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Solar Thermal Collection and Storage Systems

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "J: Thermal Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (17 November 2021) | Viewed by 8185

Special Issue Editor

School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering, Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia
Interests: multi-scale and physics-based modelling in drying; renewable energies and sustainable processing; artificial intelligence and advanced modelling in agri-industrial processes; nanofluid solar thermal storage; thermal storage and lean manufacturing
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Energy is a crucial resource for nation and society development. Solar energy is clean, renewable, and eco-friendly, and is the largest and most impressive source of energy available globally. However, only a small portion of solar energy potential is used today. The usage of solar energy to produce thermal and electrical power enables the world to meet the ever-growing energy demand and has a green footprint. Solar thermal energy has been increasingly used for process heating, cooling, drying, and power generation applications. The solar collector is the main part of any solar thermal system, and the efficiency of the collector drives the economy of the system. Thermal energy storage technology is essential to promote the utilization of solar thermal energy. Efficient collection and storage systems, and active participation from the demand side, with efficient use of the available energy are all important, and demand flexibility must be intelligently used to compensate for the intermittency of the sun.

This Special Issue provides a platform for publishing and sharing novel, inspiring, and promising research on solar thermal collection and storage systems. Advanced analysis and efficiency improvement of solar water and air collectors and concentrating solar collectors and thermal storage will be the primary focus of this issue. We therefore invite papers on innovative technical developments, reviews, case studies, analytical papers, as well as assessments from different disciplines which are relevant to “Solar Thermal Collection and Storage Systems”.

Dr. Azharul Karim
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • solar water collectors
  • solar air collectors
  • concentrating solar collectors
  • solar ponds
  • direct absorption solar collectors
  • collector efficiency
  • nanofluids in solar collectors
  • CFD analysis
  • solar thermal system integration
  • solar thermal energy and power
  • experimental analyses
  • energetic and energetic efficiency
  • energy modeling and simulation
  • control and diagnostics
  • life cycle assessment
  • recent advancement
  • novel system design
  • thermal energy storage
  • phase change material
  • thermochemical storage
  • economic analysis

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

27 pages, 9191 KiB  
Article
A Dynamic Optimization Tool to Size and Operate Solar Thermal District Heating Networks Production Plants
by Régis Delubac, Sylvain Serra, Sabine Sochard and Jean-Michel Reneaume
Energies 2021, 14(23), 8003; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en14238003 - 30 Nov 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2091
Abstract
The aim of the ISORC/OPTIMISER project is to increase and improve the use of solar thermal energy in district heating networks. One of the main tasks of the project is to develop an optimization tool for the sizing and operation of a solar [...] Read more.
The aim of the ISORC/OPTIMISER project is to increase and improve the use of solar thermal energy in district heating networks. One of the main tasks of the project is to develop an optimization tool for the sizing and operation of a solar district heating network. This is the first optimization tool using an open-source interface (Julia, JuMP) and solver (Ipopt) to solve nonlinear problems. This paper presents the multi-period optimization problem which is implemented to consider the dynamic variations in a year, represented by four typical days, with an hourly resolution. The optimum is calculated for a total duration of 20 years. First, this paper presents the modeling of the different components of a solar district heating network production plant: district network demand, storage and three sources, i.e., a fossil (gas) and two renewable (solar and biomass) sources. In order to avoid prohibitive computational time, the modeling of sources and storage has to be fairly simple. The multi-period optimization problem was formulated. The chosen objective function is economic: The provided economic model is accurate and use nonlinear equations. Finally the formulated problem is a nonlinear Programming problem. Optimization of the studied case exhibits consistent operating profiles and design. A comparison is made of different types of storage connection at the production site, highlighting the relevance of placing the storage at the solar field outlet. The optimum configuration supplies 49% of demand using solar energy, achieving a renewable rate of 69% in combination with the biomass boiler. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar Thermal Collection and Storage Systems)
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16 pages, 2657 KiB  
Article
Experimental Performance of a Solar Air Collector with a Perforated Back Plate in New Zealand
by Yu Wang, Mikael Boulic, Robyn Phipps, Manfred Plagmann and Chris Cunningham
Energies 2020, 13(6), 1415; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en13061415 - 18 Mar 2020
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2623
Abstract
This study investigates the thermal efficiency of a solar air heater (SAH), when it was mounted on a custom-made support frame, and was operated under different air mass flow rate. This SAH is composed of a transparent polycarbonate cover plate, a felt absorber [...] Read more.
This study investigates the thermal efficiency of a solar air heater (SAH), when it was mounted on a custom-made support frame, and was operated under different air mass flow rate. This SAH is composed of a transparent polycarbonate cover plate, a felt absorber layer, a perforated aluminium back plate and an aluminium frame. The ambient inlet air of this SAH is heated as it passes through the perforated back plate and over the felt absorber layer. The heated air is blown out through the outlet. Studies of SAHs with a similar design to this SAH were not found in the literature. The experiment was carried out at Massey University, Auckland campus, NZ (36.7° S, 174.7° E). The global horizontal solar irradiance, the ambient temperature and the wind speed were recorded using an on-site weather station. Temperature and velocity of the air at the outlet were measured using a hot wire anemometer. During the experiment, the air mass flow rate was between 0.022 ± 0.001 kg/s and 0.056 ± 0.005 kg/s. Results showed that when the SAH was operated at the airflow between 0.0054 kg/s and 0.0058 kg/s, the inlet air temperature and the wind speed (between 0 and 6.0 m/s) did not impact the temperature difference between the outlet air and the inlet air. The thermal efficiency of the SAH increased from 34 ± 5% at the airflow between 0.021 kg/s and 0.023 kg/s, to 47 ± 6% at the airflow ranging from 0.032 kg/s to 0.038 kg/s, to 71 ± 4% at the airflow of 0.056 ± 0.005 kg/s. The maximum thermal efficiency of 75% was obtained at the airflow of 0.057 kg/s. The effective efficiency of the SAH was 32 ± 5% at the airflow between 0.021 kg/s and 0.023 kg/s, 42 ± 6% at the airflow ranging from 0.032 kg/s to 0.038 kg/s, and 46 ± 11% at the airflow of 0.056 ± 0.005 kg/s. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar Thermal Collection and Storage Systems)
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16 pages, 4293 KiB  
Article
Thermal Characterization of Pinus radiata Wood Vacuum-Impregnated with Octadecane
by Rodrigo Fuentes-Sepúlveda, Claudio García-Herrera, Diego A. Vasco, Carlos Salinas-Lira and Rubén A. Ananías
Energies 2020, 13(4), 942; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en13040942 - 20 Feb 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2569
Abstract
The incorporation of phase change materials (PCM) in construction components has become an alternative to reduce the effect of thermal loads in buildings with low thermal inertia. This study put together the effective heat storage capacity of an organic phase change material (O-PCM, [...] Read more.
The incorporation of phase change materials (PCM) in construction components has become an alternative to reduce the effect of thermal loads in buildings with low thermal inertia. This study put together the effective heat storage capacity of an organic phase change material (O-PCM, octadecane) with the construction and production potential of Pinus radiata in Chile. The wood is impregnated with octadecane by using the Bethell method, showing that it has good retention of the impregnator, and that its size was not modified. Differential scanning calorimetry analysis (DSC) showed that the composite material could achieve fusion enthalpy values from 36 (20.8 MJ/m3) to 122 J/g (108.9 MJ/m3). The transient line heat source method used, indicated that impregnation of Pinus radiata with octadecane increases its specific heat at temperatures from 15 to 20 °C, while its thermal conductivity decreases in the radial and the tangent directions, and increases in the longitudinal direction, showing a decrease in the orthotropic behavior of the wood. The ability of Pinus radiata wood to store latent heat positioned it as a candidate material to be considered in the building industry as a heat storage system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar Thermal Collection and Storage Systems)
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