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Improvement of collection efficiency and solar fraction in solar thermal storage system using a 3-way valve and a 2-stage flowrate control

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Abstract

In the present study, we investigated the effects of a combined system-control method in a solar thermal system; specifically, prevention of temperature reversal plus a reduced circulation rate. A 3-way valve is adopted as a remedy of the temperature reversal in the water storage tank and a 2-stage flowrate is implemented as the flowrate control strategy. To evaluate the effects, we perform five experiments and TRNSYS based simulations with a carefully developed system-control algorithm. As the main result, we experimentally validated that a 3-way valve is effective for the prevention of temperature reversal and a 2-stage flowrate extends the solar energy collection time. Annual simulation results show that the proposed combined method improves the system performances (1.9%p increase of collector efficiency, 2.2%p increase of solar fraction, and 5.3% additional collected energy) compared to the conventional forced circulation system. Our results should be applied to the water storage tank proposed in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, 446-701, Korea

    Jong Hyun Kim, Uk Jae Lee & LongJie Li

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, 446-701, Korea

    Chul Kim & Hiki Hong

Authors
  1. Jong Hyun Kim
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  2. Uk Jae Lee
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  3. LongJie Li
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  4. Chul Kim
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  5. Hiki Hong
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hiki Hong.

Additional information

Recommended by Associate Editor Jae Dong Chung

Jong Hyun Kim received his B.S. and M.S. in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering from Chosun University in 2002, and Kyung Hee University in 2011, respectively. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Mechanical Engineering Kyung Hee University, Yongin, Korea.

Uk Jae Lee received his B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Kyung Hee University in 2013 and 2015, respectively. Currently, he is working for Hyundai Development Company. His research interests are solar thermal system.

Longjie Li received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kyung Hee University in 2012. Currently, he is a M.S. student at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, Korea.

Hiki Hong received his B.S., M.S. and Dr. Eng in Mechanical Engineering from Seoul National University in 1983 and 1986, and Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1993, respectively. Currently, he is a Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, Korea. His research interests are solar thermal system, building energy saving and thermal storage.

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Kim, J.H., Lee, U.J., Li, L. et al. Improvement of collection efficiency and solar fraction in solar thermal storage system using a 3-way valve and a 2-stage flowrate control. J Mech Sci Technol 30, 3347–3356 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-016-0644-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-016-0644-1

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