IEA SHC Task 42 / ECES Annex 29 WG A1: Engineering and Processing of PCMs, TCMs and Sorption Materials

An overview on the recent results on the engineering and characterization of sorption materials, PCMs and TCMs investigated in the working group WG A1 "Engineering and processing of TES materials" of IEA SHC Task 42 / ECES Annex 29 (Task 4229) entitled "Compact Thermal Energy Storage" is presented

Thermal stratification in vertical mantle heat-exchangers with application to solar domestic hot-water systems

Experimental and numerical investigations of vertical mantle heat-exchangers for solar domestic hot-water (SDHW) systems have been carried out. Two different mantle inlet positions are investigated. Experiments based on typical operation conditions are carried out to investigate how the thermal stratification is affected by different positions of the mantle inlet. The heat transfer between the solar collector fluid in the mantle and the domestic water in the tank is analysed by CFD-simulations. Furthermore, side-by-side laboratory tests have been carried out with SDHW systems with different mantle inlet-positions. It is shown that for a high inlet-temperature to the mantle, it is an advantage to have the inlet located at the top and for a low inlet temperature it is an advantage to have the inlet moved down. Marketed tanks have typically the mantle inlet located at the top of the mantle. The side-by-side laboratory tests indicate that it is an advantage to move the inlet down from the top.

Vertical evacuated tubular-collectors utilizing solar radiation from all directions

A prototype collector with parallel-connected evacuated double glass tubes is investigated theoretically and experimentally. The collector has a tubular absorber and can utilize solar radiation coming from all directions. The collector performance is measured in an outdoor test facility. Further, a theoretical model for calculating the thermal performance is developed. In the model, flat-plate collector's performance equations are integrated over the whole absorber circumference and the model determines the shading on the tubes as a function of the solar azimuth. Results from calculations with the model are compared with measured results and there is a good degree of similarity between the measured and calculated results. The model is used for theoretical investigations on vertically-placed pipes at a location in Denmark (Copenhagen, lat. 56°N) and at a location in Greenland (Uummannaq, lat. 71°N). For both locations, the results show that to achieve the highest thermal performance, the tube centre distance must be about 0.2 m and the collector azimuth must be about 45-60° towards the west. Further, the thermal performance of the evacuated solar-collector is compared to the thermal performance of the Arcon HT flat-plate solar-collector with an optimum tilt and orientation. The Arcon collector is the best performing collector under Copenhagen conditions, whereas the performance of the evacuated tubular collector is highest under the Uummannaq conditions. The reason is that the tubular collector is not optimally tilted in Copenhagen but also that there is much more solar radiation "from all directions" in Uummannaq and this radiation can be utilized with the tubular collector. It is concluded that the collector design is very promising--especially for high latitudes.Evacuated tubular solar collectors Collector modelling Solar heating