Renewable Energy 29 (2004) 22172233 www.elsevier.

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A novel hybrid heat pipe solar collector/CHP systemPart 1: System design and construction
S.B. Riat , X. Zhao
School of the Built Environment, Institute of Building Technology, The University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK Received 4 June 2003; accepted 29 March 2004

Abstract The process of selecting and designing the major components for a hybrid solar collector/ CHP system is described. Particular attention was given to the design of the solar collector and a number of options, including thin membrane heat pipe solar collectors (both normal and artery types) and hybrid heat pipe solar collectors (both wicked and wickless types), were considered. Performance comparisons were made using theoretical and experimental data and a hybrid solar collector was selected as the best option for the system. Micro impulse-reaction turbine using n-pentane as its working uid was selected for the system although further work is being carried out on a compressed-gas driven turbo alternator. A prototype hybrid solar collector/CHP system has been constructed and the results of its theoretical and experimental testing are presented in Part II of this paper. # 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Heat pipes; Solar Collector; Turbine; CHP

1. Introduction The European Union has an ongoing commitment to reducing CO2 emission as highlighted by its agreement at the Kyoto Summit. One approach to achieving these reductions would be to develop alternative energy sources for major energy demanding sectors. In the EU, about half of all energy consumed is associated with

Corresponding author. Tel.: +44-115-951-3158; fax: +44-115- 951-3159. E-mail address: saa.riat@nottingham.ac.uk (S.B. Riat).

0960-1481/$ - see front matter # 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.renene.2004.03.017

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buildings and of this, about 60% is utilised in the housing sector. A major part of the energy demand of buildings could be met by utilising renewable energy sources, e.g. solar energy. The annual global solar irradiation reaching a south facing surface of a house located at the centre of the EU latitude range is typically approximately 2.0 kWh/(m2/day). This energy could be exploited for heating and power generation. Existing large-scale plants for power generation are usually located far away from centres of population; this prevents ecient utilisation of the waste hot water produced. Moreover, current technology limits these power stations to a maximum eciency of about 40% and after transportation of electricity via the national grid, there is only about 35% of the original energy remaining at the point of use. This means that to meet current electricity demand, vast quantities of fossil fuels are burnt releasing unwanted pollutants (e.g. CO2 and NOx) into the atmosphere. Over the last decade, small-scale CHP plants (below 100 kWe) have been introduced for many applications with proven environmental and economic benets [12]. Inexpensive gas and deregulation of the electricity industry have contributed to the success of this market. There is also a large potential market for domestic CHP (D-CHP), but the smallest commercially available units, i.e. 5 kWe dieselfuelled D-CHP units, are unsuitable for the UK Market as their electrical output is too high. As yet, no unit has been developed for UK domestic application that is able to provide a 12 kWe output. Use of solar energy in conjunction with conventional energy sources to meet electricity and heating requirements of buildings would reduce pollutant emissions and oer savings in running cost to users. As reserves of fossil fuels diminish, there will be increasing pressure to use renewable energy sources, and it is in the immediate interest to identify and develop technologies which can harness these sources to reduce dependence on fossil fuel combustion. Solar energy has been used to generate electricity and several studies [35] have investigated the use of power from photovoltaic cladding on buildings for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Unfortunately, photovoltaic technology has low eciency and high capital cost and, as solar energy is intermittent, some means must be incorporated to store surplus electricity and release it again when it is needed. Solar energy may also be used to generate electricity using a Rankine cycle in which a turbine or an engine is employed to convert thermal energy into mechanical energy. Sawyer [6] described the Enreco organic Rankine cycle engine which was developed as part of solar pond technology to generate electricity from brine v at 80 C. Other studies concerning the application of solar energy and Rankine cycles for power generation are described in a review paper by Spencer [7]. The aim of this research was to develop a novel hybrid heat pipe solar collector/ CHP system to provide electricity and heating for buildings. This system is powered by solar and gas energy as well as boiler waste heat to provide electricity and heating for buildings. The system has the following innovative features: . The solar collector is integrated with the exhaust gas ue channels to allow both solar energy and waste heat from exhaust gas to be utilised.

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. Heat pipes, which are highly ecient heat transfer devices, are incorporated in the collector panel. Both miniature and normal heat pipes were investigated, and this enabled two types of collectors, e.g. thin membrane heat pipe solar collector, and hybrid heat pipe solar collector, to be assessed for this application. . A compact, lightweight turbine is applied to this system. . Novel refrigerants, including n-pentane and hydrouoroethers (HFEs), are employed as working uids for the CHP system.

2. Description of the proposed system 2.1. Introduction CFD modelling indicated that water would be an ecient working uid for the system as it could produce a given power at a low mass ow rate and small ow area [8]. However, the system would need to be operate at high pressure and temv perature, e.g. 6 bar and 200 C, respectively, which could be only obtained using a pressurized steam generator and a pressurized solar collector manifold. These requirements would make the system unsuitable for residential use due to safety reasons. An alternative arrangement using a boiler and solar collector operated at normal pressure was therefore investigated. This system would produce high temperature v hot water, at around 110 C, which would be used to heat a secondary uid, either n-pentane or HFE7100, using a generator, and a super-heater as well as a separator, as shown in Fig. 1. Since both n-pentane and HFE7100 are refrigerants hav-

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram showing the conguration of the hybrid solar collector/CHP system.

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v

ing low boiling points, i.e. 35 and 60 C respectively, they could easily be converted to saturated or superheated vapour when heated in the generator and super-heater. The vapour would be used to drive the turbine to generate electricity, causing its pressure and temperature fall, and would exit the turbine as a superheated vapour, or mixture of vapour and liquid. The low pressure vapour (or mixture) would be used to produce domestic hot water by passing it through the heat exchangers to allow heat exchange between the refrigerant and chill water. A schematic diagram showing the conguration of the system is presented in Fig. 1. 2.2. Solar collectorsa number of options considered Two types of solar collectors were considered for this application; the rst was a thin membrane, heat-pipe solar collector, and the second was a hybrid heat-pipe solar collector. The design of the collectors is described as below. 2.2.1. Thin membrane heat-pipe solar collector A thin membrane, heat-pipe solar collector was designed to collect and distribute heat by means of vaporisation and condensation of a heat transfer uid. It comprised mainly of an evacuated housing containing an absorber, a reservoir at the lower end of the collector and a condenser panel on the upper end of the collector. Two additional absorbers (narrow strip panel) attached to the main absorber body were irradiated with solar irradiation concentrated by a lens on the outer cover, hence the terminology super heat pipes. A micro-pore insulation material, attached to an aluminium/foam plastic tray, was tted beneath the absorber panel to reduce downward heat loss. A clear acrylic cover was mounted on the top of the evacuated housing, creating an enclosed space where a vacuum could be maintained to eliminate convection/conduction heat loss. Two elliptical glass covers were attached to the top of the evacuated housing to increase the ux of solar irradiation, and the Fresnel lenses were tted to the covers to provide concentrated radiation on absorber (super heat pipe) area. One version of this solar collector is shown schematically in Fig. 2 [9]. The main body of the collector comprised of two plates separated by a thin evaporation gap. The plates were spot welded together creating mini-channels (ribs) running parallel along the width of the absorber, as shown in Fig. 3. Each mini-channel was considered to be a single miniature heat pipe, as has previously been investigated by Riat et al. [10] using the analytical and numerical models. The miniature heat pipes connected the evaporation section to the condensation section of the collector to enable the ow of vapour refrigerant and condensed liquid refrigerant. Two types of thin membrane heat-pipe solar collectors were designed. These are classied as normal and artery types according to the method of returning of the condensed uid. In the case of the normal collector, condensed refrigerant is returned to the evaporation section along the sides of the miniature heat-pipes by the combined eect of capillary and gravity forces. Part of the returned liquid is evaporated, as a result of absorbing heat from solar irradiation striking the absor-

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Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the normal miniature heat pipe solar collector.

ber surface, and the remainder is returned to the reservoir. This collector operates on the principle of miniature gravitational heat-pipes and hence is termed a normal miniature heat-pipe collector, see Fig. 2. In the case of the artery collector, condensed refrigerant is returned to the reservoir via a tube. Liquid refrigerant from the reservoir ows to the evaporator section by capillary action. Here the refrigerant is vaporised, thus creating a continuous thermosyphon eect. This collector

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Fig. 3. Schematic showing the cross section of the plate heat pipe (enlarged).

operates on the principle of miniature gravitational heat-pipes with an additional artery, and hence is termed as artery miniature heat-pipe collector, see Fig. 4. 2.2.2. Hybrid heat pipe solar collector Calculations were carried out using an analytical model previously developed by the School of the Built Environment, University of Nottingham, to estimate the performance of heat pipes embedded in the evaporator plate of the hybrid collector [11]. Since a normal heat pipe has much higher heat transport capacity than a miniature heat pipe, it was decided to use normal heat pipes for this application. Analytical simulation indicated that the wicked heat pipes had a lower heat transport performance than wickless heat pipes of the same size. However, as the heat pipe solar collector would be installed at a degree of inclination relative to the horizontal, wicked pipes would oer the advantage of assisting even distribution of the liquid over the inner surface of the pipes. Further investigation showed that the geometry of the heat pipes is an important factor inuencing thermal performance. Of the geometries investigated, the circular type was shown to have a higher heat transport capacity than the rectangular types. It was therefore decided to use circular and wicked (or wickless) heat pipes as the basic element of solar collector unit. In addition, 8 mm was found to be a suitable diameter for this type of heat pipe. The casings of the solar collectors were constructed from aluminium framework, comprising an insulated lower chamber and a top cover. The top cover consisted of insulated, high performance double-glazing, or thermo-clear polycarbonate sheets. The double-glazing had a low solar transmission of 0.5 but a smaller U value of 1.2 W/m2.K, which would result in a lower solar absorption and lower convective and conductive heat losses. The thermo-clear cover has a high solar transmission of 0.85 and a larger U value of 3.0 W/m2.K, which would result in a higher solar absorption and relatively larger heat losses. The bottom chamber of the enclosure contained a number of channels to allow exhaust gas discharged from a boiler to pass through them to improve the eciency of the collectors, as well as provide back-up (or compensation) when solar irradiation is unavailable (or low). Fibreglass insulation was tted beneath and around the channels to reduce heat loss through the chamber. As heat from both sun and boiler exhaust gas is used, the unit is termed a Hybrid Heat Pipe Solar Collector. Schematic diagrams showing the structure of the collector are given in Figs. 5ac.

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Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of the artery miniature heat pipe solar collector.

Two types of collectors were designed [12]. Each includes 20 heat pipes, and has a gross absorbing area of 2.4 m2. The rst one uses wickless heat pipes with separate condensers, which have a larger diameter (20 mm) than the evaporators (8 mm), and are connected to the evaporators by exible hoses. The manifold is tightly xed on the condensers using clamps to ensure good surface contact and

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Fig. 5. (a) Solar collector conguration; (b) Top cover; (c) Bottom chamber.

Fig. 6. Structure design of the wickless heat pipe panel.

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ecient heat transfer. The structure is shown schematically in Fig. 6. The second type uses wicked heat pipes, which have integrated bodies and therefore no physical separations between the evaporators and condensers. The manifold is connected to the condensers of the heat pipes using copper rods, which are drilled with co-axial cylinder cavities. Heat transfer between the condensers and the manifold is largely dependent on the conductivity of the rods. The structure is shown schematically in Fig. 7. 2.2.3. Comparison and determination of the collectors to be used A prototype thin membrane, heat-pipe solar collector was constructed following the general design scheme. However, a major simplication was made, i.e. avoiding the use of elliptical covers and Fresnel lenses, in order to simplify manufacture. The top cover was made from an acrylic, and the miniature heat pipes were used as the basic elements of the absorber panel. The specications of the panel/pipes conguration are shown in Table 1, and a photograph of the prototype is shown in Fig. 8. A hybrid heat pipe solar collector was also constructed. This incorporated 20 wicked heat pipes in the absorber panel to carry out the task of heat transfer from the absorber to the manifold, which was tted to the condensation section. The top covers were designed for two options, e.g. double-glazing and 10 mm

Fig. 7. Structure design of the wicked heat pipe panel.

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Table 1 Specications of the heat pipes and absorber panelthe thin membrane heat pipe solar collector Absorptivity of absorber surface, as Reectivity of absorber surface, refg Emmitance of absorber surface, eg Absorber area, As Unshaded absorber area, Asr Heat resistance of inner surface, v Rsi, m2. C/W Heat resistance of outer surface, v Rout, m2. C/W Thermal conductivity of insulation layer v 1, kins1, W/ m2. C Thickness of insulation layer 1, dins1, m Thermal conductivity of insulation layer v 2, kins2, W/ m2. C Thickness of insulation layer 2, dins2, m 0.95 0.05 0.1 0.24 0.233 0.12 0.06 0.005 0.025 0.046 0.005 Thermal conductivity of bottom plate, v kplate, W/ m2. C Thickness of bottom plate, dplate, m Number of heat pipes Equivalent diameter of heat pipe (inner) dhp, m Length of evaporator lpe, m Length of condenser lcon, m Thermal conductivity of heat pipe wall, v khp, W/ m2. C Thickness of heat pipe wall, dhp, m Thermal conductivity of liquid lm on v heat pipe inner wall, kw, W/ m2. C Equivalent diameter of vapour column in evaporator dve, m Equivalent diameter of vapour column in condenser dcon, m 0.0015 0.0015 22 0.002 1 0.1 43 0.001 0.68 0.00098 0.00095

polycarbonate sheet, as indicated previously. The characteristic parameters of the heat pipes are detailed in Table 2. A photograph of the prototype is shown in Fig. 9. Theoretical and experimental investigations were carried out for each of these types of solar collector [12,13]. The results indicated that that hybrid type was more suitable for this application, as it could recover part of the waste heat from boiler exhaust gas and so would have a higher thermal eciency than the thin membrane type. It was therefore decided to choose the hybrid type as the nal option. 2.3. Micro steam turbinestwo options Two types of turbine units were investigated; one was a micro impulse-reaction turbine which was designed to operate at a very high rotation speed, up to 80,000 rpm, and provide an electrical output of 1.53 kW, as shown in Fig. 10. The other was a compressed-gas driven, turbo-alternator which was designed to operate at a low rotation speed, up to 1000 rpm, and gave an electricity output of 250 W, as shown in Fig. 11. The impulse-reaction turbine used n-pentane as the working uid. This would be vaporized into saturated vapour with a pressure of 56 bar, when heated to v 90100 C. This is realistic as a solar collector/boiler can provide hot water at a v temperature up to 120 C, and this could then be used to heat n-pentane to the desired temperature. The turbo-alternator used HFE-7100 as working uid. This would be vaporized into superheated vapour with a pressure of 34 bar, when

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Fig. 8. The thin membrane heat pipe solar collectora prototype.

heated to 100 C. This is also realistic in view of the solar collector/boilers v capacity to provide hot water at a temperature up to 120 C. The hot water could v be used to heat HFE-7100 to 100 C and then vaporize it using a generator and a super-heater. Although initial trials indicated that the output of the turboalternator was lower than the requirement, further work is being carried out to establish if its output can be increased.

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Table 2 Summary of heat pipe and absorber panel parametershybrid heat pipe solar collector Absorptivity of absorber surface, as Reectivity of absorber surface, refg Emmitance of absorber surface, eg Absorber area, As Unshaded absorber area, Asr Air heat resistance of inner surface, Rsi, v m2 C/W Air heat resistance of outer surface, v Rout, m2 C/W Thermal conductivity of insulation layer, v kins1, W/ m2 C Thickness of insulation layer , dins1, m Thermal conductivity of bottom plate, v kplate, W/ m2 C Thickness of bottom plate, dplate, m 0.95 0.05 0.1 2.4 2.21 0.12 0.06 0.005 0.025 177 0.002 Number of heat pipes Diameter of heat pipe (outer) in evaporator section dhp, m Length of evaporator lpe, m Length of condenser lcon, m Length of adiaadatic section lpa, m Diameter of heat pipe (outer) in evaporator section dhp, m Thermal conductivity of heat pipe v wall, khp, W/ m2. C Thickness of heat pipe wall, dhp, m Thermal conductivity of liquid lm on v heat pipe inner wall, kw, W/ m2. C Diameter of vapour ow cross section in evaporator dve, m Diameter of vapour ow cross section dcon, m 20 0.008 1.7 0.2 0.07 0.008 401 0.00376 0.5 3.752e-3 3.752e-3

2.4. Boiler and ue gas simulator Tests conducted by Riat et al. [13] showed that the eciency of the collector v was only 2030% if operated at a temperature in the range 100 to 110 C. For 2 solar irradiation of 800 W/m (or equivalent), the heat output of such a collector unit would be 350500 W. It had been estimated that producing 1.5 kW electricity would need a heat input of 12 kW [14]. If 50% of the heat input, e.g. 6 kW, was supplied by the collectors, then 15 or more collectors would be required. Manufacturing and installing so many units would be unrealistic for this application due to limited budget and space, and so an alternative system was considered. The alternative system was based on one collector unit, but incorporated a 70 kW nominal heat capacity boiler as a replacement for the other collectors. During operation, the boiler produced exhaust ue gas (mixture of air and gas) at the rate v of 185 m3/h. The ue gas had a temperature of 205 C at the immediate outlet of the boiler and it was intended to utilise its waste heat by mixing the ue gas with a measured amount of cold air before delivering the mixture to the solar collectors for heat recovery. Mixing the ue gas with cold air would result in an increased air/ue gas ow volume in order to serve more than four collector units. Unfortunately it was found that in this application, it was not possible to mount the solar collector on the roof adjacent to the chimney owing to its unsuitable north-west orientation. The collector was therefore mounted on the ground near the shed housing the boiler. As it was not possible to transport the chimney ue v gas to the collector, a ue gas simulator, which provided hot air of 110120 C at 3 the rate of 0.035 m /s, was employed. A photograph of the simulator is shown in Fig. 12.

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Fig. 9. The hybrid heat pipe solar collectora prototype.

2.5. Condensers and pumps A 100 kW nominal capacity fan condenser was installed to cool the chill water, and the chill water was then used to condense refrigerants (HFE7100 or n-pentane) discharged from the turbine by using a pair of at-plate heat exchangers, each with 25 kW nominal capacity.

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Fig. 10. A micro impulse-reaction turbine/generator unit.

As n-pentane is a ammable liquid, a diaphragm pump driven by compressed air was used in the CHP cycle for safety reasons. 2.6. The integrated system A prototype system was constructed based on the integration of the components described above, see Fig. 13. The system was equipped with measurement apparatus, including thermocouple probes, pressure sensors, ow meters and a paranometer, and was connected to data logging and computer facilities for experimental testing.

3. Further work The performance of the prototype unit will be investigated theoretically using classical thermodynamic principles. Its experimental performance will also be eval-

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Fig. 11. A turbo-alternator unit.

Fig. 12. A ue gas simulator.

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Fig. 13. An integrated solar collector/CHP system.

uated. Theoretical and experimental results will be compared and its energy and environmental benets evaluated.

Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge the nancial support provided for this research by the European Commission, under the Energy, Environmental and Sustainable Development Programme.

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[6] Sawyer SL, Electricity generation from low temperature heat sources using organic Rankine cycle engine. Electric Energy Conf. Darwin, Australia, 1991:1013. [7] Spencer LC. A comprehensive review of small solar-powered heat engines: Part II. Research since 1950. Solar Energy 1989;43(4):197210. [8] Riat SB, Zhao X, Doherty PS. Investigation of the ow in an impulse micro turbine using numerical CFD predictions and laboratory testing. International Journal of Ambient Energy 2002;23(4):1718. [9] Riat SB, Zhao X, Doherty PS. Structure optimisation and performance simulation of a novel thin membrane heat pipe solar collector using a mathematical model. International Journal of Ambient Energy 2002;23(1):316. [10] Riat SB, Zhao X, Doherty PS. Analytical and numerical simulation of the thermal performance of mini gravitational and micro gravitational heat pipes. Applied Thermal Engineering 2002;22:104768. [11] Riat SB, Zhao X, Doherty PS, Boukhanouf Rabah, Hybrid Solar Collector/CHP system: Two Full-scale Prototype Systems, University of Nottingham, Report to European Commission, October 2002. [12] Riat SB, Zhao X, Boukhanouf Rabah, Theoretical and experimental investigation of a novel hybrid heat pipe solar collector: Part Itheoretical analysis, to be published, 2003. [13] Riat SB, Zhao X, Boukhanouf Rabah, Theoretical and experimental investigation of a novel hybrid heat pipe solar collector: Part IIExperimental testing, to be published, 2003. [14] Faca o Jorge, Matos Joaquim, Oliveira Armando, Afonso Clito, Computer modelling of system performancehybrid solar collector/CHP system, Progress report to European Commission, March 2001.