Transactions 91 (Part 2A), 657679. ASHRAE, Atlanta, GA. San Martin, R.L., Fjeld, G.J., 1975. Experimental performance of three solar collectors. Solar Energy 17 (6), 345349. Shariah, A.M., Ecevit, A., 1995. Eect of hot water load temperature on the performance of a thermosyphon solar water heater with auxiliary electric heater. Energy Conversation & Management 36 (5), 289296. Shariah, A.M., Lo f, G.O.G., 1996. The optimization of tank-volume-tocollector-area ratio for a thermosyphon solar water heater. Renewable Energy 7 (3), 289300. Shariah, A.M., Lo f, G.O.G., 1997. Eects of auxiliary heater on annual performance of thermosyphon solar water heater simulated under variable operating conditions. Solar Energy 60 (2), 119126.

714

A. Hobbi, K. Siddiqui / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 700714 Tsilingiris, P.T., 1996. Solar water-heating design-a new simplied dynamic approach. Solar Energy 57 (1), 1928. Whillier, A., Saluja, G., 1965. Eect of materials and construction details on the thermal performance of solar water heaters. Solar Energy 9 (1), 2126. Wongsuwan, W., Kumar, S., 2005. Forced circulation solar water heater performance prediction by TRNSYS and ANN. International Journal of Sustainable Energy 24 (2), 6986. Yeh, H.M., Ho, C.D., Yeh, C.W., 2003. Eect of aspect ratio on the collector eciency of sheet-and-tube solar water heaters with the consideration of hydraulic dissipated energy. Renewable Energy 28, 15751586.

Shariah, A., Shalabi, B., 1997. Optimal design for a thermosyphon solar water heater. Renewable Energy 11 (3), 351361. Shariah, A.M., Rousan, A., Rousan, Kh.K., Ahmad, A.A., 1999. Eect of thermal conductivity of absorber plate on the performance of a solar water heater. Applied Thermal Engineering 19, 733741. Shariah, A., Al-Akhra, M.A., Al-Omari, I.A., 2002. Optimizing the tilt angle of solar collectors. Renewable Energy 26, 587598. Siebers, D.L., Viskanta, R., 1977. Comparison of predicted performance of constant outlet temperature and constant mass ow rate collectors. Solar Energy 19 (4), 411413.