040-6420

Solar Thermal Energy System

Chapter 6
Introduction to modelling and
simulation of solar energy systems
Course Instructor:
Dr. Bashria A. A. Yousef, Associate Professor

Department of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Engineering

College of Engineering, W9- 138
Outline
Solar System design and modelling
F-chart method
TRNSYS simulation program
Study case

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Solar System design and modelling
Performance of solar system depends on many factors: weather
condition , the energy collected and demands

These factors are not regular and depends on the weather

conditions

Experiments that study the effect of different parameters on the

systems performance can be very expensive and time
consuming

Computer simulations can provide analysis of such

systems and study the transient behaviour and thermal
performance with a saving in time and cost 3
Solar System design and modelling
Computer modelling of solar thermal systems presents many
advantages:

Reduce the expense of building prototypes

Complex systems are organized in an understandable format
Provide through understanding of system operation and
component interaction
It is possible to optimise the system components
Estimate the amount of energy delivery from the system
Provide temperature variations of the system

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 Watch out

Models always have a validity range: Outside this the

results are uncertain..!!!
Dont make reality fit the model

Dont be afraid to try several models 5

 F-chart Method
It is a simulation technique to estimate the annual thermal
performance of solar energy systems

With the f-chart method, the fraction of the total heating load
that can be supplied by the solar energy system can be
estimated.

The fractional reduction of purchased energy when a solar

energy system is used called monthly solar fraction

Let the purchased energy for a fuel-only system or the energy

required to cover the load be L, the purchased auxiliary energy for
a solar system be LAUX, and the solar energy delivered be QS. For 6
a solar energy system, L = LAUX + QS. For a month, i, the
fractional reduction of purchased energy when a solar energy
system is used, called the solar fraction, f, is given by the ratio:
F-chart Method
The resulting correlation give f as a function of two dimensionless
parameters:

The first is related to the ratio of collector losses to heating load

the second to the ratio of absorbed solar radiation to heating load

Can be written as:

Where the ratio / corrects for various temperature 7

drops between the collector and the storage tank
F-chart Method
The relationship of X,Y, and f in equation form is

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The f-chart for liquid based solar heating systems
TRNSYS simulation program
A TRaNsient SYstem Simulation Tool

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What TRNSYS is ?
Is a program for solving algebraic and differential equations:
A system = components
Components are reduced to the mathematical formulation of the
problem
The components are linked each other
Library of common energy system components (e.g. solar
collectors, storage tank, heat exchangers, weather data).

Each component has a visual interface -> component

definition is easy
.

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System component

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System component
Each system component is
linked each other
Time varying data is passed
through the system connections
(e.g. mass flow rates,
input/output temperatures, etc.

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System component

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System performance
The performance of the system is evaluated by simulating
each component of the system at every time-step

At the end of each time-step information between

components is communicated and inputs are updated

Instantaneous data can be processed in order to obtain

averaged and/or cummulative data of the system

Final results can be plotted and/or saved into a file

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 Study case Pump
1. Pumped from 8 am to 6 pm
2. Flow rate of 50 liters per hour.
3. Water enters the pump at 20C.
4. Pump electrical Power 16.7 W

Solar Collector
1. Array of two modules (1m2 each) (AC =2m2)
2. Slope angle 45 and face due South

Auxiliary Heater
1. Power 1400 W
2. Set Point 60C
Site
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Expected Results
Hourly plot of system temperature
Heat transfer rates
Solar pre-heating application 18
Period
January and Febrauary
Modelling approach
Define the components of the energy systems: solar
collectors, a pump, and an auxiliary heater.
Define weather data (from the database)
Output some results (printed file)
TRNSYS components:
Type15: Weather data reader and processor
Type 3: Pump
Type 1: Solar collector (flat plate collector)
Type 24 : integrator
Type 25: Printer
Type 65 : online plotter
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Project steps
Create empty project in Simulation Studio
Adding components and configuring them

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Project steps
Connecting components

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Project steps
Running the project and analysing the results

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Online output

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