Photo-Thermal Solar Energy Conversion Device

Photo-thermal solar energy device was constructed using local available materials for producing hot water for house hold uses. The motivation for this research is to find an alternative source of power for this purpose, since we have epileptic supply of conventional power in the country. It was observed that intensity of solar radiation varies with time and the temperature of water produced depended on the amount of solar radiation and the time of the day as observed from the graphs plotted. We obtained boiling water at 100 degrees Celsius with the device at Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State. Nigeria

Integrated photovoltaic-thermal solar energy conversion systems

A combined photovoltaic/thermal collector has been built and is now being tested. Initial tests have concentrated on evaluating the thermal efficiency of the collector before and after the silicon cells are mounted. With likely improvements in bonding between cells and receiver and in the absorptivity of the cells, thermal efficiencies greater than 50% can be expected for the combined receiver operating at 100 C

Thermal Solar Energy Systems for Space Heating of Buildings

In this study, the simulation and the analysis of a solar flat plate collectors combined with a compression heat pump is carried out. The system suggested must ensure the heating of a building without the recourse to an auxiliary energy source in complement of this heating system. The system is used to heat a building using heating floor. The building considered is located in Constantine-East of Algeria (Latitude 36.28 N, Longitude 6.62 E, Altitude 689m). For the calculation, the month of February was chosen, which is considered as the coldest month according to the weather data of Constantine. The performances of this system were compared to the performances of the traditional solar heating system using solar collectors and an auxiliary heating load to compensate the deficit. In this case a traditional solar heating system having the same characteristics with regard to the solar collecting area and the volume of storage tank is used. It can be concluded that the space heating system using a solar energy combined with heat pump improve the thermal performance of the heat pump and the global system. The performances of the heating system combining heat pump and solar collectors are higher than that of solar heating system with solar collectors and storage tank. The heat pump assisted by solar energy can contribute to the conservation of conventional energy and can be competitive with the traditional systems of heating

Development of a building integrated photovoltaic/thermal solar energy cogeneration system

Using renewable energy sources for onsite cogeneration from structural building elements is a relatively new concept and is gaining considerable interest. In this study the design, development, manufacturing and testing of a novel building integrated photovoltaic/thermal (BIPVT) solar energy cogeneration system is discussed. Adhesives (ADH), resistance seam welding (RSW) and autoclaving (ATC) were identified as the most appropriate for fabricating BIPVT roofing panels. Of these manufacturing methods ADH was found to be most suitable for low volume production systems due to its low capital cost.A prototype panel, fabricated using ADH methods, exhibited good thermal performance. It was also shown that BIPVT performance could be theoretically predicted using a one dimensional heat transfer model and showed excellent agreement with experimental data. The model was used to suggest further design improvements. Finally, a transient simulation of the BIPVT was performed in TRNSYS and is used to illustrate the benefits of the system.<br /

Roadmap for the next-generation hybrid photovoltaic-thermal solar energy collectors

For hybrid photovoltaic-thermal collectors to become competitive with other types of solar energy converters, they must offer high performance at fluid outlet temperatures above 60¿°C, as is required for space heating and domestic hot water provision, which together account for nearly 50% of heat demand. A roadmap is presented of the technological advances required to achieve this goal. Strategies for reducing convective, radiative and electrical losses at elevated temperature are discussed, and an experimental characterisation of a novel transparent low-emissivity coating for photovoltaic solar cells is presented. An experimentally-validated simulation formalism is used to project the performance of different combinations of loss-reduction strategies implemented together. Finally, a techno-economic analysis is performed to predict the price points at which the hybrid technologies along the roadmap become competitive with non-hybrid photovoltaic and solar thermal technologies. The most advanced hybrid technology along the roadmap employs an evacuated cavity, a transparent low-emissivity coating, and silicon heterojunction photovoltaic cellsPeer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

A free real-time hourly tilted solar irradiation data Website for Europe

The engineering of solar power applications, such as photovoltaic energy (PV) or thermal solar energy requires the knowledge of the solar resource available for the solar energy system. This solar resource is generally obtained from datasets, and is either measured by ground-stations, through the use of pyranometers, or by satellites. The solar irradiation data are generally not free, and their cost can be high, in particular if high temporal resolution is required, such as hourly data. In this work, we present an alternative method to provide free hourly global solar tilted irradiation data for the whole European territory through a web platform. The method that we have developed generates solar irradiation data from a combination of clear-sky simulations and weather conditions data. The results are publicly available for free through Soweda, a Web interface. To our knowledge, this is the first time that hourly solar irradiance data are made available online, in real-time, and for free, to the public. The accuracy of these data is not suitable for applications that require high data accuracy, but can be very useful for other applications that only require a rough estimate of solar irradiation.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, conference proceedings, 29th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, 2014, Amsterda

Solar Biomass Pyrolysis with the Linear Mirror II

A simple and innovative prototype for biomass pyrolysis is presented, together with some experimental results. The setup uses only the thermal solar energy provided by a system of reflecting mirrors (Linear Mirror II) to heat a selected agro-waste biomass, such as wheat straw. At the end of the pyrolysis process, solar carbon with a high energy density (around 24 - 28 MJ/kg) is produced from a biomass with an energy density of 16.9 MJ/kg. The perspectives for a future industrial application of this setup are also discussed

Application of Solar Heating on the Electrolyte Conditioning for Electrowinning Process: Thermosolar Plant Performance

2013 ISES Solar World CongressIn this contribution the performance of a thermosolar plant to provide heat to the copper electrowinning (EW) process is analyzed. This plant has a collecting area of 404 m2 with flat plate solar collectors, and generation capacity of 540 MWht/year. It has a thermal storage tank where water can be stored at an average temperature of 95 °C. This allows providing continuously the energy to heat the electrolyte. It was determined the performance of the solar field and global performance of the plant for a working period of 4 months at the northern region conditions from Chile. In addition, the fuel consumption reduction for replacing liquefied gas by thermal solar energy to heat the electrolyte and CO2 emissions reduction were analyzed

Thermal Solar Energy Systems for Space Heating of Buildings

In this study, the simulation and the analysis of a solar flat plate collectors combined with a compression heat pump is carried out. The system suggested must ensure the heating of a building without the recourse to an auxiliary energy source in complement of this heating system. The system is used to heat a building using heating floor. The building considered is located in Constantine-East of Algeria (Latitude 36.28 N, Longitude 6.62 E, Altitude 689m). For the calculation, the month of February was chosen, which is considered as the coldest month according to the weather data of Constantine. The performances of this system were compared to the performances of the traditional solar heating system using solar collectors and an auxiliary heating load to compensate the deficit. In this case a traditional solar heating system having the same characteristics with regard to the solar collecting area and the volume of storage tank is used. It can be concluded that the space heating system using a solar energy combined with heat pump improve the thermal performance of the heat pump and the global system. The performances of the heating system combining heat pump and solar collectors are higher than that of solar heating system with solar collectors and storage tank. The heat pump assisted by solar energy can contribute to the conservation of conventional energy and can be competitive with the traditional systems of heating