SOLAR THERMAL

SYSTEMS

Fazil Hassan P
RURAL ENERGY CENTRE
GANDHIGRAM RURAL INSTITUTE-DEEMED UNIVERSITY
DINDIGUL

SOLAR COLLECTORS
Types of collectors

Stationary
Sun tracking

Applications

Solar water heating

Solar space heating and cooling
Refrigeration
Industrial process heat
Desalination
Solar Dryer
Solar thermal power systems

Types of solar collectors

Motion

Stationary

Single-axis
tracking

Two-axes
tracking

Absorber
type

Concentration
ratio

Indicative
temperature
range (C)

Flat plate collector (FPC)

Flat

30-80

Evacuated tube collector (ETC)

Flat

50-200

1-5

60-240

5-15

60-300

Collector type

Compound parabolic collector (CPC)

Tubular

Linear Fresnel reflector (LFR)

Tubular

10-40

60-250

Parabolic trough collector (PTC)

Tubular

15-45

60-300

Cylindrical trough collector (CTC)

Tubular

10-50

60-300

Parabolic dish reflector (PDR)

Point

100-1000

100-500

Heliostat field collector (HFC)

Point

100-1500

150-2000

Note: Concentration ratio is defined as the aperture area divided by the receiver/absorber area of the collector.

Modes of Tracking

Comparison of energy absorbed

for various modes of tracking
Solar energy (kWh/m2)
Tracking mode

Percent to full tracking

SS

WS

SS

WS

Full tracking

8.43

10.60

5.70

100.0

100.0

100.0

E-W Polar

8.43

9.73

5.23

100.0

91.7

91.7

N-S Horizontal

6.22

7.85

4.91

73.8

74.0

86.2

E-W Horizontal

7.51

10.36

4.47

89.1

97.7

60.9

Note: E - Equinoxes, SS - Summer Solstice, WS - Winter Solstice

Stationary collectors
No concentration

Flat-plate collector

Flat-plate Collectors

Types of flat-plate collectors

Water systems
A

Glazing
Riser
Absorbing plate

Glazing
Riser
Absorbing plate

Insulation
Insulation

Glazing
Riser
Absorbing plate

Insulation

Glazing
Riser
Absorbing plate

Insulation

Types of flat-plate collectors

Air systems
E

Glazing
Air passage

Glazing
Corrugated sheet

Insulation

Glazing
Air flow
Metal matrix

Insulation

Insulation

Schematic diagram of an
evacuated tube collector

Evacuated tube collectors

Stationary collectors
Concentrating

Flat plate collector with flat

reflectors
Sun rays

Flat plate collector

Flat reflector

Schematic diagram of a CPC

collector

Sun tracking collectors

Concentrating

Schematic of a parabolic
trough collector
Sun rays
Glass
cover

Parabola

Receiver detail

Tracking
mechanism
Receiver
tube

Receiver

Parabolic trough collectors

Fresnel type parabolic trough

collector

Sun rays

Linear Fresnel Reflector (LFR)

Receiver
Sun rays

Tower
Mirrors

Schematic diagram showing

interleaving of mirrors in a CLFR with
reduced shading between mirrors
Receiver

Receiver
Sun rays

Tower

Tower

Mirrors

Schematic of a parabolic dish

collector
Sun rays

Receiver

Parabola
Two-axes
tracking
mechanism

Schematic of central receiver

system

SOLAR COLLECTOR
APPLICATIONS

Collector efficiencies of
various liquid collectors
POOL HEATERS
DOUBLE-GLAZED
FLAT PLATE

SINGLE-GLAZED
FLAT PLATE
EVACUATED TUBE

Radiant space heating

Air conditioning
Domestic hot water
Pool heating

Convective space heating

Solar energy applications and type of

collectors used
Application

System

Collector

Solar water heating

Thermosyphon systems
Integrated collector storage
Direct circulation
Indirect water heating systems
Air systems

Passive
Passive
Active
Active
Active

FPC
CPC
FPC, CPC ETC
FPC, CPC ETC
FPC

Space heating and cooling

Space heating and service hot water
Air systems
Water systems
Heat pump systems
Absorption systems
Adsorption (desiccant) cooling
Mechanical systems

Active
Active
Active
Active
Active
Active
Active

FPC, CPC ETC

FPC
FPC, CPC ETC
FPC, CPC ETC
FPC, CPC ETC
FPC, CPC ETC
PDR

Solar refrigeration
Adsorption units
Absorption units

Active
Active

FPC, CPC ETC

FPC, CPC ETC

Solar energy applications and type of

collectors used
Application

System

Collector

Industrial process heat

Industrial air and water systems
Steam generation systems

Active
Active

FPC, CPC ETC

PTC, LFR

Solar desalination
Solar stills
Multi-stage flash (MSF)
Multiple effect boiling (MEB)
Vapour compression (VC)

Passive
Active
Active
Active

FPC, CPC ETC

FPC, CPC ETC
FPC, CPC ETC

Solar thermal power systems

Parabolic trough collector systems
Parabolic tower systems
Parabolic dish systems
Solar furnaces
Solar chemistry systems

Active
Active
Active
Active
Active

PTC
HFC
PDR
HFC, PDR
CPC, PTC, LFR

Solar Water Heating Systems

Thermosyphon systems
Integrated collector storage systems
Direct circulation systems
Indirect water heating systems
Air systems

Thermosyphon systems
(passive)
Thermosyphon systems heat potable water or heat transfer fluid
and use natural convection to transport it from the collector to
storage.
The water in the collector expands becoming less dense as the
sun heats it and rises through the collector into the top of the
storage tank.
There it is replaced by the cooler water that has sunk to the
bottom of the tank, from which it flows down the collector.
The circulation continuous as long as there is sunshine.
Since the driving force is only a small density difference larger
than normal pipe sizes must be used to minimise pipe friction.
Connecting lines must be well insulated to prevent heat losses
and sloped to prevent formation of air pockets which would stop
circulation.

Schematic diagram of a
thermosyphon solar water heater
Hot water
outlet

Storage tank
Auxiliary

Cold
water inlet

Typical thermosyphon solar water

heater

Laboratory model

Application on inclined roof-1

Application on inclined roof-2

Application on inclined roof-3

Multi-residential application

Pressurized system on inclined roof

Integrated collector storage

systems (passive)
Integrated collector storage (ICS) systems use hot
water storage as part of the collector, i.e., the surface
of the storage tank is used also as an absorber.
The main disadvantage of the ICS systems is the
high thermal losses from the storage tank to the
surroundings since most of the surface area of the
storage tank cannot be thermally insulated as it is
intentionally exposed for the absorption of solar
radiation.
Thermal losses are greatest during the night and
overcast days with low ambient temperature. Due to
these losses the water temperature drops
substantially during the night especially during the
winter.

Fully developed cusp

The final ICS collector

Direct circulation systems

(active)
In direct circulation systems a pump is used
to circulate potable water from storage to the
collectors when there is enough available
solar energy to increase its temperature and
then return the heated water to the storage
tank until it is needed.
As a pump circulates the water, the collectors
can be mounted either above or below the
storage tank.

Direct circulation system

Drain-down system

When a freezing condition or a power failure occurs, the system drains

automatically by isolating the collector array and exterior piping from the makeup water supply and draining it using the two normally open (NO) valves

Direct or forced circulation type

domestic SWH
In this system only the solar panels are
visible on the roof.
The hot water storage tank is located indoors
in a plantroom.

The system is completed with piping, pump and a

differential thermostat.

This type of system is more appealing mainly

due to architectural and aesthetic reasons but
also more expensive.

Force circulation system-1

Force circulation system-2

Swimming pool heating

Indirect water heating systems

(active)
Indirect water heating systems circulate a heat
transfer fluid through the closed collector loop to a
heat exchanger, where its heat is transferred to the
potable water.
The most commonly used heat transfer fluids are
water/ethylene glycol solutions, although other heat
transfer fluids such as silicone oils and refrigerants
can also be used.
The heat exchanger can be located inside the
storage tank, around the storage tank (tank mantle)
or can be external.
It should be noted that the collector loop is closed
and therefore an expansion tank and a pressure relief
valve are required.

Indirect water heating system

Drain-back system

Circulation continues as long as usable energy is available. When the

circulation pump stops the collector fluid drains by gravity to a drain-back
tank.

Large solar water heating

system

Air systems
Air systems are indirect water heating systems that
circulate air via ductwork through the collectors to an
air-to-liquid heat exchanger. In the heat exchanger,
heat is transferred to the potable water, which is also
circulated through the heat exchanger and returned
to the storage tank.
The main advantage of the system is that air does
not need to be protected from freezing or boiling, is
non-corrosive, and is free.
The disadvantages are that air handling equipment
(ducts and fans) need more space than piping and
pumps, air leaks are difficult to detect, and parasitic
power consumption is generally higher than that of
liquid systems.

Air system

Solar Space Heating and

Cooling
Space Heating and Service Hot Water
Air systems
Water systems

Solar Space Heating and Cooling

The components and subsystems discussed so far
may be combined to create a wide variety of building
solar heating and cooling systems.
Active solar space systems use collectors to heat a
fluid, storage units to store solar energy until needed,
and distribution equipment to provide the solar energy
to the heated spaces in a controlled manner.
The load can be space cooling, heating, or a
combination of these two with hot water supply.
In combination with conventional heating equipment
solar heating provides the same levels of comfort,
temperature stability, and reliability as conventional
systems.

Space Heating and Service Hot Water

It is useful to consider solar systems as having five
basic modes of operation, depending on the
conditions that exist in the system at a particular time:

If solar energy is available and heat is not needed in the

building, energy gain from the collector is added to storage.
If solar energy is available and heat is needed in the
building, energy gain from the collector is used to supply the
building need.
If solar energy is not available, heat is needed in the
building, and the storage unit has stored energy in it, the
stored energy is used to supply the building need.
If solar energy is not available, heat is needed in the
building, and the storage unit has been depleted, auxiliary
energy is used to supply the building need.
The storage unit is fully heated, there are no loads to met,
and the collector is absorbing heat-relief heat.

Air systems
A schematic of a basic solar heating system using air
as the heat transfer fluid, with pebble bed storage
unit and auxiliary heating source is shown in next
slide.
The various modes of operations are achieved by
appropriate positioning of the dampers. In most air
systems it is not practical to combine the modes of
adding energy to and removing energy from storage
at the same time.
Auxiliary energy can be combined with energy
supplied from collector or storage to top-up the air
temperature in order to cover the building load.
It is possible to bypass the collector and storage unit
when auxiliary alone is being used to provide heat.

Schematic of basic hot air

system

Detail schematic of a solar air

heating system

Water systems
When used for both space and hot water
production this system allows independent
control of the solar collector-storage and
storage-auxiliary-load loops as solar-heated
water can be added to storage at the same
time that hot water is removed from storage
to meet building loads.
Usually, a bypass is provided around the
storage tank to avoid heating the storage
tank, which can be of considerable size, with
auxiliary energy.

Detail schematic of a solar

water heating system

Solar Refrigeration
Solar cooling can be considered for two related
processes:

to provide refrigeration for food and medicine preservation

and
to provide comfort cooling.

Absorption systems are similar to vapourcompression air conditioning systems but differ in the
pressurisation stage.
The most usual combinations of fluids include lithium
bromide-water (LiBr-H2O) where water vapour is the
refrigerant and ammonia-water (NH3-H2O) systems
where ammonia is the refrigerant.

Absorption systems
The pressurisation is achieved by dissolving
the refrigerant in the absorbent, in the
absorber section.
Subsequently, the solution is pumped to a
high pressure with an ordinary liquid pump.
The addition of heat in the generator is used
to separate the low-boiling refrigerant from the
solution.

In this way the refrigerant vapour is compressed

without the need of large amounts of mechanical
energy that the vapour-compression air
conditioning systems demand.

Basic principle of the absorption

air conditioning system
QG

QC

Source heat

Cooling
water
Condenser

Generator

Heat exchanger

High pressure

Low pressure

Chilled
water
Evaporator

QE

Cooling
water
Absorber

QA

Industrial Process Heat

Industrial Process Heat

The central system for heat supply in most
factories uses hot water or steam at a
medium temperature of about 150C.
Hot water or low pressure steam at medium
temperatures can be used either for
preheating of water (or other fluids) used for
processes (washing, dyeing, etc.) or for
steam generation or by direct coupling of the
solar system to an individual process.
In the case of water preheating, higher
efficiencies are obtained due to the low input
temperature to the solar system, thus lowtechnology collectors can work effectively.

Possibilities of combining the solar

system with the existing heat supply
Solar collector
used for steam
generation

Solar collector used

for make-up water
preheating

Central steam supply

Conventional
boiler and
steam generator

Process

Pump
Make-up water

Process

Process
Solar collector
applied to a
particular process

Return water

PTCs for water heating

Solar steam generation

systems
Parabolic trough collectors are frequently employed
for solar steam generation because relatively high
temperatures can be obtained without any serious
degradation in the collector efficiency.
Low temperature steam can be used in industrial
applications, sterilisation, and for powering
desalination evaporators.
Three methods have been employed to generate
steam using parabolic trough collectors:

The steam-flash concept.

The direct or in-situ concept.
The unfired-boiler concept.

The steam-flash steam

generation concept

In steam-flash concept, a
pressurised water is heated
in the collector and then
flashed to steam in a
separate vessel.

The direct steam generation

concept

In direct or insitu concept, a

two phase flow is
allowed in the
collector receiver
so that steam is
generated directly.

The unfired-boiler steam

generation concept
In unfired-boiler
concept, a heat-transfer
fluid is circulated through
the collector and steam is
generated via heatexchange in an unfired
boiler.

Solar Desalination Systems

Solar Desalination Systems

Water is one of the most abundant
resources on earth, covering threefourths of
the planet's surface.
About 97% of the earth's water is salt water
in the oceans; 3% of all fresh water is in
ground water, lakes and rivers, which supply
most of human and animal needs.
The only nearly inexhaustible sources of
water are the oceans Their main
drawback, however, is their high salinity.
It would be attractive to tackle the watershortage problem with desalination of this
water.

Desalination processes
Desalination can be achieved by using a number of techniques.
These may be classified into the following categories:
- phase-change or thermal processes; and
- membrane or single-phase processes.
PHASE-CHANGE PROCESSES
1. Multi-stage flash (MSF)
2. Multiple effect boiling (MEB)
3. Vapour compression (VC)
4. Freezing
5. Humidification/Dehumidification
6. Solar stills
- conventional stills
- special stills
- wick-type stills
- multiple-wick-type stills

MEMBRANE PROCESSES
1. Reverse osmosis (RO)
- RO without energy recovery
- RO with energy recovery (ER-RO)
2. Electrodialysis (ED)

Solar Stills
Intensive program: ICT tools in PV-systems Engineering

Multiple Effect Boiling Evaporator

Multiple Effect Stack
(MES) type evaporator
This is the most appropriate type for
solar energy applications.
Advantages:

Stable operation between virtually

zero and 100% output even when
sudden changes are made (most
important).

Its ability to follow a varying steam

supply without upset.

Actual MEB schematic

A photo of an actual MEB

plant

Actual MES plant

Solar Power systems

Solar Thermal Power

Three types of systems belong to this
category:

Parabolic trough collector system

Central receiver system
Dish collector system

The process of conversion of solar to

mechanical and electrical energy by thermal
means is fundamentally similar to the
traditional thermal processes.
The solar systems differ from the ones
considered so far as these operate at much
higher temperatures.

Schematic of a solar-thermal
conversion system

Typical Schematic of SEGS plants

Parabolic Trough System

Parabolic trough collectors

Parabola detail

Receiver detail

Central receiver system

Tower detail

Heliostat detail

Central receiver-1

Central receiver-2

Central receiver-3

Central receiver-4

Central receiver-5

Central receiver-6

Central receiver-7

Central receiver-8

Solar energy should be given a

chance if we want to protect the
environment.
We own it to our children, our
grandchildren and the
generations to come.
Thank you for your attention,
any questions please.