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Article history: In determining the dynamic thermal performance of a flat-plate solar collector, when the instantaneous
Received 28 July 2014 solar irradiance changes sharply at one moment, most of the existing models cannot accurately predict
Accepted 1 December 2014 the momentary thermal characteristics of outlet temperature and useful heat gain. In the present study,
Available online 12 December 2014
an analytical model in the form of series expansion is put forward to depict the momentary thermal
characteristics of flat-plate solar collectors. The analytical model reveals that, instantaneous useful heat
Keywords:
gain of a solar collector at one moment consists of the steady-state useful heat gain and corresponding
Flat-plate solar collector
thermal inertia correction. The model is then validated by the experimental data. It indicates that the
Dynamic thermal performance model
Steady-state test
analytical model can properly predict the dynamic thermal performance of the solar air collector. Be-
Thermal inertia sides, the model pertains to other types of solar thermal collectors, if they can be tested by the steady-
state test method.
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2014.12.005
0960-1481/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
680 J. Deng et al. / Renewable Energy 76 (2015) 679e686
thermal performance predictions by different models are compared with inclined angles of 0e90 . The calculation method of the
with the experimental data. In addition, the applicable condition of equivalent angle of incidence can be found in Ref. [17].
the analytical model is discussed.
S ¼ ðtaÞen Kqb q Gb þ ðtaÞen Kqd q Gd (2)
2. Analytical model 1
Kqb ðqÞ ¼ 1 b0 1 (3)
cos q
2.1. Transformation of simplified quasi-dynamic model
The model of QDT by Equation (1) represents a simplified first-
The simplified model of QDT [4,17] for a flat-plate solar collector order differential system, which has a mathematical form of
is given in Equation (1). It is a first-order differential model based Equation (4), as verified by Ref. [22].
on Hottel-Whillier-Bliss equation [17] with a correction term of
effective collector thermal capacitance [22]. dy
T þ y ¼ Ax (4)
dt
dTf h i ·
ðmCÞe ¼ FR Aa S UL Tfi Ta mf Cf Tfo Tfi (1) where y is the system output, x is the system input, T is the time
dt
constant of the object, A is the system amplification coefficient.
where the term on the left of the equation represents the effective Similar to the form of Equation (4), taking the collector outlet
internal energy variation. The first term on the right indicates the temperature Tfo as the system output of the solar thermal collector
effective absorbed radiation subtracting the total heat loss in terms and substituting the characteristic fluid temperature Tf with
of the heat removal factor FR. The second term on the right denotes (Tfi þ Tfo)/2, Equation (1) can be rearranged to Equation (5).
the thermal enthalpy increment between the collector out and
·
inlet. (mC)e is the effective heat capacity of the solar collector, J/ C. dTfo 2mf Cf dTfi 2FR Aa h i
The absorbed radiation per unit area (S) consists of beam radiation þ Tfo Tfi ¼ þ $ S UL Tfi Ta
dt ðmCÞe dt ðmCÞe
and diffuse radiation [7e10], as given in Equation (2). The incidence
(5)
angle modifier Kqb(q) for beam radiation is given by Equation (3).
With regard to the incidence angle modifier Kqd(q) for diffuse ra- In the test process of response time constant T of a solar col-
diation, an equivalent angle of incidence can be considered ac- lector, the temperatures Tfi,Ta, outdoor wind speed, and the mass
·
cording to Duffie and Beckman [17]. And Kqd(q) is the cosine value of flow rate mf of the working fluid are kept to be constant. The term
dTfi
the equivalent angle, ranging from 55 to 60 for solar collectors dt
is zero in this case. Then Equation (5) is reduced to Equation (6)
J. Deng et al. / Renewable Energy 76 (2015) 679e686 681
and the expression of response time constant T of the collector recurrence relation, if n > 3. The recursive process is shown in
outlet temperature is given by Equation (7). Equation (14) and the final expression of Qu(n þ 1) is given by
Equation (15), which is in the form of a series expansion.
dTfo F A h
a
i
T þ Tfo Tfi ¼ · R $ S UL Tfi Ta (6) Dt
dt m C Qu ðn þ 1Þ ¼ f ðnÞ þ ½Qu ðnÞ f ðnÞ$exp (12)
f f
T
where T is the response time constant of a collector.
where
ðmCÞe h i
T¼ · (7) f ðnÞ ¼ FR Aa $ SðnÞ UL Tfi ðnÞ Ta ðnÞ (13)
2mf Cf
Dt Dt
Qu ðn þ 1Þ ¼ f ðnÞ$ 1 exp þ Qu ðnÞ$exp
T T
2.2. Analytical model in the form of series expansion
Dt Dt
¼ f ðnÞ$ 1 exp þ f ðn 1Þ$ 1 exp
Equation (5) is a transformation of the quasi-dynamic model of T T
Equation (1). And Equation (6) is a reduced energy balance equa- Dt 2Dt
dT $exp þ Qu ðn 1Þ$exp
tion of Equation (5), which neglects the differential term dtfi . In fact, T T
when the time interval is small, the collector inlet temperature Tfi Dt Dt
dT
can be assumed to be constant. Then dtfi equals zero and Equation ¼ f ðnÞ$ 1 exp þ f ðn 1Þ$ 1 exp
T T
(6) can be used to model the thermal performance of a flat-plate
Dt Dt
solar collector. Hence, we deduce a new expression of instanta- $exp þ f ðn 2Þ$ 1 exp
T T
neous useful heat gain Qu in light of Equation (6) based on a small
2Dt 3Dt
time interval as follows. $exp þ Qu ðn 2Þ$exp
Firstly, take integer n ¼ 1,2,3,… as an arbitrary time step and T T
Tfi(n),Tfo(n), Ta(n), S(n) represent according parameters at the time (14)
·
n$Dt. Here the time interval Dt for Tfi, Ta, S, mf is uniform. In each
·
time interval Dt, the values of Tfi, Ta, S, mf and consequently FR are X
n
Dt
constant values for integrating Equation (10). The single time- Qu ðn þ 1Þ ¼ f ðn þ 1 iÞ$ 1 exp
T
depending variable is Tfo. When the time interval Dt between i¼1
(15)
the moment n$Dt and (n þ 1)$Dt is small, the collector outlet ði 1ÞDt nDt
$exp þ Qu ð1Þ$exp
temperature Tfo(n þ 1) at time (n þ 1)$Dt can be solved by def- T T
inite integral. The process of solving is given by Equations
(8)e(11).
( )
dTfo 1 FR Aa h i 2.3. Model explanation
¼ Tfo Tfi · $ S UL Tfi Ta (8)
dt T mf Cf
From Equation (13), the formula of f(n) represents the steady-
state useful heat gain of a collector, which is generally known by
dTfo dt the steady-state test (SST) method. Uniformly, in the analytical
h i ¼ (9)
Tfo Tfi FR Aa
· $ S UL Tfi Ta T model given by Equation (15), the terms f(n þ 1 i) represent the
mf Cf
steady-state useful heat gain. And the exponential functions
Integrating on both side of Equation (9) from the time n$Dt to exp(iDt/T) (i ¼ 1, 2, …, n) indicate the thermal inertia effect of the
(n þ 1)$Dt, we have. collector, which can be illustrated by the test of the response time
constant and will be further discussed in section 3.1. It suggests that
ðnþ1Þ
Z ðnþ1Þ$Dt
Z the analytical model is essentially a thermal inertial correction
dTfo dt
h i ¼ (10) model (TICM) of the SST method.
Tfo Tfi FR Aa
· $ S UL Tfi Ta T Moreover, when nDt 3T at the time step n, the thermal inertia
n mf Cf n$Dt
effect term is very small and can be neglected, since exp(3T/
h i F A h i T) ¼ 0.0498. Therefore, the useful heat gain Qu ðn þ 1Þ at time
a
Tfo ðn þ 1Þ Tfi ðnÞ · R $ SðnÞ UL Tfi ðnÞ Ta ðnÞ t ¼ ðn þ 1Þ$Dt is mainly affected by the time interval of ½t 3T; t.
mf Cf And thus the TICM can be expressed as Equation (16), based on the
( )
h i F A h i SST and thermal inertia effect.
R a
¼ Tfo ðnÞ Tfi ðnÞ · $ SðnÞ UL Tfi ðnÞ Ta ðnÞ
mf Cf ðjþ1Þ
X
Dt
Dt Qu ðn þ 1Þ ¼ f ðn þ 1 iÞ$ 1 exp
$exp i¼1
T
T
ði 1ÞDt ðj þ 1ÞDt
(11) $exp þ Qu ðn jÞ$exp
T T
Instantaneous useful heat gain Qu(n þ 1) at time (n þ 1)$Dt can (16)
·
be expressed as Equation (12) with Tfi ðn þ 1Þ¼ Tfi ðnÞ, by multi-
·
plying mf Cf on both sides of Equation (11) and rearranging. Equa- where the rounded off integer j ¼ ½3T=Dt.
tion (12) is a recurrence formula which depicts the relation of the The term Qu ðn jÞ$exp½ðj þ 1ÞDt=T in Equation (16) can be
instantaneous useful heat gain Qu(n þ 1) and Qu(n). Therefore, neglected due to the mathematical relation given by Equation (17),
Qu(n þ 1) is related to Qu(n), Qu(n 1), Qu(n 2),…,Qu(1) by considering that Qu ðn jÞ holds the order of magnitude of
682 J. Deng et al. / Renewable Energy 76 (2015) 679e686
ðjþ1Þ
X
Dt
Qu ðn þ 1Þ ¼ f ðn þ 1 iÞ$ 1 exp
T
i¼1
(18) Fig. 1. Schematic of the solar air collector test rig. 1 e Centrifugal fan; 2 e Vent valve; 3
ði 1ÞDt e Soft steel duct; 4 e Steel air conduit; 5 e Rotating rack; 6 e Intelligent air flowmeter;
$exp ; j ½3T=Dt
T 7 e Thermocouples; 8 e Pyranometer; 9 e Flat-plate solar air collector; 10 e Collector
inlet; 11 e Collector outlet; 12 e Pressure drop transducer; 13 e Electrical Heater; 14 e
Thermometer screen.
Fig. 5. Exponential curve fitting of ðTfo;t Tfi Þ=ðTfo;initial Tfi Þ versus time.
Fig. 3. Thermal efficiency curve of the solar air collector with error bars.
collector system [23]. Moreover, the time required for the quantity
conditions of global solar irradiance Gg , diffuse solar irradiance Gd ,
Qu ðnÞ=Qu ð1Þ to change from 1.0 to 0.368 is 530 s, which is close to
ambient temperature Ta , the collector inlet temperature Tfi and
the time constant of 540 s. It suggests the TICM can catch the
outlet temperature Tfo . As in Fig. 6(b), Tfo immediately increased to
thermal inertia effect of the SAC.
a peak value of 56.2 C and then fell down gradually to 42.0 C at
8:49 am. It was because the SAC was in open-air basking before
8:31 am and thus the collector itself had some energy storage ca- 4.2. Dynamic thermal performance prediction
pacity. When the fan was started at 8:31 am, the heat stored by the
SAC gradually released until the steady-state point occurred at Based on the solving method mentioned in section 2.4, the pa-
8:49 am. Then Tfo gradually increased after 8:49 am, since twice the rameters in the TICM described by Equation (18) is shown is Table 1.
response time constants (18 min) had elapsed and the collector The incidence angle modifier coefficient b0 of the SAC is 0.1142 by
thermal inertia dominated the momentary heat storage quantity of extra test, so Kqb ðqÞ can be calculated by solar incidence angle q at
the collector. different time. Instantaneous solar incidence angles can be calcu-
lated by the formula in the reference [17], with the latitude of 39.8
4. Model verification and discussion in Beijing. And then the analytical model by Equation (18) is used to
predict the dynamic changes of instantaneous useful heat gains on
4.1. Response time constant of the collector
Fig. 4. Response curve of the collector temperature difference ðTfo Tfi Þ. Fig. 6. Dynamic test of the SAC on July 6th, 2013 in Beijing.
684 J. Deng et al. / Renewable Energy 76 (2015) 679e686
Fig. 7. Comparison of instantaneous Qu between the response curve by test and the
prediction by TICM.
Fig. 8. Comparison of instantaneous Qu between the experimental data and the pre-
diction by SST method.
the day of July 6th, 2013. In order to validate the accuracy of the
TICM, the comparisons of experimental data with the predictions
by the SST model, the second-order differential TFM [21] and the Fig. 8 are considerably underestimated. Specially, an abrupt varia-
TICM are conducted. In the prediction by TICM, the iterative tion of useful heat gain to zero is predicted by the SST model after
calculation started at an initial condition of steady-state. Namely, irradiance interruption by means of collector shadowing. But in
the initial Qu ð1Þ at the time 8:31 is equal to f ð1Þ, then the thermal reality, the heat gains gradually fall off as shown in Fig. 7.
inertial effect is considered in the following values of Qu ðiÞ (i ¼ 2, 3, Regarding the second-order differential TFM, the test conditions
4, …, n). are not so strict compared to the SST model. The test condition of
Figs. 8e10 give the comparisons of predictions by the three global irradiance is broadened to 300 W/m2 [21]. Although the TFM
models with the experimental data, respectively. Since the SAC was considers the collector capacitance of the solar part and the fluid
in open-air basking before 8:31 am, predictions in the time period part, the model coefficients are obtained by multiple linear
of 8:31 am to 8:49 am should be neglected because thermodynamic regression method from the aspect of statistics. The accuracy of the
characteristic of the SAC changed at 8:31am when the fan started. TFM is highly dependent on the sample data. The model fitting of
And the collector underwent a transitional state during that period. TFM does not consider the case of global irradiance below 300 W/
When twice the collector time constants (18 min) had elapsed since m2. Hence, the predictions at the moments 14:38, 14:50, 15:09, etc.
8:31 am, the collector thermal inertia gradually dominated the in Fig. 9 are poor compared to the experimental data, when the
momentary heat storage quantity of the collector. However, the instantaneous solar irradiance changes sharply below 300 W/m2.
collector's thermal inertia effect is neglected by the SST method. When it comes to the TICM, the variation trend of the prediction
Take the test requirements of SST method in the ASHRAE 93-2003 curve in Fig. 10 is basically in accordance with that of the experi-
standard [1] as an example. The steady-state tests shall be per- mental data. It suggests that, the TICM which considers collector
formed during periods when the sky is clear (i.e., substantially free thermal inertia correction can damp the effect of very sharp irra-
of clouds) such that the solar irradiance incident upon the aperture diation variations. Fig. 11 demonstrates the relative errors between
plane does not vary more than ±32 W/m2 for durations of 10 min or the predictions by the three models and the experimental data of
two time constants, whichever is greater, both prior to and during Qu . The maximum momentary relative error of Qu predicted by the
the period when data are taken. This strict test conditions remove SST model and the second-order differential TFM is larger than 40%,
the collector's thermal inertia effect from the test points of SST while that of Qu predicted by the TICM is around 20%. The averaged
model fitting. In the process of collector dynamic test under vari- overestimated percentage of the predictions by the SST model is
able weather conditions, the collector's thermal inertia effect re- 6.4%. And the averaged prediction errors by the TFM and the TICM
sults in a deviation from the steady-state. Hence, predictions by the are 2.7% and 1.3%, respectively. It suggests that the TICM performs
SST model generally overestimate the instantaneous useful heat better than the SST model and the second-order differential TFM in
gains in dynamic tests when there is good solar irradiance without
sudden decrease, as shown in most time of Fig. 8. While the solar
irradiance suddenly falls down, the stored heat in the collector due
to thermal capacitance transfers to the working fluid to damp a
sudden decrease of the collector outlet temperature. In this case,
predictions by the SST model underestimate the instantaneous
useful heat gains, as predictions at the moments 10:30, 11:20,
14:38, 14:50, 15:09, etc. in Fig. 8 when the instantaneous solar
irradiance sharply falls down. At the moments 14:38, 14:50, 15:09,
etc., the solar irradiance (see Fig. 6) falls down below the critical
radiation level, it is obvious that predictions by the SST model in
Table 1
Parameters obtained by steady-state test method.
·
Parameters FR ðtaÞen FR UL T mf Cf ðmCÞe Dt j
2
Units e W/(m C) s W/ C J/ C s e
Fig. 9. Comparison of instantaneous Qu between the experimental data and the pre-
Values 0.495 5.271 540 41.205 44501.4 10 216
diction by TFM.
J. Deng et al. / Renewable Energy 76 (2015) 679e686 685
5. Conclusion
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